August 2007 Newsletter
Welcome to the PageUp August Newsletter
This month the newsletter will cover:
- Career Websites �?" how do the Top 150 Australian Publicly Listed Companies Measure Up Against Best Practice?
- PageUp News �?" Record year of growth
- Opinion Poll and results from last month
- Website photo
- Tell us what you think
Career Websites �?" How do the Top 150 Australian Publicly Listed Companies Measure Up Against Best Practice?
By Brett Minchington, Author of �?oYour Employer Brand attract-engage-retain�?�
Employer Brand strategist Brett Minchington�?Ts recently published Career Website Research and Best Practice Guidelines publication analyses the careers sites of Australia's Top 150 publicly listed companies. The research shows that the majority are well behind world best practice standards and some might be actually harming their company�?Ts employers brand due to a poorly designed website.
Developments in internet technologies have been rapid and are assisting employers to attract the best minds in the marketplace for talent. The use of the internet platform for activities central to the employment experience has shifted the paradigm of the traditional recruitment process. The recruitment process is now being supported by online RSS feeds, podcasting, blogs, rich media and e-recruitment technology platforms with integrated applicant tracking systems.
A sample of 100 companies from the Top 150 compared career websites against global best practice elements such as talent relationship management, content, online recruitment process, design and usability. The sample contains companies across most industry sectors and companies of varying sizes and head count.
The global reach of the internet provides a more even playing field for smaller companies who don�?Tt normally have the resources to spend on expensive recruitment advertising campaigns or pay recruitment and search agency fees.
The research shows that the majority of Australian careers sites are too static, out-of-date, contained too-much text and lack interactivity to engage prospects and give them a reason for visiting and returning to the site. In most cases the information on careers sites was simply a replica of the "about us" section of the main corporate website. It is becoming increasingly important for companies to effectively communicate the employer value propositions to their target audiences in order to improve the perception (and realities!) of their company as a great place to work.
With the global reach of the internet companies are fast realising the benefits an effective careers website has in communicating their employer brand to their target audience. WetFeet research found that about half of job seekers became more interested in working for a company after visiting its web site, while approximately one in four refused to consider a company based on their visit.
A well designed careers website will not only deliver process and sourcing cost savings, it will also improve candidate quality and opportunity cost savings by reducing the time of unfilled positions through a higher quality targeted recruiting process. The career website must be a communications vehicle and process enabler and the development process should begin with defining the objectives, scope and resources available to build the site. The careers website will evolve as the company tracks and measures the success of the platform in its recruitment initiatives.
With many of Australia�?Ts top companies now shifting to a global resourcing model the career website must reflect these changes. The career website should include links or information that provides the prospect information on what it�?Ts like to live and work in Australia.
Best practices that contribute directly to improved candidate quality include the implementation of anonymous job application, email to a friend functionality, workplace games and simulations, job fit determinations activities and job agent and pre-screening tools technology.
Define your objectives
A clearly defined site map should answer the following questions:
- How will the site communicate our Employer Brand Promise and Employer Value Propositions to our target audience?
- How will the site differentiate our firm from our competitor�?Ts employment offering?
- How will the site engage the candidate to stay and search our site?
- How will the site provide information to prospects on what the employment experience at our company looks like �?" what stories will we tell them?
- How will the use of corporate videos, blogs, job agents, assist to communicate our employer brand
Avoiding the pitfalls
Some of the pitfalls to avoid when building your website include:
- Treating your site as a corporate communications brochure
- Treating your career site as a traditional corporate site
- Designing your site for your internal audience
- Writing your site in a linear style full of �?~corporate speak�?T
The success of your careers site should be measured by the number of unique visitor to your site, quality of candidates who are posting, conversion rates and the effectiveness of the application process.
Brett Minchington MBA, is the Managing Director of Collective Learning Australia and co-founding partner of the Employer Brand Institute, an International network of Associates committed to providing employer brand auditing, research and thought leadership solutions to organizations in Employer Brand Leadership. Author of �?oYour Employer Brand attract-engage-retain�?�, Brett�?Ts work has also been published in a number of HR, Marketing and Management publications in Aust, USA, UK, NZ and Canada including Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership (USA), HR Professional (Canada), Human Resource Magazine (Aust), and Personnel Today (UK). He has a keen interest in exploring how organisations are strengthening their employer brand within Universities through increased collaboration to maximise employment outcomes for graduates and business. This is the focus of Brett�?Ts forthcoming book, �?oUniversity means Business.�?�
PageUp News
PageUp announces another year of record growth
PageUp reports a 50 percent increase of revenue for the 2006/07 financial year, taking the revenue to approximately $5.5million.
PageUp CEO, Karen Cariss, says that the key driver for the continued strong growth is due to the need for businesses to find quality candidates in this talent short market.
Another strong driver is the overall acceptance and expectance from candidates worldwide to be qualified online before reaching interview stage.
�?oOnline recruitment has become routine for many major companies. The market has matured and it is widely accepted as part of the recruitment process.�?�
Results�?�
�?� of last month�?Ts opinion poll are in:
45% of respondents thought their company invests as much time in retention of staff, compared to recruitment,
48% did not and 7% were unsure.
If you missed the last newsletter and would like more information, please access the article on our website.
Opinion Poll - Vote Now!
�?~How do you think your careers website measures up against best practice?�?T Cast your vote now at www.pageuppeople.com
Website Photo
If you would be interested in having your photos from around the world on the PageUp home page, please email them to enquiries@pageup.com.au
Tell Us What You Think!
We�?Td love to hear what you think of this issue!
Please send your comments, questions, and ideas for upcoming issues to us at: enquiries@pageup.com.au. Your feedback matters to us!