Does your company website include career pages that include these 6 elements to recruit Millennials? If not, you will likely miss out on this most highly sought after demographic – despite your best intentions..
Unfortunately many companies fall short of their recruiting goals because they underestimate the importance and value of a company’s website. What follows is a 6-point website checklist to recruit and hire Millennials.
A responsive, mobile-ready site is a must. Let’s start with the basics. Mobile searches are now the dominant method of web queries in the United States, accounting for 51%. Compare that to desktop searching, which represents 42%, according to Smart Insights mobile statistics for 2015. If your web site is not optimized for mobile content, your job listings won’t be found by a majority of the candidates. And without applicant views, recruiting Millennials is like pushing water uphill with a rake. Update your career site with a responsive web design immediately and start reaching more applicants.- A job application that takes less than 15 minutes. Twenty-six percent of all adults and 53% of 18-29 year-olds used a smartphone to start their search. Half of these “smartphone job seekers” filled out a job application on their mobile. Most applicants don’t want to spend more than 15 minutes filling out an online application; any more than that and there is a large abandon rate for unfinished apps. Capture only the info you need to assess basic qualifications, then request more if both you and the candidate are interested.
- Video = Authenticity. Seeing used to mean believing, but now it’s seeing, hearing and experiencing. Online video now accounts for 50% percent of all mobile traffic. Start embracing one of the most widely accepted visual formats for video job descriptions, corporate branding, employee profiles, candidate experience and more. In today’s world, video equals authenticity, making it one of the best ways for Millennial candidates to get a sense of a company’s culture and vibe.
- Authentic testimonials. Gone are the days when we take the company’s word for how happy its employees are and what a great place it is to work for. In these times of increased transparency, jobseekers expect to see and hear what employees have to say and in their own words. And with sites like Glassdoor gaining traction, employees and former employees are already talking about life at your company. Let’s face it—today your company brand is controlled by what others say about, not management hype.
- What is it really like to work here? Google does a great job of communicating this and has a dedicated section of their website that’s appropriately called Life at Google. Here candidates will find every aspect of work life at Google covered: culture, diversity, specific groups such as Google: A great workplace for women, community service and more. Within each topic area, visitors can drill down to learn more through video and visuals that tell their story.
- A well-defined hiring process. A hiring process that clearly communicates what to expect at each step will set a respectful, professional tone with your candidates. Red Hat is an example of a company that does a great job of this. Not only do they outline the entire process, but they also tell the candidate what action to take within each step. Bonus points to them for also communicating this in a fun, friendly way, giving potential candidates a glimpse of their company’s culture This approach works both ways; by communicating its application process clearly, it will save the human resources department countless time fielding unnecessary calls and emails.
