What should your recruitment website have?

Creating a killer website for your recruitment agency might seem intimidating, but honestly with clear planning and a little help from the experts a high-performing site is well within your grasp.

In this blog, I’ll reveal the common pitfalls I see. And then get ready for the insider tips to transform your website into a tireless ally attracting clients and candidates around the clock.

Recruitment agency website content

Let’s kick things off by exposing the 3 most common mistakes I see and then we’ll run through a checklist of elements to include on your site to make it a star performer.

Vague homepage messaging

When visitors land on your homepage, it’s absolutely critical that they can immediately see how you can help them. Take the time to craft a compelling sentence that calls out who you help and how.

For example

“Renowned for placing the top 80% of civil engineers in the thriving UK renewable energy sector; we’re here to help.”

Text Overload

People scan websites, so avoid heavy text. Use larger fonts, ample white space, narrow columns, and break up text into bite-sized chunks.

Saying you are different

Avoid motherhood statements about how different you are. Help your visitors experience your uniqueness firsthand. Show them relevant, valuable information that sets you apart.

OK, now we have that out of the way let’s shine a more positive light on things and share the fundamentals your site needs to get it working hard for you.

How to create a Recruitment Agency website

Your website is the star player in your digital marketing arsenal.

A well-crafted platform, once in place, will consistently work hard to drive more top-tier leads your way.

When thinking about creating your site, a key tip is to forget about making yourself look good and focus on what your candidates and clients will get value from.

My advice would be to use WordPress, the go-to platform for small businesses worldwide. You will always be able to find a developer to help you with it and it has everything you need to build a basic or advanced site.

Elements of a Recruitment Website

These are the critical elements of your site that will help you stand out and give your users the experience they are looking for when they land on your site. There is always more you can do, however, if you can tick off this list you are well on your way to having a site that sets you apart from your competition.

Checklist

Seamless navigation where people can find what they want in a flash.
A homepage hook. Clearly state on the homepage who you help and how (as above)
Includes a job search feature that showcases your latest jobs
Has a job alert feature – Keeps candidates in the loop with automated alerts
Optimised for GoogleForJobs. Boost your job post visibility in google search results (Get expert help from your dev on this one)
Fresh content to power up your SEO and ensure your audience is seeing up-to-date, info via blogs and new jobs
Make contacting a real person easy. Avoid info@! Put your phone number on your site.
Optimise for SEO to rank higher in searches
Google Analytics to help you track your site’s performance
Secure your site with SSL for added safety and SEO benefits
Ensure your privacy policy and legal info are easily accessible (typically in your footer)
Have several calls to actions to encourage candidates to apply for open positions and also sign up for value add information with their email so you can consistently engage with them over time
An exit pop-up intent is a great way to catch people with a value offer before they are leaving your site. Some people don’t like pop-ups, but trust me, they work!
Create insightful and actionable blogs and drive people to your content via your socials and email channels
Spice up your site with video. People expect to see videos on websites so here’s a great opportunity to break up your text and add variety. We all love that!
Social proof is an increasingly important element when people are weighing up their options, so providing case studies and testimonials on your site is critical. (Sourcr https://www.sourcr.com/ and https://vocalvideo.com/ can help here)
Site speed is important for engagement too, so check your site takes no less than 3 seconds to load. Here’s a free tool you can use to test your site’s load time https://tools.pingdom.com/
Ideally, you also want to add a candidate portal that streamlines your candidate’s engagement and gives them more control over their stored information
If you use a chat feature, get one that doesn’t show when you are offline as people expect an immediate response and will get frustrated if they try to chat and can’t.

Recruitment Website Hosting

You have several options here. Many of the recruitment site builders make additional money from hosting your site and have a quasi-ownership over it. That’s OK, however, I am a big fan of owning all my assets outright which just means getting your site built and then hosted on an independent platform. Do your research here as not all hosting platforms are equal. Ensure you go with one that has a good reputation.

Congratulations! By avoiding the common pitfalls and implementing the essential elements, you’re well on the way to creating a recruitment website that not only showcases your unique value but also drives a consistent flow of business your way.

What should your recruitment website have?