Janice Chalmers

We've selected the best advice in the online HR press, outlining the 'pulling power' and pitfalls of corporate career website recruitment.

Beyond the brochure
Personnel Today, February 2003
www.personneltoday.com

From the chairman of the AOLR (Association of Online Recruiters), this article flags to HR managers the four phases of recruitment that a successful corporate careers site should cover:

1. Attract: HR managers should make their website the first destination for candidates responding to all online and offline job ads
2. Convince: ways to engage and include the language, info, interactivity and imagery of the site to boost your employer brand
3. Capture: ie convert job-seekers to applicants; arguably the most important part of the process, as all your efforts will be for nothing if you don't capture the right, or right amount of candidate info
4. Manage: ie manage the candidate relationship; first build a database of prospective candidates; then build a relationship with them, via e-zines, interactivity, online community

Workthing comment A quick overview of the scope of a corporate careers site, with real examples of how real companies are tackling the different stages. Best to read before you start your careers site project - as it will help set the parameters and functionality requirements of your site.

Pulling power
Human Resources, May 2003
www.humanresourcesmagazine.com

A reminder of the rationale and drivers of the growing move to recruiting via corporate websites, and the different recruitment strategies companies are adopting:

1. The rationale of recruiting via corporate careers site - technology advances, internet expansion, economic pressures to cut costs, desire to reduce control of recruitment agencies
2. Typical recruitment strategies involving the web - eg using jobs boards to drive candidates to the corporate website, using the website to build talent pools to cut out recruitment agents, bringing 'head hunters' in-house to manage the web-based recruitment process
3. The alternative offerings from the 'big three' job boards - eg Monster known for its global reach, Reed for its link to offline, lower end jobs, and Workthing for its two-pronged approach of advertising strategy and technology to build the recruitment system to manage response

Workthing comment A great background read article with plenty of ammunition to help HR managers 'make the case' for a corporate careers site.

The 10 common failings of corporate recruitment sites
Personnel Today, September 2002
www.personneltoday.com

A quick whiz through the worst 'web' pitfalls to watch out for...

1. Poor links
2. Un-inspiring design
3. No company 'sell' to candidates
4. Little info company 'culture'
5. Out-of-date or no vacancies on website
6. No way for candidate to find out more
7. Out-of-date graduate section info
8. Poor search function
9. No candidate relationship management
10. No cohesion between multiple brands

Workthing comment A quick crib sheet on what not to do with your careers site. Could be used as a checklist of criteria to use in site-testing once developed and before going live.

Site inspection
Recruiter, 2002
www.professional-recruiter.co.uk

For those who are beyond the basics, some more sophisticated 'cyber' criteria that set the most successful corporate careers sites apart:

• Regular updates of content, not just jobs
• Interactivity, not just information
• Self-selection - chance for candidate to 'opt out', not just 'fill in'
• Usability testing - ie not just about having all the pieces in the right place, but how the traffic flows from one piece to another

Workthing comment Definitely the 'icing on the careers site cake' advice that will prevent IT web 'techies' from pulling the wool over HR web 'newbies' eyes.

UK corporate website recruiting and direct approaches
Online Recruitment, February 2003
www.onrec.com

A survey piece that pours cold water on the corporate careers site trend, as it suggests careers sites are still not fully integrated into companies' wider recruitment strategy:

• Under 30% of 300 major UK companies have developed a front-end or 'applicant tracking system' to capitalise on candidates who come to the site
• Hardly any - just 7% - of companies with job ads on their websites directed callers to them
• Over half - 56% - have no apparent interest in encouraging speculative applications via their website

Survey source: Intelligent People Solutions

Workthing comment Confirms the suspicion that, for many companies, the corporate website is still managed in isolation from wider recruitment strategy... food for thought for careers site and HR managers in the future.

Does your corporate career site cut it?

Try our usability checklist to find out.