Today's candidates have the upper hand. They see 9.1 million open jobs and know that they do not have to settle.
The best way to attract talent to your organization is to leverage recruitment marketing technology and recruitment strategies that stand out. The problem is there's often a part of the hiring process that's broken and cutting you off from a massive pool of candidates.
How? Through ineffective career pages. Not all career sites are purpose-built to include all candidates, which hinders your organization from acquiring top talent.
Worried your organization’s career site might be standing between you and top talent? The tips below on career site accessibility can help.
A Snapshot of Today's Talent Roadblocks
One in four people in the US has a disability. That’s 31 million people. Despite this large pool of potential candidates, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is twice as high as those without a disability.
Why?
There’s a lack of accessibility in the job search process, and it starts with the first touchpoint: the career site. When a candidate is looking for a job, they end up on your career site. Whether they clicked on a programmatic ad, saw an opening on LinkedIn, or just searched for your company, they land on your career site looking for information.
Tips To Make Your Career Sites Accessible
As you use a content management system (CMS) to build and update your career site pages, keep these tips in mind to make the job search more fair and productive for everyone:
Use Text Headings to Help Navigate Career Site Pages.
Using header 1 headings (H1) not only improves your SEO but improves your accessibility. People using screen readers rely on consistent headings to understand what each page is about.
You should give a plain text an H2 heading. Avoid skipping heading ranking (i.e., jumping from an H1 to an H3) because screen reader users may find this confusing and believe content is missing.
Design PDFs and Career Site Content More Thoughtfully.
What are your brand’s colors? If they're colors that are similar to one another (like yellow and orange), you might want to consider creating an accessibility mode.
Contrasting colors are more accessible for individuals to read. Think of the “dark mode” on your mobile device. It’s a simple switch that will mirror your career site in greyscale.
Think About Page Layout.
Aligned left content reads more easily for screen readers and doesn't get as jumbled as it does with centered middle or aligned right text formats. We know you have exciting things to share on your career site, make sure the message doesn't get lost because of inadequate formatting.
You will also want to layout your career pages like a well-composed blog or article. Headings styles help keep your text organized and communicate the hierarchy of content.
Make Images Readable.
A picture can paint a thousand words. Once you find the right image, don’t forget to take an extra two seconds to write alt text. The alt text describes what’s going on in the image or the URL that it links to. This context allows for screen readers to understand why you put the picture there in the first place. (Bonus: adding alt text also improves your SEO ranking!)
PS - this goes for videos too. Ensure your videos have closed captions!
Accurately Describe Link Destinations.
“Click here” doesn’t cut it. If you’re linking to another page, ensure that screen readers can understand where you’re headed.
For example, “Read our accessibility infographic here.”
Be Wary of Italics.
Screen readers can’t always read text written in italics. If you want to make a point, use bold or punctuation to make your point!
Key Through Your Career Site.
Not all individuals can use a mouse or scroll. Ensure you can tab and use arrows to navigate through your site. This goes for any forms as well. Tabbing should prompt you to enter information in the forms in a logical manner.
Simply Put: Talk About it.
You have an opportunity to showcase all of your employees with varying positions, races, genders, and abilities. Create a place where candidates can feel a sense of belonging. If they see the representation of someone similar to them, they feel a connection.
The goal is to create a better experience for every candidate. Your career site is your opportunity to showcase your employer brand and let your visitors know why they want to work at your company and not another. Why eliminate 31 million ready-to-work Americans from the start? Making these small changes can open your candidate pool to a previously untapped group.
Next Steps
Are you interested in learning more about accessibility? Check out our Joy Roadshow to hear from experts.
