Is Your Career Site Making A Good Impression?

A career site can be an effective part of an overall Talent Management System. Or, it could be one of the main reasons why that Talent Management System isn’t doing what you need it to do on a consistent basis. We sat down with interactive design expert Maarten-Jan Waasdorp, COO at Six Foot LLC, and asked him questions that non-interactive experts might want to ask about their own career sites:

1. What are some most common mistakes you see employers making with their career sites?

Companies tend to stick to their current look and branding and make recruitment a part of the corporate site. This often leads to the Career Area on the site being overlooked. If it doesn’t stand out and engage potential candidates, then the candidates will not be motivated to apply for a position with the employer.

2. What are some general suggestions you might have for employers to help them make their career sites more effective?

Some of the suggestions I would make are:
· Start to think like your potential applicants think. Ask “How can I “entertain” the candidate while they are on my site? Are they tech savvy? Are they into Social Media?
· With the current available technology it is very important to be leading-edge so you will get the best people for your jobs.
· Make your recruitment site interactive, attract with visuals like video’s or animations. Engage the potential hire in a game or quiz.
· Make optimal use of all available media; on-line, print, TV and radio and be combined into one powerful recruitment tool.
· Also think of separating recruitment from your main site and set up a separate (mini) site. You can be more efficient and use more SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimization/Marketing) tools aimed at recruitment.

3. What is the best way to measure traffic coming to your site?

First you have to make sure that anyone looking for a job in your industry/geographic area will find your career site/mini-site. I can’t stress enough the importance of making the search process fast and easy. It all starts with the way your site is initially set up. Once set up, it’s a good idea to ask the company that built your site to also track the traffic coming to the site. There are free options available, but for a small fee it’s worth the peace of mind you get by having experts handle the process on a monthly basis. And it’s quite possible they will notice “Red Flag” indicators you might miss and be able to trouble-shoot on the spot so that your site continues to enjoy a robust flow of traffic.

4. What are a few of these “Red Flags?”

One of the biggest issues is always the question of are you using the right key words to reach your target audience? You may think you know what is driving people to your site, but sometimes perception is not the reality. That’s why traffic metrics are so important. Most employers realize that SEO is not a miracle tool. You have to do intelligent research to ensure your SEO strategy is targeted and will reach the audience that possesses your desired levels of skill-sets and experience. Wrong input will result in wrong output.

5. What steps can an employer take if they need to build or improve their site but don’t have an in-house web department?

The obvious answer is to look for a partner like Six Foot! Aside from that, even if you have an in-house web department, it’s worthwhile to look outside the company and find a vendor who can help you realize the goals you’re trying to accomplish. Take Six Foot for example. We have a large team that does nothing but design and develop solutions exactly like this, using the latest technologies. An experienced design team will come up with ideas you haven’t even thought about yet simply because you were unaware of all the possibilities available at your fingertips.

In Six Foot’s case, we combine these skills with more than 20 years of experience in the Talent Acquisition & Retention business to help you come up with the customized strategies for your specific situation. We also use our vast network of industry partners to combine (web) technology solutions with a wide variety of related consulting services.

6. How do you prevent getting "ripped off" by an outside vendor?

There are a lot of suppliers out there who will provide a lot of different solutions with a lot of different price tags. The outcomes, of course, will be different, too. In most instances you will find that you can’t expect the same result from a smaller “start-up shop” versus a well seasoned, very experienced, award winning company.

In today’s economy it’s tempting to underestimate the importance of quality and focus rather on the cheapest price. Well, a quality product doesn’t always have the highest price. Hopefully you are developing your website so that it becomes an important, strategic and cost-efficient part of your Talent Management process.

For example by attracting higher quality candidates, an effective career site can often help reduce the amount of fees you find yourself having to pay staffing agencies. A good site will also increase your brand identity and value. Paying more does not automatically guarantee good service so I do advise you shop around before making any decisions. Ask friends and colleagues if they are happy with their website provider. Be sure to sit down with the potential design team and engage them in a comprehensive “discovery phase” before you kick-off the project. The discovery will give you an exact scope and plan of the project and will confirm whether or not you are dealing with the right supplier.


SIX FOOT: Six Foot is an interactive agency and consultancy that specializes in ORGINEERING (process mapping, usability and information architecture), INTERACTIVE (websites, portals, animations and applications), ONLINE MARKETING (brand marketing, SEO/SEM, social media and metrics), and EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN (touch screen, digital / interactive retail experiences, kiosks and trade show support). Six Foot has emerged as a leader, specializing in the development and execution of combined online and in-store brand experiences, e-marketing programs, creative design, 2D and 3D animation, and database and back-end infrastructure development.

Maarten-Jan Waasdorp: COO at Six Foot LLC; Maarten-Jan (M-J for short and definitely easy) has over 20 years of global experience in finance, operations, company strategies and general management for Fortune 100 companies. M-J combines all his skills and experience to develop and execute plans for any kind of challenge. M-J was born in the Netherlands and moved to the US in 2007. He is a member of the national COO Forum and the World Affairs Council of Houston.