Marketing Strategies Your Website:

12 Steps to Turn Your Website Into a Recruiting Magnet

Right now, your closest competitors are trying to figure out how to use these tools to draw in this new generation of recruits. The result: you need to get underway with your Internet-based recruiting strategy sooner rather than later. One place to begin your strategy is by refining your own website.

You can take 12 steps to help make sure your website attracts the recruits that you want.
    Getting New Recruits to Your Website

  1. Make it easy for recruits to find your website. List your website with local search engines, industry associations and job boards. Have your developer or, what is often called, a Search Engine Optimizer, develop a plan that will see your website come up higher and more frequently in web searches.

  2. Work your existing relationships. Arrange reciprocal link deals with your network of business partners (e.g. lawyers, accountants, office suppliers, etc.).

  3. Leverage all media. Use your online/offline advertising, direct mail, brochures, events, radio commercials, etc. to drive people to your site. Include special offers, discounts, contests and value-added assessments that excite and add value for your targeted recruits.

    4. Getting New Recruits to Stay at Your Site
  4. Make it easy for recruits to find career information on your website’s homepage. Have a career section that is distinct and clearly titled with terms like “Careers”, “Jobs”, “Your Next Career Move” or “Work with Us”.

  5. Draw attention to your career section on your homepage. Use tools like dynamic (i.e. moving) banners, oversized banners or moving text that runs across the middle of your homepage. At the same time, don’t clutter your homepage. Your homepage will be a better introduction into the rest of your site with fewer/larger images and click-through options.

  6. Focus your career section according to the recruits you’re targeting. For example, don’t make the new generation of recruits scroll through content that demonstrates career stability and other issues that typically appeal to more experienced agents.

    For the new generation of agents, make sure that you provide them with tools and information that answers their most important career questions, which typically include:

    • What is it really like to be a real estate agent?
    • Will the candidate be successful in real estate?
    • What do you do to help candidates be successful?

    Chances are however that you’re interested in recruiting new and experienced agents. So, allow each of these two types of recruits to easily navigate to information that they’ll find most relevant to them. That could include a career section that is arranged by agents’ level of experience.

  7. Help recruits decide if they’re right for your organization. Outline what you expect of your recruits. Include what skills and type of personality you’re looking for. In other words, you need to answer the question, “What kind of person is going to succeed here?” You should include tools that help recruits “self assess” and “self screen” themselves so as to manage their expectations and identify those who have the greatest potential.

  8. Make a visit to your website a unique experience. Your website provides you with a great opportunity to set yourself apart from competitors. That means you should do more than provide information, it means engaging recruits in an experience that they won’t soon forget! One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to include interactive skills assessments. Alternatively, include a career advice center and chat rooms.

    Getting New Recruits to Return to Your Site
  9. Update your website regularly. While you should outline your expectations and recruiting goals in detail, don’t try to answer every question that a recruit could have unless you’re prepared for them never to come back to your site. Rather, develop a schedule for loading-up information. In this way, you can sign-up potential recruits and collect information so that you can automatically notify them when you update your career section.

  10. Keep the door open. If you’re looking for a very specific set of skills and experiences today, that doesn’t mean that later this month you won’t be looking for agents with slightly different skills. As a result, collect enough contact information about recruits even if you don’t have a current opening that exactly matches potential recruits’ profiles.

  11. Keep a current calendar of on-going and local career events on your site. For example, post a list, and include reviews or first-hand comments on relevant career seminars. You may also want to include a schedule of association events and real estate training events. You can also create an event on your own site – such as an interactive question and answer session.

  12. Get recruits to spread the word about your website. If you’ve followed these steps, you’ll see more recruits coming and staying longer at your website. But, don’t stop there. Give recruits the opportunity of letting their friends, family and colleagues know about your website. Provide the option for recruits to send specific web pages, job announcements or your newsletters to their networks.

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