Tips for Writing Excellent Career Site Content

A large part of today’s labour force turns to the internet for new jobs. The Australian job market is fiercely competitive, and the Internet Vacancy Index has risen 12.1 percent in the last year, making online hiring a lucrative prospect.

To make your website stand out, you need to provide more than generic content. You have to craft content that will connect with job seekers and make them want to use your site to find jobs.

Here are some tips to help you write excellent content for your career site.

1. Be Genuine

Above all, be real and personal. The internet is rife with websites that fail to make users feel that they’re connecting with real humans on the other end. When writing career site content, put yourself in your target user’s shoes. What would you want to read? What would make you want to continue reading and using the site? What would convince you to apply for a job?

Infuse a personal touch into your writing. Make your users feel valued and understood. Speak to them directly using the first and second person. Don’t focus on selling. Instead, focus on providing information that will tell the reader why you have their best interest at heart.

2. Be Transparent

The abundance of shady job ads is the biggest hurdle to the online recruitment industry. Countless job hunters have been victims of online scams, so they are more wary than usual. Write your website content in a way that your users will know that you are 100 percent legitimate.

The key is transparency.

Be clear about the nature of the job. Spell out the job requirements, job description, and compensation as much as possible. While it is acceptable to keep out sensitive information from the public description -- details you may want to discuss only with shortlisted candidates, for example -- make sure you don’t do a bait and switch.

Go one step further and use storytelling to show applicants what awaits them. Share what a typical day would be like. Use visuals freely.

The more information you share about the job, the higher the chances that people will apply for it.

3. Keep it Simple

Job seekers don’t want to spend more time than necessary when looking for a job. As such, you want to keep your career website content simple and easy to understand.

When writing corporate career site content, avoid jargon and gimmicky words like “guru”, “ninja”, and “maven”. Avoid overused words like “passionate”. Stick to the essence of the job and use clear, non-generic descriptors. Job hunters want to know exactly what they’re applying for. They don’t need “beautiful” words.

Writing corporate career site content does not have to be a complicated task. Identify what you need, show job hunters the human side of your company, write your job listings in plain language, and be honest about what the jobs entail. If you do this consistently, you will get satisfied users, and your reputation will get a boost.