Is Your Website Deterring Candidates?

The trouble with websites is that they often become a convenient dumping ground for every piece of information you have about your agency. Your vision, your hopes and your dreams are all on there someplace. But is that really what your candidates want to see? Ask yourself, if I was looking to use a recruitment agency to get myself a new job, what would I want to know?

Too much information

When you get to your home page, what does it say about your recruitment agency? Candidates want to know what kind of recruitment you do and how you do it, they don’t want to have to wade through your company’s entire history to find out what you’re all about. Make the information clear, easy to read and very brief. Your home page should sum up what your company is about and who it represents. Don’t make potential candidates jump through hoops to find out basic information.

It’s a great idea to have someone with a fresh pair of eyes to look through all of your content and feedback to your team. Ask yourself, do our candidates really need to know this? Is this the right place for this information? If the answer is no, then take it off. Make sure that all your information is current. If you have a news or blog section, when was it last updated? If it only contains old information this can ring alarm bells for your audience.

The right information

Of course you want to find room on your website to sing your agency’s praises. The About Us section is the best place to do this. This is your opportunity to sell your services. Make sure you mention any awards you have won, top clients you work with and most importantly use this space to tell your candidates why they should trust in you. Show them that your organisation isn’t all about filling positions, tell them why you are passionate about helping them find their dream job. Talk about your organisation’s background and the reasons it was started in the first place. Tell your story, make it personal and inspiring, but not too long in length.

Show me the jobs

So a potential candidate uses their lunch hour to look for a new job and they visit your site. What’s the first thing they look for? If you don’t offer the sort of positions that they are looking for, they are not going to be interested, no matter how great your recruitment chat is. Make it easy for them, make your job section easy to find and easy to navigate around.

Show them the face of your business

Asking candidates to trust you to find them a new job, is a big ask. After all, if you get it wrong it could lead to them being miserable for the foreseeable future. Make it easy for them to like you by showing photographs of your recruiters on your site. No stuffy looking photos please or unusual ones of your recruiters looking dynamic or staring off in to space. All you need is a nice smiley photograph of each staff member looking directly into the camera. Add a small biography underneath each one, written in the first person. Something open and friendly like: “Hi, my name is Jane Smith and I specialise in IT Recruitment” is fine. You could then go on to explain more about their role and how candidates can get in contact, but make sure it isn’t too corporate or intimidating. For candidates this is the first step in getting to know you. It will help them feel at ease and encourage them to get in touch.