Recruitment technology is accelerating at such an incredible pace currently that we have so many sales tools at our disposal. We have specific recruitment technology that can match a database of candidates with a vacancy and give you a suggested shortlist, we have outreach automation tools designed to save us hours each week, tools that provide us with vacancy leads and a hundred more. All of these tools are designed to help you sell your services, your offering, your value proposition to clients and candidates better than you could do previously, without them.
Your recruitment agency’s website is probably one of your strongest and most dynamic tools in your tool box. I find a lot of recruitment agency websites are designed with the agency owner or recruitment marketer in mind. However we have to put your current & potential candidates, clients and future talent in the driving seat and design your website for them. That’s who we’re selling to!
The First Page
Your website is going to do a whole lot more for you if it’s sitting on the first page of Google. Getting it there is a whole nother story though and I could dedicate several blog posts to this subject. Statistics show that 75% of users never scroll past the first page and less than 5% of searches continue to the second page. If you’re not on that first page you could be missing out on literally tens or hundreds of clients & candidates inquiries every single month. For example, according to Google Keyword Planner, the search term “tech recruitment agency london” alone receives 100-1,000 searches each month. Engage with a good SEO agency with experience in the recruitment market and make sure they get you onto the first page for all relevant search terms within 6 months – or drop them.
Contact Details
All of your company contact details should be listed on your website, social media links, office address and your switchboard number. These should be in your website footer, team pages and contact us page. Also make sure you have a telephony system in place – I’m still surprised by the number of times I’ll phone a recruitment agency and no one picks up the switchboard. You’re missing out on business!
User-Friendly Design
First impressions matter! Clients & candidates will make a decision on whether they’re likely to buy from you within the first couple of seconds of viewing your website based on how it looks – the images used, how modern it looks and the way the text blocks are laid out. The design should be professional, modern, and reflective of your brand.
Ensure your website is easy to navigate. Show users navigation links in the header and footer and across the website using buttons, hyperlinks and calls to action.
Also make sure your website is fast to load. Statistics suggest that 40% of visitors will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. You can test the speed of your website using Google Lighthouse, which is an easy to access and free tool to use or you can test it manually by opening your website URL in an incognito browser and timing how long it takes before you can move around the screen and click on buttons, links, etc (interactivity).
Video Content
I really wish I saw more video content on recruitment agency websites, both long and short form video content. I find it really engaging, informative and is a great way to sell to clients. It’s also very flexible and can be used in a variety of ways across different pages – include video content of team social occasions on your “join us” page, videos of your consultants introducing themselves on your “team” page, a speed run around your office on your “contact us” page, etc.
Clear Value Proposition
Ensure that your landing page clearly articulates your recruitment agency’s unique value proposition and move on to explain what sets you apart from competitors. Real differentiators could be all employees hold shares in the company, the company has a real focus on sustainability, is net zero, contributes heavily to the charity sector, invests into DEI with proven and demonstrable actions, etc.
Engaging Content
I’m under no illusion that clients & candidates will spend hours on your website reading your blogs, insights and articles, however regularly updating your blog with relevant and high quality content will position your agency as an industry thought leader and will drive organic traffic through SEO.
Pages dedicated to case studies and testimonials are brilliant website sales tools, showcasing client and candidate success stories – building credibility for your recruitment business. Show real world examples giving the specific names of hiring managers and companies, the role you filled and how you went about it, along with timelines.
Case Studies & Testimonials
Your website can be a very consultative sales person for your recruitment business. There’s no pressure and it gives your visitors all the time they need while prompting them with well placed and regular calls to action. One absolutely brilliant sales prompt is case studies and testimonials from previous clients and candidates. I would like to add these are almost useless unless you include the person’s details too, their full name, job title and company name.
Services
I still don’t see many agencies having a dedicated services / product page, where they talk through their offering to potential clients. A lot of recruitment agencies expect clients to know what they offer but I’ll tell you now most of them aren’t aware of the various pricing models, contingency, exclusive, retained, etc. Make sure you dedicate a page on your website to your various models, their benefits, applicable situations, etc.
Calls To Action
Each page on your website should have a call to action, you never want to leave your visitor feeling lost and not sure where to navigate to next. Calls to action could be directing visitors to your vacancy pages, testimonials or case study pages, pricing pages, your contact us page and so on. This is your website’s version of taking your visitors on a sales journey (down the garden path) or closing them.
As we’ve shown you, your recruitment agency website is a brilliant tool for persuading both clients and candidates to buy from you. Make sure you make the most from your site with a few small changes here and there.
Guest blog written by Robert Garner
Rob has been working within the recruitment industry since 2006, selling recruitment advertising space, working within recruitment, running his own recruitment firm, launching job boards, working for in-house talent acquisition teams and creating enterprise level recruitment software. He now runs Abstraction Labs, which specialises in recruitment agency website design.
