SEO could make the difference in hiring the best candidates for your company.
Did you know that 59% of job seekers will study your website before applying for a job at your company?
Today's job hunters are taking advantage of our current hiring environment, which is that there are more available jobs than job seekers right now. They're enjoying this rare opportunity to leisurely research potential employers online, to assess companies' cultures and values, and to make comparisons between the various benefits and perks. So if you're looking to attract potential employees to your company, the bottom line is this: you need to sell the potential employee on your company just as much as they need to sell themselves to you.
All of that means that you, as a company owner, should be making an extra effort within your website to attract the kind of quality employees you're looking for.
Of course the Careers page of your website should do all the things that make your company stand out, essentially highlighting your company brand and what it stands for. It should showcase and explain the ways that your company has succeeded over the years in being a great place to work, perhaps including some past or current employee testimonials. It should appeal to the reader with tantalizing details of any reward systems and perks that other companies may not offer. In essence, it should excite the searcher enough to delve deeper.
The truth is, every blog about improving a company's success with website recruitment will include these points. But what's missing in most of them is perhaps the greatest, yet most overlooked, tool for attracting the right applicants to your site. It is the strategic use of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, along with pertinent keywords, that will draw job seekers directly to your site. Finding a digital marketing firm that specializes in this refined art will be worth every penny of that investment.
Consider the following example:
Let’s say your company is looking for quality garage door installers. Your website is appealing and eye-catching, with a lot of good information about your company and why one should want to work there. But what good is that awesome website and information if quality garage door installers never find your website when searching online for a job? Utilizing SEO best practices within your website's career page will increase the likelihood of your site ranking on the first page of Google for jobseekers. Let's say trained garage door installers are searching in their hometown for companies who might be hiring. They are going to go online and search "garage door installation jobs in Atlanta", or "garage door installer jobs in my area", etc. Positioning your site to rank for those terms will quickly bring your website up as a primary option for them to choose.
That's how you successfully use an online SEO strategy to attract the best candidates for your vacant positions.
Let's sum up with some steps from what we covered above for building interest for job seekers:
1. Create an appealing website that best showcases your company brand and invites further exploration.
2. Pay special attention to how your website attracts the interest of people within your industry, through engaging About Us content, previous or current employee testimonials, reward programs, etc.
3. Make sure the Careers page of your website is easy to find and easy to navigate, especially the application process.
4. Most importantly, consider having your online ranking increased for refined keyword searches so that the best candidates will find you promptly!