It’s a fiercely competitive marketplace for talent and quality talent is a key differentiator for corporate success in today’s knowledge-driven economy.
Developments in internet technologies have been rapid and is assisting employers to attract the best minds in the talent marketplace. The use of the internet platform for activities cenral to the employment process has shifted the paradigm of the traditional recruitment process. The recruitment process is now being supppored by online RSS feeds, Podcasting, Blogs, rich media and e-recruitment technology platforms.
A new analysis of the careers sites of Australia's Top 150 publicly listed companies show that the majority are well behind world best practice standards and some might be actually harming the employer's brand.The study, by Brett Minchington, Managing Director Collective Learning Australia, and Senior Partner, Employer Brand International (formerly Employer Brand Institute) analysed the top 150 Australian publicly listed company career websites against best practice elements such as talent relationship management, access, content, online recruitment process and usability.
Minchington, said the analysis showed that the majority of Australian careers sites were static, out-of-date, contained too-much text and lacked interactivity.
He said in most cases, the information on careers sites was simply a replica of the "about us" section of the main corporate website.
A well designed careers website will not only deliver process and sourcing cost savings it will also improve candidate quality and opportunity cost savings by reducing the time of unfilled positions through a higher quality, targeted recruiting process.
The careers website must be a communications vehicle and process enabler and the development process should begin with defining the objectives, scope and resources available to build the site. The careers website will evolve as the company tracks and measures the success of the platform in its recruitment initiatives. A clearly defined site map should answer the following questions:
- How will the site communicate our Employer Brand Promise and Employer Value Propositions (EVP’s) to our target audience?
- How will the site differentiate our firm from our competitor’s employment offering?
- How will the site engage the candidate to stay and search our site?
- How will the site provide the candidate with what the employment experience at our company looks like – what stories will we tell them?
- How will the use of corporate videos, blogs, job agents, assist to communicate our employer brand?
Some of the pitfalls to avoid when building your website include:
- Treating your site as a corporate communications brochure
- Treating your career site as a traditional corporate site
- Designing your site for your internal audience
- Writing your site in a linear style full of ‘corporate speak’
The success of your careers site should be measured by the number and quality of candidates who are posting, conversion rates and the effectiveness of the application process.
Examples of best practice careers websites include Goldman Sachs, PwC (UK), Philips, Deutsche Bank and Procter & Gamble. The research report and best practice guidelines can be purchased at www.collectivelearningaustralia.com
Connect with Brett - You can follow him on Twitter, watch him on YouTube connect with him via LinkedIn, or friend him on Facebook
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