Building a ‘Careers’ Page in 2019

Plenty of businesses recognize the value of building a robust ‘Careers’ page when planning a new website. They understand that this page will be a central touchpoint that every potential employee will encounter along their journey. Regardless of whether job seekers are reached through job sites, recruiters, referral programs, or local events—they all funnel through website’s career hub eventually.

However, as strategy shifts into design and development, many clients begin to lose focus on attracting talent and narrow in on key landing pages and driving conversions—as they should! Often, we lean on clients’ expertise within their industry and let the content dictate the design and flow. This is the stage where we take the clients’ direction and work to develop unique, engaging experiences—then refine that experience with the client’s experience and knowledge.

WE GOT YOU, FAM
So, it’s natural that—in the client’s mind—the ‘Careers’ page takes a backseat during most projects. No problem, we didn’t forget about it. We have a range of popular content options for clients to customize specifically for their business and culture.

Let’s talk about some techniques and content ideas we develop to jumpstart the ‘Careers’ page conversation and get clients excited about the hidden value of their new website: attracting incredible talent.
Communicate. . .

• company culture and values
• company reputation
• perks and benefits
• opportunity for challenging work
• mission and vision
• potential career growth

Long pages go a long way

We love long pages. While they aren’t ideal for every situation, they’re perfect for ‘Career’ pages because they do a great job of letting us control the flow of information to the user, ultimately taking potential employees on a journey, rather than clicking around on their own to find information. This rings especially true on mobile, where pinch zooming in and out for links and buttons is a painful experience.

Long-scrolling pages are also ideal when you want to let images do more talking than text. Take a five-page website for example. Each page, on its own, would require more than a paragraph of copy to seem like a substantial page. Throw those same five paragraphs on a long-scrolling page with related images and resources and the content production requirement is cut down significantly.

Provide quick ways to navigate

Okay, one caveat with long pages is that you have to give users the ability to skip around the page. Don’t lock anyone into your story—it’s not going to be for everyone. Especially, repeat visitors and folks who just want to jump to the open positions. An easy way around this is with sub-nav menus and anchor links. In fact, a common practice is throwing an ‘Available Positions’ button in the banner that anchors users to the bottom of the page where job postings are displayed. Ideally, users will have the ability to view a summary of the position from the ‘Careers’ page, click into the listing, and apply directly within the website. However, there are plenty of APIs and portals that force candidates offsite to apply, which we can accommodate as well.
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Keep things up to date and personable

Ninety-four percent of job seekers are more likely to apply to a job if an employer is actively managing their company brand. Update pictures and videos, respond to reviews, and even solicit your new hires for testimonials. Similar to how social proof works for you customers, a few quotes from current employees checks off qualitative boxes for job seekers. Most importantly, treat your careers page as extension of your brand and don’t let it become stale after launch.