Are you wasting your time running your website?

A current (and pretty much on going) rant of mine is how utterly poor many recruitment agency websites are for the jobseeker and the agency.

Don't get me wrong there are agencies out their really using their own website well and gettinng canidate CVs / resumes at highly cost effective prices.

It is not for trying - there are many SME agencies who have been sold a "great website" by suppliers who have totally ripped them off and missed key SEO must haves along with delivering a shocking user experience.

How many applications a month do you get from your website?
How are those users finding your sitie?
Does your site help the pragmatic job seeker - the active browser?
Do you give the job seeker enough information to decide to apply?
Is you application process full of large forms with many questions?
Can candidates register their CV with you?
Can Google read your job adverts?

I could go on all day with such questions!

So how are you doing? Are you happy with your site? Are you looking forward to my up comming blog posts on how to do it properly? What is the biggest question you would like my blog to answer?

Come on guys and gals - get discussing!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Sadler on October 22, 2008 at 5:51am

David I am a new kid on the block with my own new job site www.nuclearcareersonline.com which is niche for the UK nuclear industry. We had our site designed by Zero One, based on an off the shelf product which does everything expected and the level of support is excellent.

When I started this project I was underwhelmed with the quality of what is on offer. I cannot believe that in this world of multimedia on the net that the job site industry seems to be happy with the status quo of text in text out that's yer lot!

By this I do not mean video CVs which I do not like. I mean using the net for initial interviews, videos to sell employers, direct contact with the employer on a phone-me-back or IM basis. All these technologies work and can be used to build relationships more quickly.

Why have job boards not started to use and jobseekers not been able to expect this level of service?

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Permalink Reply by David Martin on October 22, 2008 at 6:19am

John - Great point! Although the relationship of job board / recruitment agency / employer does make this slightly more complex. I have seen some products that entice this use of the web - group interviews may be interesting for the employer, allowing them to see all answers but the candidate only see theirs! Does anyone else out there want this feature?

I took a quick look at your site, very active. The search was great - all the options actually return jobs, really nice to see! One thing to think about, how does Google get to read all your jobs? I only looked quickly and probably missed your SEO approach. But Google wont fill in your form and click search, and javascript populated scrolling boxes are not read by Google easily.

If you want (in the interest of my personal goal to improve the online recruitment space) we do a free (yes no money!) 30 point check of job sites. Let me know and I can add yours to the queue - you get a score and a bench mark.

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Permalink Reply by John Sadler on January 8, 2009 at 6:21am

Thanks David, sorry it took so long to get back to you. Happy New Year!

Currently I am at the stage where the jobs thus far have been on a free trial basis, so now I must work at converting them to paying customers. I must say that the job site market looks competitive.

On the point you mention I guess I am at the mercy of my site developer for SEO.

I can see how many references there are on Google for the site.

I would be interested to know your evaluation scores so I can beat them over the head with it :o)