The current climate for companies trying to recruit and retain employees is competitive, challenging and often frustrating. Businesses of all sizes hiring employees at all levels are struggling to find qualified candidates for their many open positions.
Like with many business operations, recruiting is now a task that has moved almost entirely online. From social media postings to paid online job sites, companies now need their open jobs to show up in a variety of places to appeal to a variety of applicants. And just as we were starting to learn the landscape of online recruitment, Google For Jobs came along and changed the industry.
At ALINE, we are committed to helping our clients use digital tools strategically to meet their goals within their budgets. And online recruitment is now one of the many tasks we help with: empowering businesses to optimize their websites and digital marketing efforts to reach potential employees. In this blog, we’ll outline the new landscape in online recruiting and discuss tools you can use—or you can hire ALINE to help with—to find your next great employee.
Yes, your website should be the first place you post new jobs. If you hire new employees at least a few times each year, then add a Jobs or Careers page to your website. This page helps in multiple ways:
Google For Jobs is a relatively new platform for online job searches, but with over 250 million unique visitors on the site each month, it is undoubtedly the market leader. Google For Jobs has the top listings for job posts, above Indeed, CareerBuilder, and other job boards. About 75% of job seekers start their search on Google For Jobs. And another benefit for employers—Google’s algorithm ensures that searchers are well matched for jobs, finding more relevant applicants than many other sites.
Google For Jobs is not a job board—it’s an enhanced search tool—so there’s no way to actually post jobs on Google For Jobs. Instead, it scrapes and features job postings that are already published. So, in order to be found on Google For Jobs, you need to post jobs on your company’s website and on other third-party job sites (such as Facebook, ZipRecruiter or GlassDoor).
You cannot advertise or pay to improve search rankings on Google For Jobs, but you can make your job postings look more attractive. Google For Jobs, like Google the general search engine, will rank higher posts that are relevant, detailed, and timely.
When creating your job posts, follow these best practices for writing online job ads:
As with a lot of digital marketing, the answer to this is often tied to your budget. Some sites require paid listings, while others are free. The good news is that Google For Jobs scans the free sites, including Facebook, so you can still get a lot of visibility for a small budget.
Follow these steps to start improving your job postings’ visibility online:
As with almost everything else on the digital landscape, recruiting online has gone through some major changes. What once used to be the purview of a few paid job sites is now being run by Big Google, and companies of all sizes will benefit from an online job posting strategy that appeals to Google. Taking the time to update your listings, create an engaging page on your website, post on social media wisely, and track your data will ensure your job posts get the visibility needed to find you the best candidates.
Think you need some help with online job searching? Give ALINE a call, and we’ll help you with big strategy or in-the-weeds development.