Two things keep a Recruitment Marketer up at night, high bounce rates and low applicant conversion rates.  One of the reasons for high bounce rates is simple, the career site is a closed funnel which limits how visitors can enter the Applicant Tracking System.

When a candidate comes to the main page, and the only way to find a job is through the Job Search bar, well that’s a closed funnel. A one-way approach requires visitors to search and then apply. This is what fuels high bounce rates. However, there are ways to fix this just by having job categories right under the Job Search bar. It acts as a second level (like a safety net) for visitors to find an area of interest. The addition of job categories at the top makes the career site more of an open funnel.

Something else to consider is mobile device visitors using apps like LinkedIn for their job search. To them, a career site that is loaded with fluffy content, testimonials, and images seems like an infinite scroll without ever seeing a relevant job. However, creating talent communities allows mobile users to sign up without having to go through a grueling application process.  Adding Talent Communities at the top is another way to make the career pages more of an open funnel.

To be honest, these recommendations will help reduce bounce rates, but they don’t always improve applicant conversion rates.  When creating career-site pages you must look at website data and establish benchmarks.  Once you understand the behavior patterns, you can optimize the career site to make it more of an open funnel, which in return can improve applicant conversion rates.

Lastly, Phenom People has the best Content Management System (CMS) for career pages especially to create more opportunities for visitors to enter the funnel at any step. If you would like to learn more about creating an open funnel career site, please click here to get in touch with me.