When is the last time you looked under the hood of your recruitment website? If it’s been a few years, it’s probably time to budget some time and money for a refresh and/or a rebuild. Here are a few design considerations to help you spend your money wisely:
Mobile-first is a Must
If your recruitment website doesn’t prioritize mobile functionality, you’re not only behind the times – you’re probably also being penalized by Google as well. Job seekers are especially likely to visit your site from a mobile device, so it’s critical to have a strong mobile deployment. This includes elements like disappearing (or shrinking) menus, not having to rotate your screen, sufficient space to click buttons, and more.
Page Load is a Deal-Breaker
Did you know ideal page load speed is 0-2 seconds? You can stretch it to 3 seconds but anything longer than that and you are losing visitors and possibly throwing timeout errors. No one wants to watch a spinning circle or a blank white screen while your web pages struggle to load.
Accessibility
The Americans with Disabilities Act covers websites. If your web content is not accessible to people with disabilities, they are unfairly blocked from having equal access to information. Things to consider include color schemes, white space, keyboard navigation (instead of mouse), and more. The Web Content Accessbility Guidelines (WCAG) are a good place to start. I like WebAIM for testing font and color combinations.
Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
Make sure these are clear, easily accessible and don’t require a lot of scrolling. Strong CTAs are critical to lead-generation efforts, so make sure you aren’t losing an easy source of leads by making it too hard to find or follow your call to action. Of course, you also want to periodically test out your CTA buttons and automated responses. Sometimes, things break. You don’t want to find out that site visitors can’t reach you because your form isn’t submitting, or is submitting to a defunct email address, or is sending out last year’s information.
Job Application Page
Job application pages have a notoriously high bounce rate. If you are using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive job seekers to your application page, and then they leave without completing an application, you have wasted your money. Your job application needs to be easy to complete, and something that can be done by mobile phone. Limit the number of required questions. Use screening questions judiciously. Consider enabling resume parsing or an “easy apply” option. Customizable application forms are worth looking into as well – these can be designed to solicit less information from entry-level job seekers and more detailed information from experienced candidates.
Your recruitment website is an essential part of your business. It’s not a “one and done” task that can be checked off a list of tasks. As web technology continues to evolve, your website will need to keep up.