Top 5 Online Challenges for Recruitment websites – Solved

Much like the design industry, recruitment is a very crowded sector, and having worked closely with a wide range of recruiters over the past few years, I’ve noticed a pattern when it comes to the online challenges they were facing and struggling to overcome, which were subsequently hampering their growth. Below are out top 5 online challenges for recruitment websites, and how to solve them.

1. Standing Out from the Crowd

Given the recruitment landscape is so competitive, it’s important to stand out from your rivals to avoid being labelled “just another recruitment agency”, with no real incentive for new clients or candidates to use you above others. But how do you stand out from the crowd?…

Every business in the world has subtle little differences, and that includes recruiters. Whether that be company ethics, a unique workflow which better serves clients and candidates, a focussed location, niche market/sector expertise or even specific job types you recruit for, it’s important for you to emphasise those differences and give your audience as much of that information as possible within your online presence, both through your website and your social media. Doing this will ensure that a) you avoid adopting the same formulaic approach as your competitors when it comes to digital marketing and b) any inbounds you receive will be more focussed and therefore of a higher standard.

2. Establishing Credibility

We’ve already touched on how best to stand out from your competitors, but establishing credibility is just as important, as it may be the difference between a client or candidate reaching out to you, or continuing their search for a new recruiter. But how do recruitment websites establish that credibility and gain a client or candidates trust?…

Use your previous experiences to your advantage and obtain as many client and candidate testimonials as possible so you can promote them across both your website and your social media. You can also use these examples to create case studies, highlighting the process from beginning to end. Seeing evidence that you have helped others in similar positions is often all you need to gain the confidence of a potential client or candidate.

3. Job Board Management

Admin is a burden for many SME’s and recruitment is no different. In addition to finding and meeting clients and candidates, as well as other day-to-day tasks, you also need to manage your job boards and track applications, both on your website and other job board sites. So how do you relieve this admin burden?…

Consolidate your job board management, by using a CRM or supporting tools which integrate directly with job boards, your website and your social media accounts. An example tool is Broadbean, which allows you to manage your jobs and track applicants in one place, whilst integrating seamlessly with job boards such as Indeed, as well as your website and social media pages such as Twitter. Broadbean can also act as the distribution mechanism for other recruitment CRM’s, giving you the benefit of this functionality, without having to change your internal system. Although the upfront cost of such tools can seem daunting, the long-term benefit is phenomenal, ensuring recruiters work in the most efficient way possible and freeing them up to do what they do best – recruiting.

4. No Inbound Enquiries

The primary reason you have recruitment websites, right? If you aren’t getting inbounds or closing deals based on your online presence, then what’s the point? You may have a template website through Wix or GoDaddy that you are rapidly outgrowing, an ageing website which needs improvements both aesthetically and functionally, or maybe even a website you’re happy with but just isn’t working. Whichever position you’re in, the approach should always be the same…

Identifying your target user types, aka “personas”, is one of the biggest factors when designing a website from a content, user journey, visual and functional perspective. In most cases, a recruiters’ personas will be clients, candidates or both, however, it’s important to understand the finer details of these users i.e. gender, age and, above all, their goals and objectives whilst on your website. Once you have done this, you will look at your site in an entirely different way and have a much clearer understanding of why the enquiries may not be coming. Google Analytics is also a very effective way of identifying problems with your website when it comes to traffic and bounce rates, as it will show you which pages users are accessing, and where they are dropping off.

5. Google Ranking

Many put a lot of value on their Google ranking and rightly so, as it holds almost 80% of the market share. If someone finds you organically online, then 8 times out of 10 it’s going to be through a Google search. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix when it comes to improving Google rankings organically, so what’s the solution for recruitment websites?

Gone are the days of meta tag keywords, multiple duplicate pages and thousands of poor quality backlinks. These days, the main thing Google considers when ranking, is quality content. Firstly, you need to establish which search terms or “keywords” you want to rank for. Once you have done that, ensure those keywords and key phrases are included in your website content and added to on a regular basis in the form of a blog or news section. Don’t get me wrong, results aren’t instant, but if you are doing all the right things and still are not getting results, it may be worth getting a digital marketer to run a report on your chosen keywords, to check if they’re commonly searched-for terms.

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