Is Your Careers Page Putting Candidates Off?

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Contributors
find the perfect candidate for your job

Today, around 2.3 billion people use a smartphone meaning people can easily find information on pretty much anything in seconds. With this information, consumers have the power to decide whether to buy or whether to look elsewhere. The same principle applies to candidates who are looking for work but want to research the company before they apply. Having access to the internet and social media on the move means the candidate can do this research anywhere they wish but if you don’t have a well-optimised careers page, active social media accounts or a careers page, you are damaging your reputation before anything even happens.

What challenges could schools face if a careers page isn’t optimised?

If a careers page is difficult to navigate, uses jargon, or provides very little information about the company, it’s likely that you are not appealing to passive, or active, candidates, who may be put off from applying.

Not only will a poor careers site harm your active job seekers, but it could also be failing to attract passive candidates. With the best talent already in employment, you must make sure your careers page/site appeals to these passive candidates. Those already in work are not necessarily looking for another job, but if they have a particularly bad day, then there is a high chance that they might look at other opportunities.

But the biggest problem facing recruiters in educational institutions today is attracting the right talent, so just having a careers page alone is not enough to find employees

Potential candidates often use a careers site to familiarise themselves with a company’s culture and values, as a candidate needs to see themselves fitting in at a company before applying for a position. It is, therefore, essential to convey the right message to your potential candidates. If an organisation fails to portray their employer brand correctly, they risk losing out on great candidates. What’s worse, deterring savvy candidates from applying could result in hiring the ‘best of a bad bunch’, which could be damaging to productivity and staff morale.

So what should a careers page be doing to help attract the right candidates?

A school careers page is like a shop window; instead of advertising products or services, a school careers page should advertise what a school is like to work for. Careers pages should sell the idea of working for a school through its benefits, its values and its culture, as this can help to capture the attention of like-minded candidates and encourage them to apply for the job.

With a fully branded, visually pleasing, careers page, a school is more likely to leave a good impression upon its candidates and encourage them to stay on their site longer. It is, therefore, important to make a good first impression. If a candidate comes across a careers page that is difficult to navigate and appears to be out of date, how likely is it that they will apply for a job opportunity at that school? Probably not very likely. It’s essential to have an optimised, careers page that fully integrates with the rest of the website, otherwise, you risk losing out on great candidates.

Having a visually pleasing careers page, though, is not enough if there is only a list of job adverts. Obviously, it is important to advertise current vacancies, but it is more important to show the benefits of working for the school, the culture and the values

A school’s employer brand is key here, having a careers page that presents a strong employer brand through mediums such as social media, high-quality videos, photos from school events and staff and student testimonials can go a long way in showing potential hires what to expect, where they could fit in, and why they should work there.

By making it as easy as possible for candidates to access, navigate and research as much information about the school as possible, an institution can attract, delight and influence the right candidates into becoming a potential employee.

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