Learn How to Use Your Website as a Recruiting Tool

Are you using your website as a recruiting tool? If so, maybe start thinking about it in terms of dating… is your website the Tinder of online recruiting?

Hiring the right employee has really changed over the years and your website can be your leading recruiting tool, when use correctly.

When it comes to building an effective team to run your business, you don’t want to just hire people that have the minimum skills necessary to do the job. Most likely, you want to hire the best talent you can find.

The most valuable and talented employees, however, also tend to know their own value and worth and what they bring to the table. What business owners need to remember is that when you are dealing with the best employees, you are not just interviewing them for a job, they are also in essence interviewing you.

Luring the best talent for your business starts with your website.

Like the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Your website is not just the place many of your customers will form their first impressions of your business, it is also the place prospective employees may do the same thing.

Here are 5 ways to use your website as an effective recruiting tool.

Create a Compelling Careers Page

Too often, businesses feel that it is incumbent upon a job candidate to impress them but feel little to no responsibility or obligation to sell themselves to potential job candidates. Very often, the careers page on the website of most businesses is little more than a job posting page where very little information is given other than about the job itself.

When top candidates are looking for a job, however, they are looking for more than just the job description, they are looking to get a sense of the kind of business they will be working for. This doesn’t just mean the type of product or service the business offers but more the type of environment they will be working in and what will be expected of them other than the basic skills necessary to do the job.

If you really want to attract top talent, you need to actually sell your business and convince the best talent of why they want to come work for you.

When using your website as a recruiting tool, job listings should be more than just a demand for certain skills, they should also include some idea of what you have to offer to potential employees.

One great example of a company that uses their jobs page to highlight what they have to offer as well as what they are looking for is the company that makes the productivity app Asana. The company does a great job of highlighting what it has to offer to its potential employees and does not shy away from showing its awards and recognition.

Showcase Your Company Culture

One of the biggest things your website should do is give job seekers a sense of what it is like to work for your company. This can include not only things like your mission and values statements, but by also offering concrete and tangible examples of how you live up to those values or pursue your vision.

Keep in mind, some of the same things that will attract top talent can also gain you loyal customers, so that makes it even more of a win-win. In addition to information about the basic benefits you offer, job seekers should also be able to gain some idea of the type of environment they will be working in.

The Slack website is a perfect example of a company website that gives job seekers a great picture of the kind of company they will be working for by seeking a position at Slack.

Improve Your Application Process

It is almost ridiculously easy for someone to create a stellar resume that may or may not be an accurate reflection of what they genuinely bring to the table. By the time many businesses discover this, however, they have often already wasted valuable time interviewing candidates, and potentially even passed over and lost out on better candidates that didn’t seem as stellar on paper.

You can significantly increase your chances of getting better qualified employees right out of the gate by beefing up your application process. Depending on the needs of the position, you can offer anything from spelling tests to basic Excel skills tests. Using your website as a recruitment tool, you can also ask more out-of-the box questions of applicants that will help you get a better sense of who they are and how well they might fit in your company culture.

For instance, you might ask questions about why they want to work for your company.

This will give you a good idea right from the get-go if they’ve taken the time to get to know who you are and whether they genuinely want to work for your company specifically or if they are just looking for a job.

Show Your Management Team

When someone is researching your company online, they also want to get a sense of the management structure and what they can expect from company leadership. This can also be a great time for you to actually evaluate your own leadership structure as well.

For instance, if you were to post photos of all of your managers and C-Suite executives, would it be a photo gallery of nothing but white, middle-aged men?

Not only should you provide photos of your management and leadership teams, but you should also include short bios that can help prospective employees get a sense of the kinds of people they will be working with and for.

For a little inspiration from the experts, visit Hubspot’s careers page.

Leverage the Power of Great Content

Content is and will always be king.

If you don’t care enough to have a stellar, well-designed website with great content, there is a good chance you will not attract the kind of top talent you may be looking for.

Your website can be a powerful recruitment tool and the kinds of people you attract will largely be dependent on the kind of message you are sending out about your business.

Business is and will always be dependent on sales and it’s not just your products that you need to be selling but your business as a whole. This is true not just for your customers, clients and consumers, but for your potential employees as well.

Great content shows you are not just a great business to work with, but a great business to work for as well.

Describe Your Entire Application Process

Jobs take time to apply for, so every job seeker that applies for a position is investing a significant amount of time and energy up front with no guarantee of any type of return on their investment. The least you can do is provide some type of idea of what kind of timeline you are working under or what they can expect from their investment.

If you aren’t hiring for a few months, let them know that. If you interview quarterly or have several interviews for new hires, let them know that.

Buffer is a great example of a business that lets applicants know what they can expect.

Promoting yourself as a business should maybe be seen a bit more like dating. Yes, you have a job to offer, but top candidates also have something valuable to offer in return. If you really want to attract top talent, you want to give them a full picture of what they can expect if they come work for you. Your website is the best place to communicate that picture.