Your company careers site should be at the heart of all of your recruiting. Sure it’s important to have a company page on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus and many other platforms but these pages should be for distributing quality content. The intent of having a company profile on multiple websites is a good one. However, you must make sure all roads lead back to a unified and engaging careers site of your own. After all, do you want to prioritise another website ahead of your own?

Attract candidates to you

Most candidates behave like a consumer and do lots of research about a company before applying for a job. As part of this research, candidates search in Google for details. If people are able to find your careers website and company site then you will be able to analyse this and get more of an understanding of what people are searching. This is difficult to measure and analyse if you are only using a third-party website.

Of course candidates will find other companies and jobs they are interested in while researching. However, don’t make it easy for them! LinkedIn, Facebook et al drive engagement for multiple companies and so will group your jobs with others to make it easier for the candidate to view jobs from multiple sources. By having your own company careers website you are not allowing potential candidates to be attracted by the competition.

Make sure your careers site is attractive to candidates

As mentioned, candidates will visit a number of websites before making a decision on pursuing a career with your company. While a candidate might look at a dozen or more sites to make a decision, one of the most critical is your careers site. If the site is not innovative and the application process is difficult, you may put top candidates off and force them to look elsewhere. Make sure your own careers site is engaging to capture the interest of the top candidates out there.

Build a talent pool

The concept of the talent network or talent pool is an ever growing one. Companies are looking for ways to create a conversation with interested candidates. Doing this through a third-party channel can dilute your brand identity. You should strive to have all communications conducted through your brand. A dedicated careers website can help you attract the most relevant top candidates.

There’s no doubt that it’s difficult for most companies to develop a great careers site and to keep the content fresh. However, the benefit of this effort is that you are not subject to changes in terms of service, company acquisitions, behaviour changes and other influences of a third-party market.