Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Employer Career Pages for Recruiting Staff

A comprehensive guide to using employer career pages for recruiting staff is available.

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Advantages of Using Employer Career Pages

• Direct application to the employer: Job applicants apply directly to the business, facilitating a more streamlined communication channel between the applicant and the employer. However, this assumes you have candidate traffic, excellent usability, and an effective communication process.
• Control over branding: Employers can influence their branding and messaging, establishing the business’s culture, values, and vision.
• More informed jobseekers: Well-designed career pages can enhance the jobseeker experience by providing detailed information about the organisation, its values, benefits, and the types of roles available. (However, candidates often read the information after applying when preparing for an interview.)
• Good value in the long run: Having a dedicated career page can be cost-effective for businesses that consistently recruit.
• Integration with internal systems: Employer career pages can often be integrated with internal HR and recruitment systems, allowing for more efficient management of applications and candidate data. (However, just because the systems are integrated doesn’t mean you should force jobseekers to use your solutions.)
• Reduced reliance on external platforms: Having your career pages may reduce your dependence on external job sites and platforms, potentially lowering recruitment costs and avoiding competition with other employers on these platforms.

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Disadvantages of Using Employer Career Pages

• High initial setup and maintenance costs: Developing a high-quality career page can be time consuming and expensive, especially for custom designs. Additional expenses are incurred to keep content fresh and relevant.
• SEO and visibility challenges: Employer career pages often struggle to be found in search engine results, competing against more prominent job boards and platforms. Low visibility means low application numbers.
• Usability issues: Poorly designed career pages can suffer from usability issues, such as complicated navigation, incorrect information hierarchy, or a non-responsive design on mobile devices. These usability problems can deter potential applicants and negatively impact the user experience.
• Regular content updates required: The information on employer career pages needs regular updating to remain relevant and accurate, which requires time and resources. Additionally, Google requires content to be consistently updated, ideally every three months, to continue ranking in competitive niches. If you fail to do this it can reflect badly on the company and be perceived as outdated.
• Limited reach: Due to SEO issues and a lack of direct traffic, employer career pages might only attract candidates already aware of the organisation, limiting the reach to potential new applicants.
• Risk of technical problems: There’s always a risk of technical issues, such as downtime or glitches, which can impact the functionality of the career page and potentially deter candidates. In my experience there are frequent issues even with expensive solutions.
• Misalignment with candidate expectations: Employer career pages may not align with what jobseekers seek, especially if they prioritise employer branding over straightforward job listings and application processes.
• Dependence on internal resources: Managing an employer’s career page requires significant internal resources, including IT support, HR personnel, and content creators, which might strain smaller companies.‍
• Challenges in measuring effectiveness: It can be challenging to accurately measure effectiveness in generating applications and determining the return on investment. This is principally because tools like Google Analytics (GA4) attribute the jobseekers’ last click as the important metric. In contrast, a career page may have been a catalyst for an application but not necessarily the final “click.”

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Additional Resources

• Recruiting Book: The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; Why Most Employer Career Pages Fail (& How to Make Sure Yours Doesn't).
• Article; Career Pages 101: Essential Ingredients for a Magnetic Employer Brand!
• Article; Career Pages: Why Employers May Need One and How to Avoid Common Mistakes.