Is “Careers” the First Word on Your Careers Page? Big Mistake

Is “Careers” the First Word on Your Careers Page? Big Mistake

Summary: The headline on your careers page should promise value, not describe the page content.

What’s the headline on your careers page?

You know, the big bold words you see first, once the page loads?

There’s a good chance it’s “Careers.”

Another common one is “Join our team.”

Does your careers page start with something similar?

Here’s the thing:

A careers page is what digital marketers call a landing page: a web page with a specific marketing goal. In this case, to sell your workplace to potential employees.

Virtually all landing pages include a headline. Frequently, especially on mobile, this is the only text visible “above the fold,” before you scroll down.

Headlines are high-stakes. Make or break.

Now take a look at some headlines from non-careers landing pages. These are marketing different recruiting and HR products:

  1. Make hiring your competitive advantage (Greenhouse)
  2. Find the perfect person for your company (LinkedIn Recruiter Lite)
  3. Create remarkable experiences from interview to exit and beyond (Culture Amp)
  4. Recruit faster with Google (Hire by Google)

What do you notice?

There’s a stark difference between the careers and product page headlines, isn’t there?

The careers-page headlines describe the page content:

Here’s what this page is about.

The product page headlines promise value:

Here’s what’s in it for you.

One of these two techniques convinces visitors to scroll down and read more. The other wastes its best opportunity to hook, interest, and excite its target audience.

Can you guess which is which?

Your headline should communicate value

Don’t waste the headline on your careers page by describing the page contents. Not “careers,” not “job opportunities,” not (shudder) “we’re hiring,” not even “join our team.”

Do use the headline on your careers page to deliver a clear value proposition. It should make a promise to the user: Here’s what’s in it for you. This is why you should keep reading.

How to write your headline

Use your EVP. Your employer value proposition (EVP) is the crucial quality that leads people to choose your organization over others. It's the core of your employer brand. Often, it exists as a short statement or tagline. If you have one, use it; make it your careers page headline.

But if your company hasn’t researched and formally defined its EVP?

Figure it out informally:

Talk to employees. Go catch up with a few of your most recent hires. Ask them why they chose to join the team. What do they like most about working here, so far? Chat with a few veteran employees, too. What’s the one thing they’d tell friends about working here? Listen carefully, and note what they say.

Use their words. Make a list of the comments you captured. Somewhere in the mix of words lies the raw material for your headline – no need to come up with something from scratch. Your existing employees’ words will speak to your audience of potential employees. Look for a repeating theme: the positive quality or characteristic mentioned most often.

Make it unique to you. Effective headlines focus on value no other competitor can deliver. This is why feel-good phrases like “Join us” and “Work here” don’t work: they’re too generic. An excellent way to do this is to use a word or reference that’s specific to your brand.

Direct the reader. Did you notice? The landing-page headlines we looked at earlier all use similar sentence structure. Make, find, create, recruit. These directive verbs promise: This is the great thing you’ll experience. Try this technique – it’s persuasive.

Write ten (or twenty) variations. Do what professional copywriters do: come up with ten (or twenty, or fifty) headline options by riffing on your employees’ quotes. This will help you find the clearest, most compelling version to use on your careers page.

Just five to ten words. Can you shorten it? Can you choose easier words? Simple and clear is more important than clever or cool. Say it out loud: How does it sound?

Add a descriptive subhead or eyebrow. Here’s where “Careers at Acme,” “Job Opportunities,” or “Join our Team” are most helpful. A supportive subheading (directly below the heading) or eyebrow (directly above the heading) helps remind the user where they are on the site.

Inspiring examples

At Intuit, you get to make a “Giant” impact. (A reference to the company’s recent giant-robot brand campaign).

EY shows you how to use an eyebrow (“Work with us”).

UPS wins by talking about you, the potential candidate, not we, the employer.

Yes, this is a “Join our team.” But Southwest Airlines owns a well-liked consumer brand. “Join a Company with Heart” taps into that equity to convert customers into candidates.

Best Buy Canada’s pitch to “Belong Here. Be You Here,” is a little cheesy for my taste, but that doesn’t matter – if it’s the right message for their target candidates.

Dropbox’s pitch is a tad generic, but it’s also targeted to candidates wanting to work in a growing company (which is not for everybody).

H&M’s “Place of Possible” counters some of the negative stereotypes about retail employment.

Saks Fifth Avenue promises adventure to fashionistas.

Many of the other headline examples are action-oriented and use a directive verb. Adidas challenges the reader with a strong statement.

Gusto’s “work reference” isn’t as generic as it may seem at first glance: the company produces workplace software products. (Also, another descriptive eyebrow.)

Toyota’s “We’re more than great cars and trucks” makes me curious – curious enough to find out more…

…And that, my friend, is just what your careers page headline is supposed to do.

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Written by Christian De Pape, employer brand consultant, designer, and guy who thinks talent acquisition could use better UX and content strategy. Let's connect.

Excellent piece Christian De Pape. We talk about how important it is to show customers and potential customers the value of our product, but the company we are working for is also a product to potential employees, many of whom want to make an impact via their work.

Susan Davis

Deliver Great Software Without Drama

5y

On the other hand, "careers" needs to be in the URL, and needs to be the title of the link from the footer of your home page and from your site map. Otherwise, I'm going to have a hard time finding it.

Yes it is as obvious as night and day.  Even I fall back to the path dependence of laundry list describe to sell so I admit the errors of my ways the power of properly taught and mentored writing.  Notice I did not say coached.

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