HOW THE BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCIES SUCCEED ONLINE A STUDY OF HOW LEADING AGENCIES PROMOTE THEMSELVES ONLINE TO ATTRACT QUALITY CANDIDATES

Transcription

1 HOW THE BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCIES SUCCEED ONLINE A STUDY OF HOW LEADING AGENCIES PROMOTE THEMSELVES ONLINE TO ATTRACT QUALITY CANDIDATES

2 1 MAKE MOBILE EASY With around 15% of visits now coming via mobile devices making sure your website can be viewed and users can interact easily is a must. As users come to your website through their mobile device, it is important their experience correctly reflects your company as well as providing a streamlined user journey, immediately allowing for fast and easy job searching. A good mobile site should be fast, user-friendly and link to your website, reducing the need for multiple data entry. CASE STUDY SALT RECRUITMENT Streamlined user journey Salt s mobile site clearly reflect the company s brand. Calls to actions are clear and easy to use no pinching and pulling required. The site loads fast on a 3G connection due to its streamlined setup. This means there are no huge images or large amounts of content slowing it down. Jobs added to the website are immediately displayed on the mobile site.

3 2 MAKE SEARCHING FOR JOBS LIKE SHOPPING On entering a recruitment site 50-60% of visitors immediately use a job search. When a browse search function is available, 60%-75% of searches are made using it. This has been learned from e-commerce sites and is an effective alternative to searching by keyword. This enables candidates to find relevant vacancies faster. Browse search helps cut out irrelevant vacancies and deliver suitable vacancies instantly. Surprisingly, less than 50% of recruitment sites offer this powerful function. CASE STUDY CAPITA RESOURCING Browse search Capita Education s browse search sits in a prime location on the home page. The relevance of sectors is instantly communicated and this supports navigation. The second step of the search gives the user more criteria to refine their search. Through having more registrations via the website Capita spends less on getting CVs from other sources such as job boards.

4 3 EASY APPLICATION PROCESS One of the most common reasons to lose a visitor before they convert is due to a poor application form. Successful application pages such as ReThink's are well constructed, thoughtfully designed and easy to complete. Any person that has made it to your application pages is a white-hot prospect - frustrating this user at the last minute is an expensive mistake. Our research shows that a poor application form creates a high drop off rate. New technologies such as Apply with LinkedIn are making this whole process even easier and are a great way of capturing time-scarce candidates. CASE STUDY RETHINK RECRUITMENT Clear calls to action The site offers multiple application methods for each job. Calls to action are clearly laid out and highlighted. Forms do not require more information than is really necessary. The site lets users store their details to make applying for more than one job simple.

5 4 SPEAK TO USERS IN THEIR LOCAL LANGUAGE Your visitors need to know they are in the right place within seconds. This means knowing who you are, what you deal with and that you have relevant vacancies which are geographically relevant, and that your site is that of a quality consultancy. Over 72% of all job searches start from Google. When a website doesn t convey the right messages instantly, most users leave via the back button and visit the next relevant search result often a competitor s site. CASE STUDY FIRST POINT GROUP Native language for users First Point Group has three websites each targeting a different geographic location. Core markets are immediately shown a website which means something to them. Websites are easy to understand and navigate.

6 5 SEPARATE VERTICAL MARKETS Any recruitment site that covers a wide range of industries runs the risk of being seen as too generalist and therefore irrelevant. Both candidates and clients need recruitment consultancies that understand their business, and while multi-disciplinary agencies have specialist consultants a web user doesn t instantly see the big picture, just the page they land on. Just as a prospect would speak with a sector-specific consultant on the phone or face to face, they should arrive at a section that is clearly dedicated to their area of business. Colour schemes, graphics, images, headlines and content should instantly distinguish site sectors. CASE STUDY SPENCER OGDEN Distinct colour coded logos and websites Spencer Ogden s website clearly separates each business area it operates in and treats each as a sub-brand. Each sector has different colours and imagery, but maintains the style and layout of the main site. The main landing page for each sector is given equal importance to the home page, with targeted content on each page. Sector pages rank well within search engines due to sector relevant content.

7 6 STAMP YOUR AUTHORITY - BLOGS Blogs are an intelligent way to engage both active and passive candidates and clients, without selling or pushing marketing messages at readers. A good blog will contain regularly updated content which is relevant to the market (not just job hunting), provide useful information, express the recruitment agency s brand personality and not try to sell too hard. A good blog aims to generate traffic and brand awareness. Many agencies find that their blogs don t just generate new traffic but new CV registrations. CASE STUDY MINDBENCH Content is easy to share and bookmark This blog has opinions, news stories and analysis on all areas its potential candidates (and clients) need to know about. The company chooses bloggers carefully. The quality of the blog s content shows the business has experts that genuinely understand the areas they work in. Each author is given a small profile with a photo rather than being left as a faceless credit at the end of a post. Links and buttons around the blog posts make it easy to share content, which helps the blog develop a social following.

8 7 LIST RELEVANT JOBS NEXT TO VALUABLE CONTENT Potential candidates expect quality content from the moment they engage with a recruitment brand this starts before they even get to the site, through an , search engine or social networking referral for example. Once the user is on the page, the content should be relevant, easy to read and understand. Listing jobs next to valuable content uses tried and tested principles of display advertising. Today, content means more than just the copy in your website; it includes images, videos, polls, feeds from other sites, widgets such as salary calculators and more. CASE STUDY ASHDOWN GROUP Job posts are written and displayed with appropriate keywords so the user will realise a listing is relevant to them immediately. Appropriate news content is also placed on pages to act as an excellent way of keeping a user engaged. Links to relevant jobs are laid out next to the news article to entice candidates.

9 8 MAKE YOUR SITE EASY TO FIND ON GOOGLE As most online job searches start at a search engine, search engine optimisation now has a very important role in generating revenue. Around 65% of recruitment website traffic is generated through search engine referrals. Across the recruitment industry, websites are generally the best performing channel for quality candidates at a greatly reduced cost per placement. This can be as little as a third of their next best performing candidate attraction avenue. Ensuring your website is found, is essential. CASE STUDY BARCLAY SIMPSON Search results are well written to convey relevance The site ranks number one on Google for all the most important job titles for its sector, the result of a strategic approach executed over a number of years. Content is search-optimised across the website, and job titles written with search in mind. The site has generated hundreds of good quality links from other websites Search results are carefully written to attract a visitor. New content is constantly added to the site, including news stories relevant to the business sectors serviced.

10 9 ENGAGE IN SOCIAL MEDIA Some of the best candidates come in through referrals and recommendations social media can be seen as a powerful new way to generate these. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook help recruiters to generate brand awareness by getting involved in online conversations. These channels are particularly useful for getting to passive candidates. The power of social media referrals is based upon the trust present within any network. This is not a channel that will generate leads instantly. Social media needs time and dedication to deliver any valuable results, usually several months. CASE STUDY PFJ Well managed social presence on a blog LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook PFJ uses a number of social media channels to address multiple audiences. Social media profiles are split out into sectors, targeting different market segments with highly relevant information. Social media posts are generous they point to valuable content and do not only link to PFJ s website.

11 10 MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF is an extremely powerful marketing tool and is highly effective when used correctly to promote your brand. allows companies to reach out to its audience and deliver relevant content on a regular basis. is highly measurable, allowing you to quickly understand a campaigns success. It is often best to use as part of a campaign, sending a series of s over time which allows trust to be built with the audience a one off poorly planned can do more harm than good. CASE STUDY DEVERELL SMITH RECRUITMENT Clearly displayed purpose Obvious call to action Subject lines are the most important element when looking at open rates so it s worth spending time creating something effective that abides by the golden rules. s must be to the point. It is all to easy for users to delete an . Use clear signposting to drive the user to when you need them to go. Use a recognised marketing tool when sending out campaigns. This will help make sure you stick to strict guidelines and do not end up blacklisted.