If you’re finding it challenging to hook the best employees in the talent pool, you’re not alone. McKinsey found that nearly one in three senior leaders cite finding talent as their most significant managerial challenge. The constant battle for superior employees is so pervasive and competitive that human resource and management professionals often refer to it as the “War for Talent.”
However, this skirmish for the most talented fish in the sea can’t be solved by simply dropping a line and seeing what bites; businesses need to ensure their tackle boxes are armed with alluring content that highlights their value proposition, branding, culture, cover values, and purpose. If you’re interested in bolstering your team with exceptional workers, then cast anchor and allow us to help you string up a lure that actually works. It’s called a careers page, and there are several critical components that you need to include to attract top talent.
Highlight Your EVP
To attract top-tier talent, you need an employee value proposition (EVP) that is more enticing than your competitors (in this case, everyone who is looking for talent). One way to do this is by being as distinctive as possible about the perks of working with your company. Don’t just use phrases like, “great company culture” and “competitive benefits,” but rather, describe those attributes in detail.
For instance, Airbnb does a stellar job of underscoring a company culture that emphasizes inclusivity and equity through its mission statement: Create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.
Airbnb’s careers page highlights another critical element of an EVP: working isn’t just about money. The kind of job people want is one that allows them to live better. To attract talent, you should go beyond showing them a cold hard number and tell them what life would be like if they worked for you. To do just that, Airbnb breaks it down like this:
Just remember, people are becoming increasingly distrusting of businesses. Edelman, a public relations firm, found that 42% of people don’t know which companies to trust. Therefore, when you make a commitment through your EVP, you need to be sure you can follow through, and not keeping your promises is a surefire way to lose talent. To reinforce trust in your business, find employees who can vouch for your company and include their quotes throughout the careers page. A fantastic example of this is GoSpotCheck’s careers page.
What’s more, 71% of workers say that they use referrals from an organization’s current employees to learn about job opportunities, according to Gallup. Therefore, making sure your employees are happy now means even more happy employees later.
Showcase Your Brand
From the photos you use to the fonts you choose, your brand should be as strong on your careers page as it is on your homepage. When a candidate is looking for a career, they need to have a sense of your business before they even begin reading your job listings. Research from Workable and NAS Recruitment states that nine out of ten candidates are likely to apply for a job when its employer brand is actively maintained.
Furthermore, an excellent public image does more than attract talent; it retains it too. According to employee satisfaction software company, Officevibe, employee turnover can be reduced by 20% by merely investing in employer brand.
Also, consider the navigation and load time of your careers page. If the site isn’t user-friendly or is slow to the draw, your talent is going to browse one that performs better. According to Nielsen Norman Group, you have 10 seconds to communicate your value proposition. If you don’t strike a chord in that timeframe, your visitors are going elsewhere.
Culture, Core Values, & Purpose
Company culture is critical to attracting the best and brightest talent. While culture forms over time and organically, companies can help facilitate its positive formation by outlining their overarching mission and core values, creating purpose-focused branding, and (of course) hiring an incredible team to help it come to fruition.
Consider showcasing your company culture right out of the gate. For instance, Drift’s makes a bold statement about their mission and using branded-imagery to capture the essence of its company.
To prove to top-talent that you've thought about your mission and your approach to making it happen, it's vital that you have your core values layout. Zenefits’ careers page does an incredible job by not only listing their warm-hearted convictions, but doing it in a way that seamlessly aligns with their branding.
The bottom line is that businesses can no longer remain neutral when it comes to environmental, social, and economic issues. People expect businesses to take a stand. In a 2018 Cone/Porter Novelli Purpose study, researchers found that 78% of Americans believe companies must do more than just make money; they must positively impact society as well.
Therefore, take a stand and let it be known on your careers page. After all, 61% of Americans don’t believe a company has purpose unless it is clearly stated in places they can easily find, such as on product packaging, the company website, or in the employee handbook.
Werk People Love
While a healthy paycheck is always a crowd-pleaser, money isn’t everything. Research from Harvard Business Review (HBR) suggests that nine out of ten people are willing to work for less money to do more meaningful work. Furthermore, American workers said they’d be willing to forego an astonishing 23% of their entire future lifetime earnings in order to have a job that was always meaningful.
So do you have a careers page that is converting well? A study from Jobvite shows that the industry benchmark is 12%, meaning that, for every nine potential hires visiting your site, you should receive one application.
Since your careers page is one of the primary places top talent searches to see if your company is a good fit, be sure you make an outstanding first impression by polishing your website and branding. If you’re looking for an agency with a seasoned team that knows how to design and develop a page that pulls in superior candidates, contact Werkbot today to learn what we can do for you.