Target Better Hires With These 3 Career Page Case Studies
Simply Hired Staff
Employer Brand is an important factor in recruitment and hiring in 2015. We’ve talked a lot about what employer brand is and how to develop it. But we haven’t looked at particular examples yet.
Curious as to what rockstar employer branding looks like? Often it starts with the company career page. Here are three companies that absolutely rock their career pages, and we explain how you can borrow their ideas for inspiration.
1. IGN Entertainment Zeroes in on Fun
IGN Entertainment is an online media and services company with a focus on gaming and entertainment news. The company delivers website articles and entertainment to country-based sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
The company runs a business based on excitement and fun, and the IGN Entertainment career page perfectly matches that mood. From the exciting, pop-culture driven calls-to-action all over the page (“Join the crew,” “Be part of something big,” and “Be Voltron, not just a robot lion”) to the TechCrunch Cribs featured video, the website screams “It’s fun to work here!” The employee testimonials also speak to this fact, referencing Ping-Pong battles and fun conferences anyone in the industry would love to be a part of.
How to tap into fun in your workplace
You might be thinking that it’s easy to come across as fun and exciting when your company is immersed in pop culture and fun things all day and that more traditional companies can’t compete. But you’d be wrong! Fun has a different definition for different people. The point of your Employer Brand is not to attract employees at any cost but to attract the right employees for your company. You should display the kind of fun you have in the workplace so you can attract people who want to have the same kind of fun.
Look at your highest performing employees. What kinds of activities do they enjoy around the office? What’s the typical sense of humor and culture that your best employees engage in? Find a way to feature that spirit on your website to attract like-minded people who will gel with your culture right from the start.
2. Zappos Taps Into Teamwork
Zappos is the world-famous online shoe and clothing company based in Las Vegas.The company has made headlines for its growth as a business (it was acquired by Amazon several years ago) and also for its cutting edge approach to company culture and hiring. Tony Hsieh, CEO, is frequently featured in top magazines outlining his perspective on recruitment and sharing his insights into building a company worth working for.
Does Hsieh walk the walk with his Zappos careers page? Definitely. From the logo to the conversion buttons, the Zappos career page makes it clear that this is not an ordinary job opportunity. It’s an inclusive environment that invites you to “step inside,” “choose your team” and live life with Zappos. The photos are bright, active and mostly outdoors. The employees are laughing, smiling and not working. It’s about culture, teamwork and thrills, not pencil-pushing in cubicles (though we know there’s a lot of that going on in an online company).
How to tap into teamwork in your workplace
No man is an island, and no person achieves much within an organization without the support and interaction of team members. Does your website represent that? Or is it mostly one-sided with the benefits and job descriptions of the position you are offering? If you want to attract team-focused employees, your careers page needs to reflect that value with photos, language and opportunities to look into the environment and see the proof of teamwork in action.
Consider adding team photos to your careers page or even developing a short video in which you feature different employees speaking about the team environment at your company. By emphasizing how much your company values teamwork, you’ll be more likely to recruit employees who share those values.
3. Progressive Attracts High Performers
You might be more likely to recognize Progressive Insurance’s brand representative, Flo, than the actual company. But regardless, it’s hard to imagine that a homeowner’s, renter’s, life, health and auto insurance company would be the backdrop for a high-performing career. However, take one look at the Progressive careers page, and I bet you’ll change your tune.
The careers page heavily focuses on attracting the kind of employees that Progressive wants to meet: people who want to discover and grow and people who want to evolve their careers and push themselves to new heights. This is a very different approach than, say, a page that simply lists all of the current positions. This page encourages people to apply for jobs knowing they will have the freedom and opportunity to build relationships, develop new skills and work with people from a variety of backgrounds.
How to attract high performers to your workplace
No one wants to hire someone to fill a seat. And yet so often careers pages are presented as a list of seats that are empty. There’s no explicit message that a person could use one of those openings as a jumping off point for a career. It’s simply a title and a list of duties without thought for the big picture.
Do you want to attract employees who flourish when presented with autonomy and opportunity? Then say so. Share quotes and examples of different employees who have joined the company in one department but moved into (and upwards) in a different one. Show prospective employees examples of what you’d like to see happen for them in their careers, and they will be more curious and excited about working with you.The key here is positioning your careers page as an opportunity for employees to connect with opportunities rather than slip into existing roles.
If you’re inspired by these companies to take action and update your career page, read through our free Employer Brand Checklist to identify specific steps and resources you can use to take your recruitment to the next level.
