I'd like to share another great blog post on optimizing career sites by iCIMS Blogger, Jill Cienki. Check it out below!

Here at iCIMS, we like to practice what we preach. With a priority set on the candidate experience, we talk a lot about the importance of the application process and how talent management systems can facilitate successful recruitment.

But before you can get a candidate to apply for a job, you have to get their attention. And once you have their attention, you need to give them the info they’re looking for to get them to consider submitting their resume.

Take a step back and look at your career site. Does it represent your corporate mission as well as the fun aspects of your company? Is it organized in a way that candidates can easily find the information they are looking for? How does it reflect your overall brand?

The iCIMS team considered these questions and decided that it was time for a change.  While the basics were available for candidates to review, many of the things that make iCIMS a great place to work just weren’t showcased to their full potential.

Introducing….the Careers @ iCIMS Microsite!

Our new career site is designed to enhance the candidate experience and provide potential new hires with even more information right up front.  As we developed our microsite, we focused on a few core areas based on best practices to further boost reader engagement with an ultimate focus on building out our candidate pool.

Focus on Your People: We spend about a third of our lives at work surrounded by the same people day in and day out. Top candidates will be selective about which jobs they apply to, and who they will be working with may factor into their decision. Don’t be afraid to feature your teams and individuals throughout your organization. Gather testimonials and photos from around the company, and use them to tell the story of what your teams are all about.

Focus on Your Workplace: Every workplace has features that make it unique. Instead of waiting until the interview to share these details, highlight the perks of the job from the start. Adding sections to your career site that call attention to your robust benefits programs or how your office is situated in a prime location not only entices candidates but also eliminates a lot of preliminary questions from applicants during the interview process.

Focus on the Future: While some candidates are looking for a job, many are looking for a career. Applicants with a variety of backgrounds will be visiting your site, and you’ll want to be sure that all of them can easily discover how they can develop their careers with your company. Consider creating a section of your career site for students and recent graduates to learn more about internships and entry-level positions. You can also promote your programs designed for more seasoned employees such as leadership trainings.

Focus on Your Jobs: The ultimate goal of a career site is to motivate candidates to apply for jobs that best fit their skills. Be sure to keep your job search accessible from every page with dedicated links to your career portals in your content as well as your primary navigation. You never know what page will be the trigger for a candidate to decide to apply to your company. Why not give them the option to do so from anywhere in your career site?

Hopefully this will inspire you to take a look at your own career site and identify the ways that you can make it even more engaging for candidates. You know all the differentiators that make your company a great place to work. Use your career site to tell the World Wide Web all about it, and watch your candidate pipeline grow.