Turn your Careers Page into a Demand Generation Page
Whether you're a start-up or an established brand, attracting top talent is paramount in today's high-skilled environment. As competition for talent becomes more and more intense, it's vital that your careers page spends as much effort generating demand for potential candidates as your marketing material does for potential clients.
So how do you go about doing this? In a nutshell, you need to sell your workplace to candidates and encourage them to fill out an application. It's not enough to just list your open positions, you need to make a case for your company.
The story for each company will be different, but the elements to cover are the same. Here are a few areas to consider, and some good examples being used by companies today.
1) What You Do Should Matter
Top-tier employees aren't just chasing a paycheck or a title - they're looking to apply their skills to a purpose.
This doesn't mean your company has to be saving the world, but it does mean that you need to articulate why what your company does is important in the industry it influences. Whether you're improving an existing model, disrupting one, or creating a whole new one, you need to sell your purpose to candidates.
More importantly though, you need to be able to make people feel like their contribution to this purpose matters.
EXAMPLES
Kickstarter
Newscred
2) Your People Matter
What your company does may attract candidates to your careers page, but the people that make up your company is what keeps them there. By putting human faces on your company, you will not only show that you have the smartest people in the industry, but you'll help to attract more of the right type of people.
There are many ways to do this, but visuals are the most compelling methods. Whether it's a video showcase, images of people at work, or testimonials, the most important thing is that you provide candidates with a way to see themselves working there.
EXAMPLES
Spotify
3) Your Space is Inviting
You don't need to have a multi-million dollar office space to entice talent, (though it helps!) What matters most is that you can help candidates to visualize what a workday looks like at your company.
There are few bigger turn-offs for candidates than the thought of a soul-crushing cubicle life, à la Office Space, so this is a great opportunity to show that your workplace is a fluid, idea-sharing one. By including photos of informal brainstorming sessions, or creativity-rich envrionments, you can create an image in their minds that will have them much more likely to hit the 'apply' button.
EXAMPLES
Square
Google
4) Your Benefits are Enticing
Benefits won't make a candidate come work for you, but if you've told your story in a compelling way, it might just seal the deal. You don't need to list everything in your HR goodie bag, but you should make it clear that your company looks out for its employees' best interests, and helps them to build their own professional skill-set.
EXAMPLES
Square
Newscred
Summary
If you want to be the best in this competitive environment, you need to hire the best. Building your recruiting story is just as important as building your marketing story. By spending some time on crafting this story, and incorporating some compelling visuals, you'll be a much more desirable option in what has become a buyer's market.
Liam Moroney is the Marketing Manager at HookLogic, a leader in ecommerce performance marketing solutions. He has a wide range of experience in marketing design, demand generation and marketing automation.