IT Staffing Report: Oct. 10, 2013

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IT staffing websites graded least effective

Staffing firm executives rate websites as the highest bang-to-buck marketing tactic.  Of course, no one is better positioned to access the talent needed to build a great website than an IT staffing firm, so such firms should be faring really well when it comes to websites, right? WRONG! Ironically, it turns out that IT staffing firms have the least effective websites in terms of contributing to their company’s success.

This finding is based on Staffing Industry Analysts’ new report “Which Website Design Attributes Drive Staffing Firm Business Success.” The survey asked staffing firms to rate their current website’s contribution to business success. In addition, the survey asked whether their websites were “mostly candidate focused”, “mostly client focused”, or “evenly mixed (between client and candidate focus)”. The report shows a significant difference between the average satisfaction associated with candidate-focused websites versus client-focused websites.

“Candidate focused websites were associated with statistically significant higher average satisfaction,” said Theo Vadpey, research associate at Staffing Industry Analysts. “This was particularly apparent at the segment level. Compared with other temporary staffing segments, healthcare staffing firms stand out as having more candidate-focused websites, and the highest level of average satisfaction. On the other hand, IT staffing firms stand out as having more client-focused websites, and the lowest level of average satisfaction.”

Industry experts agree with the above findings. According to Jason Lander of Staffing Robot, the decision to make a website focused either on clients or candidates is dependent on the segment and factors that are driving their business. “IT can fall into either camp, depending on the type of IT staffing the company does,” Lander said. “If the type of staff the company recruits for are in high demand, then a client-focused site probably doesn't make as much sense as a candidate-focused site.
“Also, the content most valuable and easily distributed on the web for any staffing/recruiting company is job content. Therefore, with the right tools and SEO practices, it can be very easy to recruit candidates and drive traffic/conversions on your website, simply with your jobs alone.”

Additionally, candidates in general are more likely to visit a recruiting website than prospective clients. This is not to say that websites can’t be used to attract clients. However, most staffing firms don’t have a solid content marketing strategy in place that will bring clients to their website. Brad Smith, director of SEO and social media marketing with Haley Marketing, said that companies that produce compelling content, such as blogs or whitepapers, at an average of one new piece a week experience an increase in traffic of about 100% over the year.

“For IT staffing companies specifically, the most compelling piece of content is jobs and salary related data,” Smith added. “I also think that in the IT space better candidates will lead to orders.  Unfortunately many IT firms neglect contractors on their website and are too focused on their service offerings to clients. So they aren't getting a high-level of traffic (because it doesn't exist) and they are missing out on candidate traffic.”

For the complete report on website satisfaction, click here.