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During this week’s HoW Talent Session, Giles was joined by Dave Walstow, Client Services Director and recruitment marketing expert from Creed Comms to explore careers sites, ATS platforms and why they need to play nicely!
Creed Comms are a full-service, award-winning recruitment marketing agency that builds world-class employer brands, delivers innovative talent attraction strategies, achieves great ROI through media optimisation and creates inspiring employee comms.
WATCH IT BACK ➡️ Why your careers site and ATS need to play nicely!
We understand that 75% of candidates will research a company thoroughly, even before they consider applying for a role but all too often the link between the careers site and the ATS is not a joined-up experience. Giles and Dave joined forces to provide some practical advice including:
Clients spend a lot of time and money developing careers websites, either in house or using an agency and there is lots to consider such as content, videos, photography, tone of voice and employer brand. If the branding and tone between the careers website and the ATS is different then the candidate experience can be damaged.
Most importantly, make sure your ATS provider and Employer Brand partner work together to ensure the transition between the two sites is seamless and the number of ‘clicks’ that the candidate has to use to navigate is minimal. If you are in the process of implementing an ATS or at an early stage working with an Employer Brand Partner, then introduce them to each other as early as possible in the process.
Also try and ensure that both your careers site and candidate portal via the ATS are fully mobile optimised. Most candidates are now searching and applying for jobs using a mobile phone so it’s vital that this is an easy experience from start to finish.
In the simplest of terms, one is a high-level advert to capture a candidate’s interest in a role, and the other is a more detailed description of that role and its requirements.
Careers sites may also include more information on a departmental level, for example sharing details about what it is like to work within that department or division.
Job adverts are most likely to appear on job boards to attract candidates to the role. This is important as people are now shopping for jobs in the way that they would shop for a new car or a new television. Candidates want this process to be clear, with as little searching as possible and with a clearly worded advert to entice them to apply. Once candidates have clicked through into the ATS to apply, then it can be useful to supplement the job advert with a more detailed (downloadable) job description to enable candidates to see the full requirements of the role before hitting submit. It is important here that organisations are honest about the role they are recruiting for so that candidates can self-select themselves out of the process at this stage if the role is not suitable.
The use of images and videos within the job advert is also highly recommended. Images and videos convey so much more information about the job itself and the culture of an organisation than a text advert ever could.
80% of organisations do not track candidates through to hire and a large proportion do not even track through to application stage. The technology is available to easily report on this information and it is vital for companies to understand how the adverts they are paying for are performing.
Tracking code such as Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel code can be included within your ATS and Careers Site to enable tracking via these sources.
In summary, a successful careers portal and ATS partnership is all about joined up thinking, a joined-up approach, communication, supporting your reporting requirements and your employer brand.
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