How to Design Your Website to Attract Top Talent

 

Hiring and retaining top talent is a highly competitive battle, and you need to implement a smart strategy in order to win the war. By 2024, millennials will make up 75 percent of the country’s workforce, which means that you need to tailor your strategy in a targeted way to win millennials over.

 

While millennials understandably want to work for a company that offers excellent prospects for upward mobility, growth and compensation, this unique segment is also focused on what a company stands for and if a company values and respects its employees. While reading job listings online is one step that millennials take, they also may research a company thoroughly before applying.

 

In order to effectively attract talented millennials, you must use your website to showcase what your company stands for and how it values its employees. Updating your website with this need in mind is one of the best ways for you to win talent as you compete against other employers.

 

1. Feature Videos and Images for Storytelling

Applicants today do not want to work for a faceless corporation. They are looking for a thriving, ethical company that has a positive culture. Through videos and images, you can tell a story that personalizes your brand in this way and that appeals to potential applicants.

 

Your videos and images may indicate your diverse workforce and open acceptance of people from all backgrounds. It may also showcase what your workplace is like on a daily basis, and it may feature employees talking about how great their work life is. A discussion of these topics may be interspersed with images showing your office or work environment.

 

2. List What You Bring to the Table

Many job applicants today are not looking for a typical corporate desk job with strict hours and rules. They prefer a job that enables a healthy work-life balance with flexible work arrangements and hours. They also want a job that offers them room to grow. These qualities should be detailed on your website if they apply to your company.

 

When you list what you bring to the table, ensure that it is easy to find. Consider using a bulleted list that discusses job perks and benefits. If your business has received any workplace awards, add these to your list. You may also showcase stats regarding company credibility or other features. Because compensation is also relevant to millennials, the details of your compensation package should be easy to locate.

 

3. Focus on Modern Design and UX

While the content on your website matters, its design is also essential. Your website’s lines, images and colors should be appealing, and they can indicate the personality or vibe of your business. The design should also lead a reader’s eye in a desired direction so that emphasis is placed on important features.

 

You may also use your website to showcase your company’s modern edge or technological expertise. An interactive website may be just as important as a discussion about how forward-thinking your company is. Because many applicants who are researching your company online may be using a mobile device, the format of your website should be mobile-friendly.

 

4. State Your Company Goals and Values

Your company’s core values and goals are essential to today’s job applicants. They want to know what your company stands for and how active your company is in reaching for its goals. In a 2016 Korn Ferry study, only 3 percent of respondents indicated that compensation is their primary driving force at work. On the other hand, 73 percent of those surveyed stated that working in a job that has meaning and purpose is their top goal.

 

Your website should clearly state the workplace morals that are upheld and the ethical standards that your team works by. Expectations of employees should also be clearly detailed. While this can help you to attract top talent that shares your goals and values, it may also discourage individuals who may otherwise be bad employees from applying.

 

5. Use Employee Testimonials

While you can talk about how great your company is, it may be more effective if your current employees share a few words. An employee testimonial gives prospective applicants an insider’s look at what it is like to work for your company. In addition to testimonial videos, include photos of your team hard at work with written quotes beside the images.

 

When you post video or written testimonials, ensure that the employees’ names and positions are shown. This personalizes the testimonials, and it helps potential applicants to get a true feel for your company’s personality and ethics. The custom photography and employee bios should be easily visible and may even have a central location on your page.

 

6. Create an Easy to Find Careers Page

Job applicants should not need to hunt for a careers page when they visit your website. Rather than placing a tiny link to the careers page at the bottom of your site, incorporate a callout on the home page. This may be listed as Careers, Jobs, Work for Us or a similar label. This link should take applicants directly to the information that they seek. Avoid burying this important page deep in your website.

 

All aspects of this page should be positive and brand-relevant. A creative format with appealing images and bold text is essential. Consider linking to other pages on your website that may be relevant, such as posts from your blog. Another important feature to include on this page is a direct way for applicants to apply.

 

7. Connect to Social Media

The use of social media for recruiting purposes is a veritable necessity today. In fact, the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that 84 percent of human resources professionals regularly use social media platforms to recruit applicants. LinkedIn is the most dominant social media platform used for this purpose, but you can also use Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. One example is Microsoft’s use of the Twitter handle #MicrosoftLife to directly communicate with prospective applicants.

 

This approach to recruiting talent is ideal for reaching individuals in your normal sphere, and it also is an effective way to reach others for positions that may not typically be associated with your company. Remember that your social media posts should link back to your website’s careers page.

 

You can see how critical your website is during the modern recruitment process. When you update your website, keep in mind the audience you are communicating with. Understand what these applicants may be looking for, and appeal to that through your website. By making this effort, you may more easily attract top talent to your company.

 

 

Author info:

Jen McKenzie is an independent business consultant from New York. She writes extensively on business, education and human resource topics. When Jennifer is not at her desk working, you can usually find her hiking. You can reach Jennifer @jenmcknzie