As a digital specialist I spend a lot of time online looking at the digital channels of businesses. In preparation for some industry workshops & webinars I recently reviewed 20 recruitment websites from various locations and of various sizes to see how they compared and any common issues that stood out to me.

This is what I found:

• CEO’s that don’t have a digital profile (or a LinkedIn profile)
• Social media feeds that were just job posts
• Lack of story behind the brand or on the people who work there
• Websites or CEO’s that cannot be found on search
• Links that don’t work or went to the wrong places
• Social media pages sitting idle (last post was weeks ago)
• Poor search functions for jobs
• No video content
• No social media links above the fold (or anywhere on the home page)
• Twitter feeds that have no recent posts
• Total lack of engagement with their audience
• Digital channels look the same as everyone else’s
• Hard to navigate websites with so many pages I couldn’t find the information I needed
• No traffic being captured on the website and no incentive for visitors to do so
• Lack of storytelling or real story behind the business

What this shows is the massive opportunity there is for recruiters to stand out and lead their industry so why aren’t you doing it? And to be honest some of the biggest players were the worst offenders. There is no room for ego when it comes to doing engaging your audience and building talent communities online.

If you want to future proof your business, you must have solid digital and social platforms – your clients and candidates are driving this change and now expect this from you – if you don’t give them what they want, your savvy competitors will. It’s time for a change of mindset and to take your digital channels seriously.

For more on social recruiting and digital training for recruitment teams > www.digitalconversations.com.au ;