As marketers, we know landing pages as a tool for targeted messaging, often for a PPC ad. They’re right near the top of the conversion funnel, and serve to guide users toward that ultimate conversion, whether that be buying, booking, or signing up. But what if that conversion is to bag yourself a new recruit?
According to a report from LinkedIn, your company website is the primary resource for attracting talent:
Not to be confused with your company’s career site, which should showcase all the reasons it’s totally awesome to work with you, a recruitment landing page is an extension of your job ad. It serves to allow potential applicants to become actual applicants. Ideally it will evoke a positive impression of your company, sure, but the page is mainly about the ability to apply.
5 tips for optimising your recruitment landing page for (quality) conversions
1. Be specific with the job title
No need to be clever (no one’s searching for Chief Imagination Officer vacancies. No they aren’t. No they aren’t, stop it) just say what the vacancy is and go granular. Include it in your PPC ad copy, too. This is good for attracting the right candidate, and for search engines. If you’re B2B with a global client base looking for someone to help produce your online content, then maybe you need a Global B2B Digital Content Marketer.
2. Include your company ethos
Company culture is important. Don’t go on and on and on (like I said, that’s what the careers site is for) but you can use a summary to help drive home what qualities the right candidate needs like passion, dedication, and loyalty. That way, when you describe the candidate requirements/responsibilities, and the benefits of the position, there’s a logical flow.
3. Describe the position carefully
Imagine your ideal candidate when writing the job description. If you’re expanding a team, think of the best qualities that already exist within that team, as well as where they are lacking – your new candidate will ideally slot right in and make up where the team perhaps falls short.
Use compelling language that echoes your PPC ad to give a snappy, emotive summary of the role, before going into more detail about the benefits of the position. Paint a picture when describing said benefits, and really think about how they’ll impact the right candidate. Explaining that employees can “recharge and refuel in a fully equipped kitchen space with ergonomic seating” sounds way better than “kitchen and break room”.
When breaking down the candidate requirements, it’s best to be more matter of fact. List the required experience, education, qualifications, and skills with brief explanations so as to make it clear what’s needed from potential candidates before they apply. Soften the more harsh wording by then listing the responsibilities of the job, returning to more inspiring language to help light a fire under the right candidate.
4. Consider the aesthetics
Grouping the copy into relevant sections will make it easier to read and digest. Avoid information overload with carefully crafted paragraphs, concise lists, and bulleted descriptions.
The font and alignment of your copy will impact the overall legibility of your recruitment page. Use a sans serif font and right aligned text. Applying colour can also help to add interest to a page without distracting from its purpose, and having a header to illustrate each section of the description will break up what could otherwise be a wall of text.
5. Use a clear call to action
This recruitment page has one purpose, and one purpose only: to get the right candidate to apply. It therefore needs one main call to action. Offer too many other options, and you risk confusing the candidate, and even evoking decision paralysis – yikes!
APPLY NOW is the obvious, descriptive choice, but there could be any number of possibilities depending on your industry. If in doubt, a/b test your job page!
An optimised recruitment landing page is the crucial first step
The recruitment process begins with attracting candidates before any of the CV-analysis takes place. The prospects must become leads. Speak to them directly with a tailored landing page that specifically describes the job you’ve outlined in your PPC ad, without making them wade through your generic career site copy.