Blog Content
With data sinks, AI, rising recruitment costs, and the world generally feeling like an insane asylum, recruitment leaders are under pressure to build sustainable business models. Consequently, your website has moved front and centre of your marketing strategy. You need it to generate revenue, not simply build "brand" and "clicks."
I’ve identified 4 mistakes that almost every recruitment website makes. The good news is, they are easy to rectify. Are you making them?
Recruitment Websites Need to Make Money!
We regularly help recruiters with the project management of recruitment websites, and what we can the "5-A strategy" (ATS/Analytics/Automation/Adoption/AI). We know that any Finance or Managing Director who has freed up budget for a new site wants more than just an online brochure - they want candidates, clients, colleagues, and cash.
But they also need a connected tech stack, driving data health, data wealth, and productive recruiters.
Recruitment Website Mistake 1 – "We" Everywhere
With GDPR and AI, the focus on the 3Cs, brand has never been more important. However, the content on many sites is all about you and not the people you support. Your website needs to be a passionate advocate for your sector and a roadmap for how you help your community.
📌 Action: Look through your site now. Is it a monologue about your company, or do you have "social proof" from candidates and clients to act as hooks for your ideal audience?
Recruitment Website Mistake 2 – Ignoring your 404 Page
This is the page you’d rather people didn't see—the error page they hit when a link is broken or a job has been filled. Why do so many recruitment websites simply go “Doh!” and miss the opportunity to drive the user somewhere useful?
Check out this blog about great 404 pages and then check out Barclay Jones’ 404 page– we loved creating this one for our very own Barclay Jones 404 error page.
If someone cares enough to visit your site, don't greet them with a "computer says no" message. Use that space to redirect them to your latest jobs or top resources.
📌 Action: Go to a dead page on your website right now. Does your 404 page provide a path back to revenue, or is it a dead end?
Recruitment Website Mistake 3 – Your Website is an Outlier
Is your website connected to your processes and tech stack, or is it something you simply "post to and pray"? To drive revenue, your site must be integrated. For example:
Do you know who signs up for Job Alerts so you can engage them immediately?
Do you have trackers telling you who is engaging so you can follow up?
Are you sharing blogs to social media with the specific goal of luring your community back to your site?
Have you tested your Chatbot recently to ensure it’s actually helpful?
📌 Action: Ask where your website "sits" in your business process. What changes do you need to make so that marketers and recruiters are actively mining data from it?
Recruitment Website Mistake 4 – Contact Us – Or Rather, Kill the Lead!
You spend a fortune in time and emotion getting people to your site. They surf around, and bingo—they want to talk! The "Contact Us" page is arguably the most important page on your site. They are walking into your shop asking for help.
Yet, so many contact pages are uninspiring, "templatey," and actually discourage people from reaching out. Your goal is to convert. You want them to "buy" into a job application or, dare we suggest, pick up the phone.
📌 Action: Look at your Contact Us page. Is it relevant and engaging, or does it get in the way of a conversation?
Let’s Make Recruitment Websites Great Again
I couldn’t resist the "Trumpism." Take a look at your site, figure out which pages you really want people to visit, and ask yourself: Are they working hard enough? Don't be afraid to use a little personality to drive those conversions.
Recruitment Takeaways
Stop "we-ing" all over your visitors.
Capitalise on error pages.
Connect your website to your people and processes.
Make contacting you the easiest part of their day.
Bullhorn ATS / Analytics / Automation / AI RoI
We are Bullhorn experts set on helping ambitious recruitment businesses to increase speed and sales.
We help you weaponise your people, data, time, and tech, so you can recruit and sell!
Our Bullhorn Vision and Buddy service helps generate best-in-class processes, adoption, head space, and ROI.
BOOK A FREE BULLHORN ROI CONSULTATION
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