Your Website Through the Eyes of a Prospective Candidate
You have worked with your marketing team to come up with a website theme that incorporates your staffing firm logo and brand, but have you taken the time to really study the flow of your site? 
Do you know how your site performs in online searches? Have you conducted market research to find out what topics are important to your target audience? It’s time to look at your website through the eyes of a prospective applicant in order to ensure that they are going to have a positive candidate user experience.
Ease of Use
If you want to encourage candidates to stick around during their first visit and hopefully return in the future, your site must be easy to use. Make sure that your website navigation stands out and is not difficult to find. When designing your staffing firm website, take the time to properly layout each page so that prospective candidates are able to easily locate informative content, research open job positions, and apply online.
Original Content
In order to draw visitors to your staffing firm website and enhance the candidate user experience, your content needs to be original and provide value. Create an editorial calendar that includes useful topics such as resume and interview tips, networking techniques and industry updates. Make your content easy to locate by adding industry-specific keywords to boost your SEO. Build up trust with your target audience and establish your staffing firm as a thought leader in the industry by regularly posting new, informative content.
Integrated ATS
Don’t require potential candidates to enter too much information when applying for available positions, or you run the risk of users dropping off of your site. In order to enhance the candidate user experience on your staffing firm website, ensure that individuals are able to quickly upload their resume and add any additional documents or certifications to their profile. Integrate your ATS with your website so that the information is immediately accessible to your recruiting team, allowing for timely follow-up with the applicant. Candidates know that your recruiters are actively working to locate their next opportunity, thus increasing their level of satisfaction with your staffing firm and adding value to your brand.
Responsive Design
Unless your goal is to alienate today’s professionals, your staffing firm website must make use of responsive design. Candidates are not going to stick around for very long if your website doesn’t display accurately on their mobile phone, laptop, desktop or tablet. Analyze your site to optimize page load times and to decrease download times on gated content. Keep visitors happy by ensuring that your site is able to automatically adjust its layout based on a device’s screen size.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Pay attention to your analytics tools and make changes to your staffing firm website based on the data gathered. Online analytics programs report statistics on site traffic and provide information on the effectiveness of your website. Review the fallout report to see whether candidates are dropping off of your site before completing the online application, and make changes to the application process as needed. Actively monitor your site performance and stay on top of any changes in user interaction rates.
Key Takeaways for Your Website Through the Eyes of a Prospective Candidate:
- Make sure that your website navigation stands out and is easy to use
- Create original content in order to draw candidates to your website
- Enhance user experience by integrating your ATS with your website
- Incorporate responsive design into your website structure
- Online analytics provide insight into candidate satisfaction
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.