March
2008 – Leading Career web sites
 Like
most people, I suppose, I visit company web sites when I
am in need of some information. Nine times out of ten I’m
looking for something straightforward such as the address
of the company headquarters, a telephone number, or the
name of the boss.
By almost the same ratio, what I find first is a selling
operation or career-focused messages telling me what a wonderful
employer this is. Too often the address or contact numbers
are buried somewhere in the small print.
For this reason I don’t view corporate web sites
as welcome mats but as fortresses. Like fortresses they
are imposing, intimidating and controlling. They stand in
my way, preventing me from reaching the people inside. They
might dazzle me with the brand almost as a castle will brandish
its coat of arms, but they have intricate defences that
appear as if they are designed to repel all borders.
Either that, or they are protected by a labyrinth of confusing
information with long, winding passages and dead ends. Is
this deliberate? In most cases I don’t think it is.
The real problem, I suspect, is that too many companies
place responsibility for their web sites with designers
and coders and not with professional communicators.
Thus, when a web site fails to deliver the right kind of
traffic, the instinct of company bosses is to demand a redesign
because they are dazzled by appearance rather than function.
They continue to make the same mistakes because their web
designers are unwilling to point out their own limitations.
Instead, technology-focused designers will try to seize
on the latest idea, be it podcasts, videos, film clips,
flashy graphics - you name it - without examining the rationale
for their use.
But things are changing. In its latest rankings of company
websites for their career offerings, Potentialpark
Communications,* a Swedish market research and communications
company, has congratulated the way some businesses are making
their web-based career propositions much clearer, simpler
and effective.
The research, that consulted some 7,605 students and recent
graduates across Europe, concluded that increasing numbers
of job applicants are seeking to apply online. This is why
the fortress mentality must be replaced by something that
is more like a showroom with friendly advice and a positive
experience for applicants, whether or not they are successful.
I note that some of the most popular sites among graduates
are those that seem to have simplified their web presentations.
Deloitte, (http://careers.deloitte.com/gateway.aspx)
the most highly rated career site in the UK from this study,
is notable for its clarity. Gone is the temptation to have
lots of illustrations or moving images. Instead there are
clear questions and answers and a logical sequence of links
to the relevant information.
The web is rediscovering the utility of the list. Possibly
this has something to do with the phenomenal success of
sites such as Craigslist. Whatever, the reason, employers
do seem to be waking up to the need for functionality.
While Accenture (http://careers3.accenture.com/careers/global/)
remains wedded to the power of the image - just now a picture
of Tiger Woods is on the front of the site – again
when you click on careers, the pages are clean and logical.
It may be significant that each of the big four accountancy
firms is in the top 10 on the Potentialpark UK rankings,
as they are in its European rankings. The leading accountants
are big recruiters. Preparing clear information is fundamental
to the profession so they, of all employers, should be capable
of giving graduates precise information about career opportunities.
Across Europe, the leading careers section was that of
Deutsche Post World Net,
(www.dpwn-karriere.de/cms/en/)
the post and parcel group, where the company appears to
have established a strong offering, underpinning its career
information with a powerful message on sustainability and
social responsibility.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com/extweb/career.nsf)
has gone even further in this respect with its Ulysees leadership
programme that sends teams of employees on eight-week socially-oriented
projects in developing companies.
Sustainability issues register strongly among graduates.
Employers that ignore such issues, therefore, are going
to be at a disadvantage in the recruitment market.
But the overriding message from those who took part in
the research is that career sites must be honest, succinct,
intuitive and relevant. “What’s the point of
having a graphically stunning website if you can’t
find the information that is needed?” said one of
the students in the study.
Other students complained that the material on some sites
read like propaganda. “They all say the same things
about themselves,” said one graduate, “Perhaps
they actually are all the same.”
There is a barely concealed cynicism about some of these
comments. No wonder some graduates are turning their backs
on big companies, preferring instead to work for small start-ups
or launching their own small businesses.
Torgil Lenning, senior consultant at Potentialpark, says:
“Career websites have an important dual nature. They
have become the root systems of all other recruitment efforts
and they are undoubtedly the main door to a company; and,
therefore, if this door is bad, blocked or locked, top talents
will go elsewhere.”
*www.potentialpark.com
See also: Graduate
career site rankings
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