Your career site has about eight seconds to capture the attention of browsing candidates. If your site is still built like it’s 2015 with a static homepage, a job list, and an “Apply Now” button as the only call-to-action, it’s probably time to give your career site a facelift.Â
Over the past decade, we’ve collected 55 billion data points from candidate behaviour while browsing career sites. These insights have taken us beyond pageviews and scroll depth, towards things like understanding the content that candidates engage with, and what the big factors are that influence a candidate’s actions (ultimately convincing them to apply).Â
From all this data, we’ve derived four key takeaways to help you enhance your career site to give candidates the experience they’re searching for.Â
1. 70% of your candidates aren’t converting to applicants
Roughly 70% of visitors to a typical career site never convert into an applicant. Often, this is because they may not be ready to apply right now. They might not have the time, be in the right space, or maybe there isn’t quite the right role for them available at this point. Regardless, losing 70% of your traffic represents a huge waste of potential candidates, so today’s top career sites have mechanisms built in to capitalisecapitalize on these silent browsers: multiple points of engagement.
If the only action a candidate can take on your career site is to ‘apply’, you’re overlooking those who might be interested in your company but not ready right now. Adding more ways for candidates to engage with your brand is the way to go: perhaps they can subscribe to a career insights newsletter, or sign up for job alerts so that when the perfect role arises, they’re the first to know.Â
The top-performing 5% of sites convert four times better than average. They’re using CTAs and content that add real value to tap into passive talent and build pipelines that can be nurtured or kept in reserve for upcoming requisitions.Â
2. Authenticity is key: people trust people
While adding some more varied ways for candidates to connect with you through these new CTAs is a ‘quick win’, the content on your career site also does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to engaging candidates. And our little tip: the type of content matters a lot more than the quantity.Â
Stock photography and polished brand copy don’t move the needle the way real employee stories do. Employee-generated content consistently outperforms brand content: “meet our people” pages, live chats with current staff, real answers to real questions about what the job and the culture is actually like.
The best careers sites platform the voices of their employees to bring these pages to life. Tools like Employee Connections make it easy, but other tactics like social media takeovers or employee spotlights can help to bridge the gap between top candidates and your workforce.Â
3. Ask for less, and you’ll convert more (and deter the bots)
Application forms with a dozen-plus fields before a resume is even attached carry an industry-average drop-off rate of 80%. Cut that down to the essentials, and drop-off falls to around 24%. Why? People hate long forms.Â
Usually, the rationale behind these long forms is to get enough information to filter out poor-fit candidates early. But here’s the catch: those same long, rigid, field-by-field forms are trivially easy for an AI application bot to fill out. By trying to filter out candidates, you’re inadvertently setting the stage for an influx of AI-generated applications (most of which won’t convert in the end).Â
Application process best practice is actually to ask for the minimum amount of information required to get a candidate started in the process, not everything you’ll eventually need. Gather the rest gradually, through nurture, once a candidate is already invested.Â
4. Returning visitors are more likely to convert
Because most candidate journeys stretch across weeks or months, the visitors coming back for a second or third look are further along and more likely to apply than a brand-new arrival. So, your career site needs to give them a reason to return.
Blog content is one of the most effective ways to do this. Candidates who read a blog post are up to 4x more likely to convert, but only if the content is fresh and genuinely useful. A blog that offers real value builds trust between candidates and your organisationorganization.Â
It’s best practice to aim to update your core content (for example, your blog, your job ads and news sections) every 6 weeks, so that returning visitors find something new each time they visit. With the right tech, you can personalisepersonalize the experience further. Recommend content that speaks to them, and make every touchpoint feel built for that person.
Top tip: Tools like PageUp Clinch allow you to personalisepersonalize the candidate experience and give your recruitment team the tools to publish updates themselves with a simple, easy-to-use career site interface (rather than routing every change through an IT ticket).
The takeaway
A good career site is never finished. The data shows what candidates want: more ways to engage, real voices over polished copy, and fresh content that gives them a reason to come back. Small, deliberate, and ongoing iterations are what separate the top 5% of career sites from the rest.
See how PageUp’s recruitment marketing solution can help you turn these insights into a career site that keeps working for you.Â
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