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By Phil Wagner, Staffing.org Optimum Performance

The article refers to corporate web sites but contains information that is important to know when placing ads on job boards as well. Our Job boards incorporate these suggestions to make it easier for employers to write ads that will appeal to talented job seekers.

When we asked in our Job Seeker Attitudes and Behaviors: Mastering Internet Marketing report earlier this year, “What do you consider the most efficient way to begin a job search on the Internet?,” only 20% Internet audience/18% job board audience) answered “Go directly to individual company websites,” while 33% (each) said “Search large job boards.” This confirmed what we learned in its 2007 predecessor report: Job seekers harbor a pronounced frustration with poor corporate websites. They are, in fact, far more likely today to consult Monster (where 41%/59% actually applied for a job in the past year), CareerBuilder (38%, 69%) or Yahoo! Hotjobs (14%, 36%) than they are to instinctively go to your corporate website and apply directly for a job. In fact, only a modest 13% regularly even visited your site back in 2007 compared with more than twice as many (28%) who never paid you a visit.
Why is this? According to both surveys, it is partly an issue of trust; not believing that most enterprises are capable of presenting themselves honestly. More important, though, is the job seeker’s reaction to a site that, plainly put, turns them off, that is unappealing and/or tedious to navigate, or that just does not contain the nuts and bolts information they expect and deserve. Advantaged job seekers, those with greater education and higher job status, are better prepared to use corporate websites by efficiently matching openings to qualifications. They depend on their experience and networks to facilitate wider exposure to competitors and desirable opportunities. Top managers are lesser users, predictably more accustomed to receiving calls directly from a headhunter or recruiter.
It may appear counterintuitive that job seekers would not search first and foremost for jobs with your company on your website. However, such is the case, making it imperative that you weigh in with IT and other departments to make your corporate site superior, particularly its HR and jobs-careers sections. We found in 2007 that 45% of your audience can readily distinguish between a good site and a mediocre/poor one. And common sense would suggest that these discerning job seekers are the very ones you most want to attract. Can you afford to turn off that many potential candidates? We doubt it. As for the other 55% who said they don’t notice then, don’t take them for granted either.
Just because your site is pretty good doesn’t mean it’s doing the job it could be doing. In today’s appreciably more difficult recruiting environment, pretty good won’t improve any of your recruiting outcomes or metrics.
Our advice: For the benefit of ample numbers of discerning job seekers in all demographic categories, err on the side of positive communication, necessary disclosure and overall excellence. Value your website for what it is, the first direct encounter a majority of job seekers will have with you, your culture, and your crucial role in the economic landscape. Make it your welcome mat to their dreams, their talents, their contributions. Make it stimulating and colorful, conversational and compelling, and not overly busy. Seize the day to build and sustain relationships by overreaching to ensure that job seekers do more than too quickly visit, too harshly judge and stroll on. When a corporate website does not fulfill their needs, an overwhelming majority (75% in 2007) tell us they were dissuaded from applying.
So what exactly are these needs? In 2007, our job seeker sample allowed as how:

• Salaries and benefits, including valuable comparisons with peer companies, ruled the roost - 81% agreed on that
• Next was lifestyle in terms of flexible hours, work-at-home, work-life (or life-work!) balance - about 67%
• Training and developing programs, at a few ticks over 50%, came next
• Brand, culture and values (what your company stands for and how you want prospective employees to act) - 40%
• The type of employee that succeeds or fails in your company - 33%
• Finally, environmental awareness and initiatives, and community involvement and contributions, both hovered at 25%, while how employees build wealth was under 20%.
• This time around, we learned that:
• As to “Have you found that a company’s website is a good indicator of whether or not you would be happy working there?,” miniscule numbers termed it “superior,” almost half “reliable,” but “almost half either “unreliable” or “poor.”
• As to “Have you ever not applied to a company due to any of these drawbacks?,” the worst news is that 47% Internet audience, 58% job board audience chose “Their applications process was frustrating” and high numbers said “The application took too much time and I had to quit mid-way”; 44%/36% said “The job descriptions were too vague”; and a third complained that “Information about the company was inadequate.”
• Again, much as before, as to “What content do you specifically look for when reviewing a company’s website?,” the top four responses (of 10 offered)  were salary ranges/ benefits offerings, training/development programs, lifestyle, and career tracks and promotion opportunities.
• As to, “Few job sites are perfect. If you could offer advice to corporations on theirs, what would it be?,” the top three responses were “Make your job application process clearer,” “Provide job status reports so I know where I stand,” and “Acknowledge receipt of my resume.”
• As to “Which of the following provide you the best guidance about working for a company?,” top responses were “What current employees say on the company’s website” and “Content and design of a company’s website.”
• As to “Have you applied to a job posting and/or submitted a resume on a company website within the past year?,” usage of this avenue is definitely up, with only 32%/26% saying “No,” while hardly second nature, with only 15%/36% choosing either of the “5 or more times” answers.

The takeaway here is, tell job seekers what they want to know. Be direct, honest and specific. From a recruiting standpoint, it can only be self-defeating to withhold particulars from those who may be your next generation of talent. Looked at another way, encourage an open exchange of information, secure in the knowledge that, if they still care, they can and will dig on the Internet for answers that matter. Keep in mind that, while salaries and benefits may top their list, they’re looking for more. So as long as yours are competitive, you then have many other fronts on which to possibly close the sale. __Take advantage of them all.

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