fbpx

Why Are CTAs Important for Candidate Recruitment?

career-site-conversion

Why Are CTAs Important for Candidate Recruitment?

Imagine this scenario…

You’re really hungry. You want a pizza. NOW.

So, you go to the website of your favorite pizzeria…but you can’t find the menu. Or maybe you find the menu, but it’s a PDF and there is no way to order. (Or if your pizzeria is like my local one, there isn’t even a phone number on the menu).

The result? You’re hungry. Frustrated. And looking for your next favorite pizzeria.

Well, when it comes to candidates coming to your website, how many of them are leaving feeling tired, frustrated, and WITHOUT applying to your jobs?

Want more job applicants? Tell them what to do!

When it comes to recruitment marketing, you can drive all the candidates you want to your career site, but if those candidates get lost before applying for a job, you’ve wasted a lot of advertising dollars.

What do we mean?

Your organization probably spends tens of thousands of dollars a year to attract qualified job applicants whether it’s through job advertising, social recruiting, referrals, videos, job fairs, email marketing, or other tactics.

Your team has also probably spent a lot of time writing job descriptions, creating job posts, designing your digital marketing, and managing your advertising campaigns.

But what happens to the candidates when they click on your ads?

When they hit your website, do they know—in less than three seconds—what to do next? Do they know where to find your jobs? How to search them? How to apply? Do they know where to find more information about your company or why they should work for you?

That’s the purpose of “CallstoAction” or CTAs. They provide direction—guiding website visitors to the information they seek (and getting them to take the actions you want them to take).

Want more job applications? Create better CTAs!

CTAs can come in many formats:

  • Text prompts
  • Hyperlinks (text linked to a target page)
  • Buttons
  • Clickable images
  • Inline forms

The challenge you face is writing compelling copy that provides clear direction and then ensuring visitors to your site see the CTAs.

Before we get to our process for creating strong CTAs, check out your website. If you were a job seeker visiting your site for the first time, would you know where to go? How about if you came into the site from a blog post or directly on the contact page?

When thinking about CTAs, you need to consider all the different ways someone might access your site. You need to think about what they might want to know or do based on where they entered. And you need to consider all the ways you might get them to take action.

You also want to test your website on a desktop PC (or laptop) and a smartphone. Is there a clear and easytounderstand message for job seekers? Are your CTAs clearly conveyed and easy to use on every kind of device?

How to create better CTAs on your recruitment website

    1. Determine the top points of entry to your website (typically, the home page, contact page, blog, and individual job post pages). If you want to see how people are accessing your website, look at entry pages in Google Analytics. It will show you which pages people first see and how many people start at those pages.
    2. Review each of your entry pages – is a clear calltoaction already there? Would a job seeker know what to do in just a few seconds?
    3. Make a list of all the possible actions you might want someone to take, such as:
      • Search jobs
      • Apply now
      • Skip the search (just send us your resume)
      • Opt-in for job alerts
      • Opt-in for an enewsletter
      • Download content
      • Get a free resume review
    4. Determine which CTAs make the most sense for each entry page (but don’t try to do too many things on one page – that just confuses people and will actually lower your response).
    5. Consider the right format for the CTAs on each page – hyperlink, simple button, graphical button, inline form. Often the best choice is to have two CTAs pointing to the same place, such as a hyperlink in the body copy and a button somewhere else on the page.
    6. Get your web developer to add the CTAs to your website.
    7. Once you’ve added CTAs to your site, make sure they’re easy to use on desktopand even easier to use on mobile! Test the process yourself. Better yet, ask a friend, family member or colleague you trust to go through the process and welcome their feedback.
    8. Once each month, see how your pages are performing. Go into Google Analytics and look at the bounce rate for your site (people leaving after visiting just one page) and the exit pages (these show you where people left your site). Those two statistics will show you where you are losing people…and you need better CTAs.

What’s Next for Your Recruitment Team?

If you’re looking for help with your career site or any of the four pillars of recruitment marketing (career sites, recruitment advertising, social recruiting, or employer branding), we’re here to help.

Check out our Smart Recruiting Guide at www.recruitmentmarketers.com for 190 ideas to make your recruiting smarter!

Why People Love Working With Haley Marketing

Map Marker, Map and Recruitment Marketing Star Icon

Free Recruitment Marketing Roadmap

Let us review everything you are doing now and layout a roadmap to getting more job orders filled.