The recruiting world has changed dramatically in recent years. Whereas it used to be enough to publish job advertisements in the local newspaper, today you have to take a much more differentiated approach to attract qualified employees. But what do good recruiting websites look like?

We now live in an employee market. This means that good employees are now almost free to choose where they want to work. Many companies have not yet realized this and are therefore struggling to find qualified personnel. Almost all recruiting measures now take place online.

Whether via digital job portals such as StepStone and Co. or via social recruiting measures via platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc. The basis of every company's or agency's online presence is its own website. Many companies are wasting potential here because they scare off applicants with confusing or unattractive career pages, if they have their own website at all.

It doesn't matter what size your company is. Having your own website is also worthwhile for small companies in order to stand out from the competition. This article is about how you need to set up and design your website for recruiting in order to be perceived as an attractive employer.

Why is the website important for recruiting?

A company's own website is one of the first and most important points of contact for applicants. They not only want to find vacancies here, but also find out more about the company. The better you present yourself as an attractive employer, the better your chances of finding qualified employees.

Discussions often arise as to how much sense it still makes to have your own website in the age of social media when it comes to recruiting. Of course, social media has become very important in recruiting, but relying purely on social media is very negligent. On the one hand, you lose interested people who want to search for specific information on the company website. And on the other hand, you are dependent on external social media where you do not have 100 percent control.

What is important for recruiting websites?

So if you want to remain as self-sufficient as possible, the question still arises as to what content is important for recruiting websites? How should they be designed and what should they offer?

The right information

The requirements and needs of potential applicants come first. Take a bird's eye view of your own company. What do potential new professionals and employees want to find on your website?

Anyone looking for a job is not only interested in the job itself, but also in the employer. Show what your company or agency stands for and what makes you stand out as an employer. The more applicants can identify with your company, the more likely they are to contact you!

What works very well here are testimonials from your own team. In short testimonial videos, your own employees can talk about what they do and what experiences they have had at the company.

Of course, information on available positions is also a must on every website. It is much more advantageous if you create a separate landing page for each vacancy, in which you can go into more detail about the activities, requirements, etc. It is a good idea to display a portrait of the individual jobs on the respective pages and include employee experiences.

You should also present the benefits of your company on the pages. Why should people choose you over the competition? Important: If you are not currently looking for new employees, you should not include a note stating that there are no vacancies. This way, you will miss the chance to receive interesting unsolicited applications.

In any case, the careers page should be easy to find and not be lost on the general company website, but be made quickly accessible with a clearly visible button.

The application process

Applicants should be able to find out about your application process. The content of your recruiting websites should therefore address the following questions:

• How do I submit an application?
• What happens afterwards?
• When will I receive an answer?
• How many interviews are there?

All these questions must be answered on your website. Potential employees must feel that they have been met and must not have any unanswered questions about the application process.

Mobile optimization

Up to 82 percent and more of users surf the internet on their smartphone. Your own website should therefore definitely be optimized for mobile devices. Make sure that the application process can also be carried out conveniently and easily on mobile devices. The website should be as user-friendly as possible.

Avoid the need for countless clicks to get to the desired ad. Buttons should be displayed at least as large as the nail on your index finger and the application form must be optimized for mobile devices. This means: No cumbersome uploading of PDF application documents.

Because nobody has their documents saved on their cell phone. Name, e-mail and phone number are enough for now. You can always add the rest later.

Recruiting website design

Design is an important aspect of recruiting. Nobody likes to apply for a job on a website that still uses Flash Player or dates back to the 1990s.

The design must therefore be modern and appeal to your potential applicants. Use lots of photos of you, your team and your company on the website so that interested people can get an idea of the company at first glance.

It is also important that you use your company's corporate design for your career pages. This is especially true if you run your careers page alongside your actual website. Too much of a change in style can lead to potentially interested parties leaving the site again because they feel "wrong" there:

• Use the same main, secondary and accent colors and the same fonts
• Ensure a uniform structure of the content with headings and font size grading across pages
• Don't forget the company logo

The website should also run technically flawlessly. Nothing is more annoying than a slow website. So make sure that your images and videos are compressed. Use a modern content management system such as WordPress and modern managed hosting such as Raidboxes.

Example of target-oriented design

One example of a good careers site is Spotify. The company remains true to the corporate design of the platform on the careers page, with a minimalist design and simple navigation.

Just like when searching for music, interested parties can use the keyword search to find suitable jobs and pre-filter them accordingly. The site also uses interesting design elements. For example, the recruiting website alternates between sharp and blurred elements.

Evaluate recruiting key figures

As soon as your recruiting websites are ready, the real work begins. Implement analysis options on your pages to be able to collect key figures. Some important recruiting KPIs are:

• Conversion: How many applications does the site generate?
• Impressions: How many people have visited the page?
• Conversion rate: Ratio of the number of conversions to the number of impressions
• The ratio of new to returning visitors
• Traffic sources: the origin of your site visitors
• Hires: How many candidates are ultimately hired via the career site channel?

Only when you know your key figures can you measure, evaluate and ultimately optimize the success of your career site.

As you can see, there are a few things to consider if you want to use your website to attract new employees. However, the investment and time are worth it, as you are creating an independent portal for recruiting and growing your team.