With Google for Jobs, GDPR and Brexit really “helping” Recruitment leaders focus on a sustainable recruitment business model, your website has become front and centre of your marketing. You need it to make you money and not simply build your brand and clicks.
With the launch of the new Barclay Jones website, I’ve been waxing lyrical to clients about my experience of the web development and launch process and I’ve come up with 4 mistakes that every recruitment website may be making.
Recruitment Websites Need to Make Money!
We regularly help recruiters with the project management of recruitment websites, and digital marketing strategies, so this was a busperson’s holiday for us.
During the design phase of the new Barclay Jones web, it was clear to me that focus needed to be given in areas what we take for granted. Recruiters often forget about the journey that the website needs to take the 3Cs on:
Candidates
Client
Consultants
and Cash!
Often, a recruitment marketer is too busy to see beyond the launch of the website – and hence the goal appears to be “launch and wave goodbye”. But any finance/managing director who has freed up marketing budget to buy a new recruitment website wants more money – they want candidates, clients, colleagues and cash (not just an online brochure).
How to Build a Recruitment Website
There’s lots of content out there about how to build a website, and many a recruitment marketer will know the pain of launching a new site whilst holding down their normal day job.
There are a decent number of recruitment specific website companies – many of them offering really valuable advice… but I discovered few practical tips for recruitment marketers to help them drag surfers through the critical buyer’s journey.
Recruitment Website Mistake 1 – Look Dumb!
With GDPR, the focus on the 3Csand recruitment leaders wanting to invest more in their recruiters, personality has never been so important. But often I look at a recruitment website, then meet the business leaders and recruiters and it’s night and day! In the board room I see passionate advocates of their niche – online “we are the fastest growing, boring, USPless job board” (sorry – tough love!)
Why? Because when recruiters “go online” they dumb down… they “de-niche” and they lose their personality. Confidence disappears and recruitment websites do not “sell”. And the blog just talks about “recruitment”
Have a think whilst you read this blog about how you can inject some personality into your recruitment website.
Recruitment Website Mistake 2 – Ignoring your 404 Page
So – this is the page you’d rather not have people go to – the page which people get to as they have entered an incorrect page on your site, or you have directed to them to a page which no longer exists. Why is it that some many recruitment websites go “doh!” amend don’t take the opportunity to drive the surfer to somewhere useful?
Check out this blog about great 404 pages and then check out Barclay Jones’404 page– we loved creating this one for our very own Barclay Jones 404 error page.
If people give a damn enough to come to your site, and then accidentally hit a page which has been deleted / moved, then why are you just saying “computer says no!”? Stick out your hand and guide them to where you want them to go.
Recruitment Website Mistake 3 – Having a Pants Search Results Screen
To be fair I did quite a bit of research on this and there was nothing that I could plagiarise! My instincts are that if people want to find “stuff” on your website, then making the results screen as engaging as possible is crucial. Have a think about how to get them to click on the bits YOU want them to click on to. And if you have any great ideas on this, share them with me
Recruitment Website Mistake 4 – Contact Us – Or Rather, Kill the Lead!
So you spend a fortune in time, money and emotion on getting people to come to your website. They surf about and bingo!, they want to catch up with you. Then you flick your hair and wander away…? Crazy recruiters!
I feel that the Contact Us page is THE most important page on your site. They are coming in to your shop asking for help… Hubspot agrees and has a helpful blog about the best contact us pages.
So many contact us pages are uninspiring, “templatey”, prone to getting people to NOT contact you.
What can you do with your contact page to engage and CONVERT? It’s not enough that they come to your site and your Google Analytics stats improve. You want them to “buy” from you with a subscription (GDPR alert!) or a job application, or dare we suggest that they want to speak to you… Let’s get recruiters’ phones ringing again!
Let’s Make Recruitment Websites Great Again
I couldn’t resist the “Trumpism”. Take a look at your site… figure out which pages you really want people to go to and then ask yourself if they are working hard enough for you… and can you use a little personality in them to drive conversions.
Recruitment Takeaways…
Personality
Capitalise on errors
Turn searches into conversions
Make contact easy!
Create a recruitment website that attracts and retains clients, candidates and consultants…
I train and mentor recruitment marketers to generate the 4Cs: candidates, clients, colleagues and cash.
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Automation for Recruitment Managers: WIIFM?
Automation can be about data health, email marketing, candidate and client care, and "de-administration" of recruitment. But often, the focus is on individual processes, or people (candidates, clients, colleagues), and not on the recruitment business itself.Hence, I want to explore things from a recruitment leaders "selfish" perspective - the "WIIFM" - what's in it for me?Or rather, what's in it for managers?Automation ROIAs part of the over 400 automation projects we've delivered, where we train, coach, and do hands-on automation building, we're often asked about ROI - return on investment. There's focus on leads, sales, re-generating candidates, increasing website visits, reduced costs elsewhere (eg. LinkedIn / Job boards). We're also asked about how automation can "do more" and give our clients the edge over their competition and help them get ready for AI, and how it can help them run their businesses.3 Ways Automation Can Help Recruitment Leaders1. Create Focus on Revenue-Generative TasksWith so much data, and countless systems and processes, you'll often need to rely on the organisational capabilities, will, and skill, of your recruiters and resourcers. On a crazy-busy day, or a tough market, and with perhaps inexperienced recruiters, that may be too much to ask.Hence leaders - use automation to focus your recruiters and resourcers on the things that matter. For example:Who to call and when.Proactively managing accounts before they become "at risk".Lead conversion.Driving the job management process and not leaving it to the candidate and client to "mess it up".Generating referrals from newly placed candidates, and newly invoiced clients.2. Tracking / Managing / Escalating Poor Performance / ActivitySometimes, recruiters can focus on the wrong activities, drown in "admin", or waste time on external systems, and recruitment process becomes too busy to be effective. Or perhaps they just lack experience to proactively manage their pipelines.Also, with WFH and hybrid, activity can be difficult to see / measure.Hence, leaders ask us to help build automations to track activity, drive performance. For example:Ensuring jobs are being proactively managed and notify management of the ones that are being forgotten.Tracking who is engaging with your brand, visiting your website and opening your emails.Understanding loyalty of your candidates and sales contacts.Removing irrelevant data that you no longer work with, which can slow your recruiters sourcing process.3. Navigating / Mitigating LeaversRecruiters leaving can often be distracting, time consuming, and risky - and it can often be a sucker punch!Hence leaders can use automation to "shift" data, clients, candidates, relationships, and pipeline to other recruiters. Data and pipelines are managed and current relationships are secured. For example:Reassigning placements to another recruiter or desk to continue nurturing.Identifying and re-assigning high value, active and engaged sales contacts to a new or existing team member.Closing old and inactive jobs to ensure you have an accurate view of your current pipeline.Automation - What's in it for Managers?For those of you with automation - how are you using it to drive your business?For those of you without automation, take a moment to consider how the 3 use cases above could help you navigate the next 30/60/90 days and beyond, and help you strengthen your data, people, pipelines, and business.Automation BuddyWe are Bullhorn and Automation experts set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses who want to increase speed and sales.READ ABOUT OUR BULLHORN VISION SERVICEREAD ABOUT OUR AUTOMATION BUDDY SERVICE
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Bullhorn Tip - Quick Icons for Speedy Screening, Interviews, and Sales Calls
Try this iconic 1-minute Bullhorn tip to help you prep like a star for screening calls, interviews, and sales calls. We know that being on the phone is a key part of a recruiter and resourcer's job. Being prepped for your screening, interviews, and sales calls is key!Quick Icons for Speedy and Efficient RecruitmentBullhorn's quick icons have always been there, but when we train recruiters to use Bullhorn, we often find that not all of you use them.These icons are super handy to help you prep. The Google, Linkedin and Map buttons can help you make light work of your research.Use these icons to help you speedily find out crucial intel on your candidates (and of course clients too!)Something to really be aware of is that your candidates and clients will be researching you, and each other - so get there first! Use these icons on you - what results do you get? Then use them on your candidates, prospects and clients.Watch this 1-minute Bullhorn tip - then log in to Bullhorn and try it.Watch Our 1-Minute Bullhorn Tip to Help you Screen, Interview and SellNeed more LinkedIn / Bullhorn / Automation / Recruitment Tips?Try our 1-minute tips.Be sure to sign up for (or watch the recordings of) our regular free Bullhorn and Automation webinars.CHECK OUT OUR WEBINARSBullhorn ROI + Trained Happy Recruiters = More SalesWe pride ourselves on helping recruitment leaders achieve Bullhorn ROI. We create a Bullhorn1st vision, reduce the need for other tech, optimise Bullhorn, automate their sales-prevention processes and data, and train recruiters to trust it and use it.ARRANGE A FREE CONSULTATION NOW
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