Is it HR?
Or hiring managers?
Is it marketing?
Or how about IT?

Our recent research on youth employment accessibility raised the question on who owns or is accountable for the content and functionality on the job section of a company website.

We took young people’s expectations and experiences of applying for jobs online to create the research assessment questions that looked at the candidate journey, supportive content and employer brand. Plus, we had an overall quality score that compared the consistency in quality of the job section with the rest of the website.

80% of young people told us they go direct to a company website to look for job opportunities. The headlines from the research told us that:

• 1 in 3 had technical processes or functionality that was missing or didn’t work
• 1 in 3 businesses had support content that was very poor or missing
• 66% of businesses did not evidence what a young person is looking for from an employer

This would give a young person a poor reflection on a company. The best candidates will bounce out and are likely to go elsewhere. So, who is responsible in a company for the jobs section?

We felt the jobs page and/or the online application pages are somewhat neglected, such that, in the worst cases, they appear to be a different website.

Common problems include; branding that is not present, old, or inconsistent with the rest of the site, a greater frequency of spelling, grammatical and formatting errors and problems, overuse of jargon and complicated language, and links or pages that are broken, missing or not recently updated.

These seemingly innocuous factors such as formatting and consistency with the main site may appear to not hold much weight for a young person searching for employment opportunities.

However, young people will automatically assess these pages in reference to their expectations for ease of use, functionality and clarity of both the pages and the application process.

If these initial impressions are negative and expectations are not met, young people may judge that this is a company they do not want to work for, and will quickly move on elsewhere.

Businesses may inadvertently be missing out on young talent if they do not pay attention to these details.

So, who does own the job section on a company website? We asked a number of professionals in IT, Marketing, HR and Learning and Development. Here’s an insight into their experiences and perspectives…

IT perspective

Laurence Childs, IT consultant, said: “Depending on the business culture the jobs section tends to be neglected because several departments are involved but they work in silos. There is often no strategy and if things go wrong then you will find one department blaming the other.”

Marketing perspective

Jay Staniforth, Director of Marketing at Vacancy Filler, said: “I always find problems when marketing or IT owns the careers part of a company website, mainly because they have other priorities. HR needs to own the jobs section on a company website and make it an HR priority. The technology is there to give candidates a better experience so HR should embrace the opportunities available to them.”

HR perspective

Shilpa Ayra, Director of New HR Consulting, said: “Many HR professionals delegate recruitment to agencies unless they have a large internal team to manage the process. My background was predominantly in local authority and online recruitment was fairly new when I introduced it into my role in 2002-3. Recruitment became a role for HR but we relied on IT for technical support on the website.”

e-Learning perspective

Hazel Langley, Owner of Induction Junction, experienced HR professional and digital learning specialist, said: “The jobs and careers section of a company website requires input from both a marketing and HR angle to ensure that online content is optimised, engaging and visible.  HR professionals may understand how to reach and attract their ideal candidates however, do they possess the technical know-how to ensure that the vacancy and training opportunities they post can be quickly found when searched; grab and hold would-be applicant’s attention and inspire them to take action.  Businesses should check that the effort and emphasis on the job and careers section of their website equates to that of the sales pages and that this is tested to make sure it works effectively.”

Access Generation’s perspective

Some of the job sections we have assessed to date often appear neglected and this could be because their are multiple teams or individuals with other priorities involved. For instance, in our own work experience, marketing tend to be the content controllers and ultimately responsible for a company website. However, aspects of the website are expected to be populated by other departments or team members such as sales for promotional offers and HR for job information.

HR need to take a strategic lead on the job section of a company website and involve all stakeholders. Talent attraction is now so important in light of Brexit, a potential skills shortage, the digital revolution and with some industries faced with an ageing workforce.  It has never been more important to focus on building a pool of young talent and now is the time to take ownership and take the lead on attracting your own.

As part of our research, we will be running a training seminar workshop in October and we are inviting multiple stakeholders from businesses to ensure all parties involved in the website come away with a clear idea on young people’s expectations when applying for jobs online.

If you would like to attend a workshop please register your interest by emailing [email protected]