An appealing career page: how to build the perfect homepage to attract applicants

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Contents

• Most mid-sized companies waste the potential of a career page
• Company advertising? No! Employer advertising? Yes!
• Our 10 points for the perfect career page
• Who should build the ideal career page? You!
• Our building blocks, your ideas: together to the perfect career page
• Conclusion: be open, be authentic, and always keep your audience in focus
• Frequently asked questions

TL;DR

An appealing career page convinces when it does employer advertising instead of company advertising. Company culture, benefits, real employee voices, a transparent application process, a talent pool and recruiting videos make it the hub of your recruiting. According to a study by Monster, up to 37.3 percent of hires can come from job listings on a company's own website. This article shows you the 10 most important points for the perfect career page.

!An appealing career page on a screen, using photos, benefits and employee voices to attract talent.

Author: Dominik Becker · Published: 07.09.2022

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Your company is busy on networks like Xing and LinkedIn. Of course you are on Glassdoor too. You have your own company profile on every job board, and you present yourself with rich imagery on Facebook and Instagram. So nobody needs a career page anymore. Right?

Wrong!

Of course a company benefits from being active on different (digital) channels, but you must never neglect your career page in the process. A study by the job portal Monster and the universities of Frankfurt and Bamberg found that 37.3 percent of hires can come from job listings on a company's own website.

In this article we want to explain why your career page is a great chance to attract applicants, and what you can do specifically to make your own career page stand out too.

Most mid-sized companies waste the potential of a career page

A 2021 KOFA HR Work Index study found that only 14.1% of mid-sized companies have set up a career page. A full 76.9% of small and mid-sized companies do without one, and with it without the incredible potential a career page brings. If you look at a Randstad study from 2022, that even seems understandable at first glance. Among the top five channels for job searching, Google and job boards are right at the top. And the career page? It does not even rank here at first.

So the question briefly comes up: might the majority of mid-sized companies be right to skip a career page?

Here we have to say very clearly: no! They are not.

It would be a mistake to see the career page only as a place for job postings, because it is so much more. It is the hub of your recruiting!

Company advertising? No! Employer advertising? Yes!

Many job seekers use Google or job boards for their initial research. There they find out about the open roles on the market and can conveniently filter by criteria like location or the expertise they are looking for. But we all know: space in job postings is tight, and information about the company is usually only touched on briefly. A full description of company culture, values, benefits and team spirit is simply not possible there.

Stepstone summed up which parts of a job posting influence applicants the most in its 2018 Recruiting Insights. One thing becomes clear: a job description alone cannot deliver the comprehensive picture that would be needed.

This is the point where your career page comes into play, and it does so under the heading of employer branding.

For people interested in a job, the career page has long been the main port of call when it comes to getting an impression of your company as an employer. It is important that you do not misuse the career page as yet another portfolio showcase for your firm. This is not about you. On the career page, everything revolves around the specialists and talents. So: company advertising? No! Employer advertising? Yes!

The career page as the basis for your employer branding

Your career page is, as mentioned, perfect as the basis for your employer branding. Here you can show as authentically as possible what makes you special as an employer and why interested candidates should absolutely come to you.

The questions applicants ask themselves most often during their research are:

• What does the company stand for and what are its overarching goals?
• What is the working atmosphere like?
• How does the employer feel about work-life balance?
• What benefits are on offer?
• What about corporate social responsibility?
• What are current employees experiencing?
• How does an application work there and who can I contact?
• What open roles are there overall, and can I submit a speculative application?

If you communicate these points openly and with vivid examples, you have a good chance of attracting talent and motivating them to apply. Use the full media toolkit: photos, videos, interviews, quotes, graphics. Anything goes, as long as it is fun and represents you credibly.

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Our 10 points for the perfect career page

As the basis for employer branding and recruitment marketing, the career page is the center of your recruiting activities. To make sure it does not just convince but genuinely excites potential candidates, there are a few points you should keep in mind when building the page.

#1 Company culture, values and mission

Under this heading you describe the character of your company: what makes you special as an employer and what it is like to work with you?

Also spell out your higher goals. In other words, why your company exists in this form, where you want to go over time, and how you will get there. Important: applicants are not interested in growth figures and dry data. They want the chance to identify with your business. That way you mainly reach people who recognize themselves in your company values, which raises the odds that they will stay loyal to your company for longer.

#2 Button to your job postings

For everyone who wants to get to your job postings as fast as possible, a prominent button right at the top of your career page is essential. A long search for it risks candidates getting frustrated, dropping out and, in the end, not applying.

#3 Benefits and perks

What do you offer your employees, and why should they absolutely start with you? Look beyond salary, vacation days and free fruit here:

• How flexible are your working hours?
• Can people work from home or remotely?
• Do you have health care and sports programs?
• What about mentoring programs or a training budget?
• Do you offer reliable on-site childcare? These are all example points you can use to set yourself apart from the competition and impress job seekers.

#4 Images and photos

Images and photos bring your career page to life. But please no stock photos. Use pictures of real team members instead, because only those are authentic.

#5 Employee voices

Testimonials can move interested people to act, whether at the product level or in recruiting. Quotes from your employees about their daily work, the company culture or even the application process are more effective than any well-crafted marketing copy. So go ahead and give the colleague from IT or the skilled worker from the warehouse a voice on your career page.

#6 Open roles

Visitors to your career page do not just want exciting jobs, they also want a good experience when they browse your open roles. Give them the option to search your job postings as easily and precisely as possible by building in filters. That way engineering jobs in Cologne or a sales role in Munich are found quickly.

#7 Information about your application process

What do you have to hide? Make your application processes transparent! Your candidates and applicants want to know: what happens after they submit their documents? What comes next? Our tip here is to visualize it with icons for a quick overview of the process.

#8 Talent pool

Wouldn't it be a shame to excite people with your career page but then lose them because you don't have a suitable job for them right now? By joining a talent pool, interested people can show their enthusiasm, and for future roles you may already have the right specialists on hand.

#9 Contact person

It should really go without saying that you make yourself available as a contact person for people interested in a job. But all too often HR staff hide from candidates' questions. That is a no-go if you want to score points with your career page (and the application process). Be sure to publish a photo of yourself and your name. That builds trust and gives the digital application process a human face.

#10 Recruiting video and social media

Round off your career page by posting recruiting videos and linking your social media channels. Use these tools to let potential candidates get a first taste of the company. How about a day in the life of your frontend developer Vanessa? That conveys a sense of familiarity and brings applicants right into your team's everyday life.

Who should build the ideal career page? You!

Now you know what should go on your ideal career page. Now it is time to put it into practice.

There are plenty of external service providers who help build career pages or take the whole thing on as a complete package.

But no agency, no matter how thoroughly briefed, knows your company as well as you do. No one knows as vividly as you what it feels like to work with the company values and benefit from the perks. No external provider can put that feeling on paper as expressively as you can: authentic and full of conviction. Exactly the way employer branding should be.

Our building blocks, your ideas: together to the perfect career page

Of course you still don't have to stand alone when building your career page. With tools like those from mana HR, you can use ready-made building blocks and templates to build your career page exactly the way you imagine it. Without forgetting a single relevant element.

We supply the building blocks, you bring the individual input, and together we build your perfect career page.

Conclusion: be open, be authentic, and always keep your audience in focus

The career page is the most important medium for people interested in a job to find out about your company.

A good career page gives interested visitors insights into everyday working life and gently guides them toward applying.

Alongside our 10 points for the perfect career page, remember to always keep your target audience in focus with your content.

Use the chance to attract applicants and win them over with all your strengths. Thanks to dedicated tools, the technical side is child's play. Now all we need is your input. Authentic and unique. Just like your company!

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