Help Wanted: Is Your Hiring Strategy Leveraging Today’s Digital Tools?

The Importance of the Careers Section of Your Website

Skilled workers are in short supply – just ask anyone in the manufacturing industry, distribution sector, or skilled trades. According to a recent study completed by the Manufacturing Institute, six out of ten open production positions are unfilled due to a shortage. So how should today’s manufacturers and distributors best position themselves as an employer of choice?

With 58% of active Glassdoor users and job seekers using a mobile device to search for jobs, the value of delivering an engaging user experience for potential hires cannot be overstated. Is your website delivering the right message? If it is not formatted to fit the user’s screen size, commonly known as a responsive design format, the answer is a definite “No.” Having a mobile-friendly careers section is an absolute must, but it’s only the first step in engaging and retaining a valuable workforce.

When well-designed, your careers section is a window into the employee experience, a bookmark-worthy resource for the industry, and an opportunity to differentiate and position your organization as an employer of choice. Make the most of your digital real estate by building a careers section that delivers.

Best Practices

1. Be Found

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing the terms people are searching online to arrive at a site or page and optimizing your website around those terms. Apply those same marketing principles to selling your career opportunities and your organization. Knowing the exact phrases or keywords job seekers are Googling is key to being found. Engage an SEO expert to help you create a keyword strategy for recruiting. There is a significant difference in search volume for “Electrician jobs” vs. “Electrician jobs near me” vs. “Union electrician jobs,” and knowing which phrase to use will help your posting rise to the top of the search results.

2. Show Me

Video is a great way to share the personality and unique qualities of your organization. Rather than frustrating yourself to find the right words to succinctly summarize your company culture, a video featuring snippets from informal stand-up meetings, departmental birthday celebrations, and company open house events can help paint a picture of what it looks like to work at your company.

3. Tell Me

Job descriptions deserve the same treatment and attention to detail as your product marketing copy. By making the job description about the candidate experience and the unique value proposition your organization offers candidates, your job description becomes a persuasive sales piece rather than a bulleted list job requirements. It’s important to revisit and update these job descriptions as they change to truly reflect the position’s responsibilities (and to help with SEO).

4. Be Social

Listing open job opportunities on your company’s website is essential, but don’t stop there. Leverage the reach of social media by creating and maintaining profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Twitter. For some industries, Instagram, Pinterest, and even Snapchat should not be overlooked. Social media sites have high domain authority, meaning Google values their content — so take advantage and increase the likelihood of your posting being #found!

5. Engage

You’ve probably heard it before, and it’s still true: content is king. The success of your company’s website depends on the quality of content it provides, and your careers section is not exempt. Engage job seekers by providing quality content. Engagement will occur when your content is original and valuable – not self-serving. Struggling to create quality content? You are not alone. If your recruiting team is tapped for time, consider outsourcing the task.

6. Build

Your organization’s sales reps work to fill their sales funnel or pipeline, and you should take the same approach to filling your talent pipeline. After engaging prospective candidates with quality content, how do you keep them interested if you don’t have an open position that fits? Let them subscribe to receive notifications about your company as well as future job postings. Employers of choice stay top-of-mind by regularly appearing in a candidate’s inbox.

7. Respond

After a candidate completes the online* application process, a follow-up “We appreciate your interest in joining our team” message is important to send. Not only does it verify that the application was received, but it’s an opportunity for your organization to show personality, thank the candidate for their interest, and let them know what next steps they can expect.

*If your website does not have online application functionality, that’s a problem! Today’s job seekers expect to complete the application process digitally and with as few steps as possible. Web-based applicant tracking and recruiting systems or WordPress plug-ins make the process simple and efficient.

Concerned you’re not making the most of your digital real estate? We’d love to help. Reach out to learn how Sikich Marketing & Design can help make your website a powerful recruiting tool.