Beginner’s guide to creating a careers page on your website

But just how important is the careers page exactly? How do potential candidates use them? What are you missing out on if you don’t invest a little time into your company’s careers page? And, most importantly, what makes a good careers page? We’ll answer these essential questions below.

• Why is a careers page important?
• What do candidates look for on a careers page?
• Careers page best practices
• How to keep your careers page updated

Did you know JOIN allows you to build your own custom career page – for free! Learn about JOIN’s custom career page feature.

Why is a careers page important?

Research has shown that 69% of candidates are likely to apply to a company that puts some effort into managing their employer branding. This is partially because good employer branding builds trust and relationships between external parties and a business. Therefore, creating the best possible careers page is a necessity.

Not only does a good hiring page give your potential hire a brief taste of what life is like at your company, but it actually tells them what roles are actually available to them. Without this, they won’t know that they can join you at all! Therefore, in terms of talent attraction, having a careers page on your website is the best move you can make.

Are careers pages important for small businesses?

While a careers page is important for all businesses, it is a particularly important tool for small businesses. That is because maintaining and advertising open roles through your own careers page costs very little, while having an excellent impact on employer branding, and attracting applications.

To find out more about attracting talent as a small business, check out our article: Hiring employees for a small business without an HR department.

What do candidates look for on a careers page?

So, now you know that careers pages are an essential inclusion to your website if you want to attract active candidates. But, what is it they want to see there?

Well, the best careers pages include the following:

Summary of what you do

Assuming every person who lands on your careers page already knows what you do is a mistake. Did you know 50% of applicants will have found your company through a job board? Therefore, it is crucial to realise that they may have simply found your job post interesting and come to your page for more information.

These career page examples give you an idea of how you can effectively summarise what your company does. Having a small summary like this helps to build rapport with your potential hire, and give them an idea of whether their skills and interests match your business.

Location

This is especially important with a company that operates from multiple cities or countries. Not only will this give your potential hire an idea of whether they are interested in the role, but it will cut down on applications that aren’t suitable to your company needs. In short: a good careers page means less admin for the hiring manager!

It’s worth mentioning that JOIN displays this information for you, making your careers page design so much easier to maintain.

Images

A picture speaks a thousand words, right?

Including some images of your office, current staff, or other excellent and unique features of your business is a great way to show off your company culture. As culture is often described as the top predictor of workplace satisfaction, you want to highlight yours before an employee even steps through the door. A boring careers page indicates a boring company!

However, the images you use on your hiring page should be of a high standard. Low quality, blurry, or pixelated images may give candidates the impression that your company isn’t serious or well-organised. Meaning, investing in professional photography for your careers page is certainly a worthy use of funds.

Statistics

For candidates quickly skimming your career pages, statistics are a fantastic way to impress without giving them too much to read.

Including statistics on your careers page such as start date, growth rate, current employee number, and any other numbers you’re proud of is a great way to impress candidates and make you stand out from the competition.

As with anything, though, balance is key. You can always have too much of a good thing, and going overboard with a wall of statistics may cause a candidate to click off of the page. So, be sure to select the figures that best represent your company.

More example careers pages

To find some more examples of the best careers pages around, and get some inspiration as to what to add to yours check out our article 4 excellent career pages (and why we like them).

Careers page best practices

If you’re wondering how to create a career page for your website that will have candidates clicking to apply, here are some of the top best practice techniques to follow:

1. Keep your hiring page up to date

   An outdated careers page is a red flag for prospective employees. Whether there are roles on your page that have already been filled or they’ve seen a position advertised externally that isn’t mentioned on your website. This gives the impression of an unorganised company. 

   Did you know that if you use JOIN as your applicant tracking system then you get our handy Job Widget for free? Then, you can simply embed the widget in your career page and it ensures that your career page is always filled with your latest job offers. 

2. Utilise testimonies

   Don’t just make them take your word for it. One of the best sources you can utilise in your careers page is your existing talent. Having a couple of friendly quotes from a selection of your employees on your careers page helps to bring life to your company. Being able to put a face to the name and read opinions from real people deepens the emotions your potential candidate will feel for your company.

3. Consider the branding

   This is a critical point. If your company is known for their sleek design, or fun and adventurous attitude, then your careers page should match this. You need to consider the tone of voice used on the page too.The impression this page makes on a candidate can also influence the application and tone they take during their first contact with you.

   

4. Split your roles into departments

   Attention spans are famously getting shorter. So, you don’t want excellent talent to have to sift through a selection of job roles that aren’t relevant to them.Splitting up your open roles into departments allows candidates to quickly select the area relevant to them, find their dream role faster, and get their application sent in no time! This also gives your company an overall more organised appearance.

   

How to keep your careers page up to date

Using a widget, such as the JOIN widget, is the best way to keep your careers page updated at all times, and the applications coming in.

Find out how the JOIN widget works, how to add it to your careers page, and some of the best benefits to using it in our article five good reasons to use the JOIN Job Widget.

Keep them interested, even after the application

Once you’ve impressed the candidate into sending their application, the work doesn’t stop! In fact, it’s just getting started.

The application is just the initial point of contact. Once you’ve assessed the application and decided whether the candidate is the right fit, arranging an interview and following the hiring process best practices will keep your fresh new talent interested.

Our hiring practice blog posts can help to further your knowledge and skills in this area.