Within an increasingly digital landscape, employees and employers alike continue to embrace the limitless potential of the internet. Job boards offer a wealth of choices for those seeking employment, more so than ever before. Similarly, career pages finally sway applicants, as they reach the search results pages of googling job seekers. Employers, by the same token, need to compete in this proverbial arena as well. They, however, face a considerable challenge; they need to speak to the sensibilities of a new, tech-savvy audience. They need to not only present a clear, alluring offer, but also promise a clear path to career development. These and other factors make your company career page more important today than ever before, as we will discuss below.

The digitization of job-seeking

Now, citing digitization alone is extremely easy in this day and age. Many regard it as a truism, so much so that the claim faces no scrutiny at all. Yes, digitization drives content marketing and many business endeavors today. But here, examining what exactly digitization does for job seekers, specifically, holds immense value. In this context, it holds the answer to why career pages are more important today than ever. In no particular order, consider the following four elements of note.

#1 Job boards spearhead recruitment

Starting with job boards, one may cite the boom of WordPress job board plugins and themes. All of these prominent assets promise great design and functionality to address businesses’ needs. But where is this market demand coming from?

Statista, which we will be citing a lot to support these claims, offers an initial explanation:

• In terms of job hires, 20% of 2018’s job hires worldwide resulted from job board applications. Career sites actually ranked higher than job boards in the same statistic.
• In the same period, almost half of all job applications worldwide were submitted through job boards.

Topical trends in various job markets support this further. In the same period, 58% of NA staffing firm employees regarded professional social networks as great candidate sources. A year earlier, the same trend of online job searching had taken hold in Europe, with numbers only increasing since. Job boards and career pages acquiring massive reach through increased internet and mobile penetration might already explain this adequately.

#2 Online recruitment vs. recruitment effectiveness

While the above highlights opportunities, this and the following points highlight challenges. Job boards and career pages are more important today than ever, precisely because they need to address emerging challenges.

If you’ve noticed a discrepancy in the above statistics on applications versus those on hires, you’re not alone. If almost 50% of applicants apply through job boards, but only 20% are hired. That leaves a massive ~30% gap. Certainly, the two figures can never fully match organically, but this large of a gap can only denote inefficiency. Indeed, Statista also notes this, noting that career sites and job boards are the least effective recruitment channels.

Still, they have an exponentially larger reach than other methods – that much is clear. But reach and efficiency need to align more closely. So how can they see improvements? The answer might lie in the following points.

#3 Employee experience is taking center stage

For one, career pages specifically seem to need to address the priorities and sensibilities of new applicants. High among them is employee experience, as Statista notes that a staggering 94% of talent professionals and hiring managers agree it will shape the recruiting industry.

This alone should help contextualize what an effective career page needs to address; the human element. Much like customer reviews, employee stories serve as social proof. Yet, too many career pages fail to promote the employee experience an applicant might expect, and fail to share that of current and past employees. That’s precisely why many career pages now do focus on their employees and their employment satisfaction.

So, is a basic job description enough for a career page to function? Certainly. Will it convince digital passersby to apply, enticing the best applicants among them? Highly unlikely, as figures show.

#4 A new generation of employees takes hold

We may likely attribute such trends and sensibilities to a simple truth; millennials are striding ahead in the workforce. Some relevant statistics here include:

• Millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. workforce in 2016, according to Pew Research Center.
• Over the decade of 2019-2029, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects their size will increase by 4.5 million.
• Further research cited by TeamStage finds that millennials will represent 75% of the global workforce by 2025.

But does this matter? It does because this new generation carries new employment criteria. In this digital landscape, your company career page is more important than ever before, because it needs to address them. Just consider some crucial ones among them:

• Glass & Company, cited by TeamStage above, finds that 75% of millennials believe organizations are focused on their own good. This falls well in line with the findings of the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer; as consumers and employees alike, millennials value ethical drivers.
• BusinessOfFashion finds that millennials value career development more than pay. That is, they value a clear path to career progression more than payment alone.
• Finally, Deloitte finds that millennial job turnover remains high. In 2018, 43% of millennial employees expected to leave their company within two years. What’s more, this number only slightly fluctuates over the years.

In brief, then, this is the challenge career pages now face. They address a socially conscious, tech-savvy, engaged workforce that values career development. For this demographic, a decent salary will not suffice; they care for the employee experience, ethical drivers, and social change. If marketing strategies need to adapt to this demographic, so too do recruitment strategies.

Refining your company career page

With all of the above in mind, what does your career page need to look like? While nobody can provide universal answers, and nobody can bottle uniqueness, we may begin by addressing the above:

1. Keep it mobile-friendly. Increasingly more applicants seek jobs on job boards on mobile devices. If your career page can’t offer a good mobile experience, you may needlessly lose potential applicants.
2. Make it visually appealing. A timeless truism, your career page must always look its best. It is the first contact an applicant likely has with your company, so make it count.
3. Highlight the employee experience. Try to humanize your company by including pictures, company stories, and past and current employee experiences.
4. Present a clear path to career progression. As we highlighted above, applicants look for development prospects more actively than ever before. Use your career page to convince them their work and excellence can forge a path ahead.
5. Highlight your mission statement. Finally, state your vision loud and clear. Both applicants and consumers value ethical drivers and commitment to social change. If your company espouses such goals explicitly, your career page is an excellent way to highlight your vision.

These are, of course, only basic, universal guidelines. To truly make your career page edge ahead of the competition, you will need to innovate and adapt to change. There is no one-size-fits-all approach or clean-cut solutions. It is your unique flair, impeccable design, and clear messaging that will ultimately ensure success.

Conclusion

In summary, your company career page is indeed more important today than ever before. Indeed, it’s a far-reaching tool, which goes hand in hand with increased internet and mobile penetration. However, its effectiveness hinges on both the visual appeal and resonating with new demographics amid shifting trends. So, a basic career page that only covers the basics won’t do; it needs to address new challenges head-on. Only through innovation and adaptation will it become a genuinely effective recruitment tool that will help ensure continued success.

Photos used

https://pixabay.com/photos/doors-choices-choose-open-decision-1587329/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-woman-using-smartphone-and-laptop-during-work-in-office-4467737/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-woman-wearing-eyeglasses-3184405/

https://pixabay.com/photos/stickies-post-it-list-business-2852375/