Small is beautiful: microsites in online recruitment

Microsites offer a tailored, finely tuned approach to online recruitment that can overcome some of the internet's drawbacks as a precision hiring medium.

There is no shortage of information about online recruitment as a whole, but there is a decided lack of data and commentary about the potential of microsites in raising the effectiveness of hiring over the internet.

Although more and more recruitment and employment agencies are using these "minisites" or "sitelets", most employers have yet to tap into their potential. It is therefore not surprising that many recruiters and HR professionals remain unclear about their definition and purpose.

What is a microsite?

Broadly, a microsite is a dedicated website promoted as part of a larger website to meet specific objectives.

As this definition implies, the concept is not restricted to recruitment: any commercial or other type of website can include a hyperlink to a sub-site that has been built to meet a particular need that is distinct from, but related to, the key business associated with the main site.

For example, the Health and Safety Executive has recently launched, through its main site, a microsite on how to avoid back-related injuries in the workplace.

When the microsite model is applied to recruitment, it refers to a small website dealing exclusively with recruitment that is promoted separately as part of a larger website. Both sites are usually supported by the same server and are linked by a common design and branding.

Technically, this means that a corporate careers site, as a sub-site of the main corporate site, could be classed as a microsite. Although this is true, the role that microsites can play in the recruitment process is potentially more finely tuned compared with that performed by a large, overarching careers portal.

James Saunders is managing director of 4mat.com, one of the first web design companies to promote the use of microsites for recruitment. He explains: "A microsite is a mini recruitment website that usually backs up a particular recruitment campaign. There tends to be a single point of application and it is usually linked to the organisation's or agency's main site. It could be standalone or, typically, offline media is used to direct applicants to the campaign site.

"Microsites can have a seasonal use, for example when an organisation needs to recruit its graduate intake, or be used in a more ad hoc way, which is usually campaign-based."

The benefits

Alex Hens, head of interactive at recruitment marketing consultancy Thirtythree, believes that there are several potential advantages in using microsites for recruitment purposes.

"Large companies in particular can benefit from developing a dedicated site as part of a larger corporate site to attract particular groups of candidates - for example, if [they are] running a campaign to recruit HR people, or IT specialists," he says. "The main site can be used to convey the key corporate and brand messages for all potential applicants; it can then redirect specific audience segments to their own special site that speaks their language and provides much more in-depth information about that employment area."

Some of the more obvious benefits that can be realised from such a targeted, finely tuned approach flow from the internet's broader advantages. For example, microsites can speed up the recruitment process, certainly from the point of view of potential job applicants. Flexibility as well as speed can be enhanced: information can be uploaded or removed instantly.

Significant financial benefits can also be realised. According to Saunders, these can include savings made by not using traditional print media to advertise vacancies. A single, quarter-page job advertisement in one of the main broadsheets costs at least £5,000, while a small banner advert in a newspaper or internet job board - used to drive traffic to the campaign site - costs considerably less.

There is also the financial outlay saved if the recruiting organisation reduces the number of, or abandons completely, paper-based application packs.

Because a microsite can provide more in-depth information about the company and role, there is also the potential for greater self-selection by candidates. Regular features found on this type of recruitment portal include profiles of recent recruits to provide would-be applicants with a realistic job preview and detailed information about the career framework for the role or roles being advertised.

For example, the NHS's Bright Futures microsite, which is linked to the main NHS Careers site (http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk, aims to encourage young people, such as school leavers and graduates, to consider a career in the health service.

As well as having a section that features individual employee case studies showing the wide range of careers on offer in the NHS, it has a "career choices" section. The "getting started" web page, meanwhile, offers practical advice geared towards young people who, because of their age, may not have any work experience or may be unsure about how to start their career.

Hens explains: "The true benefit of a microsite is realised through driving the relevant traffic - that is, appropriate candidates - to the site itself, which is why it should have enough information to stand alone for the candidate, while at the same time offering links to the corporate site in case there are questions left unanswered."

A less immediate benefit is that the recruiting organisation can maintain a presence on the internet even after the vacancies advertised on the microsite have been filled. There is no reason why the site cannot remain live, particularly if there is a good range of factual information that promotes the employer's reputation. It could well be appropriate to advertise future vacancies on the site.

For example, the Sector Skills Development Agency's main corporate site contains a hyperlink to a Creative and Cultural Skills microsite developed for a particular recruitment campaign. The microsite has obviously fulfilled its original purpose because it now states that there are currently no vacancies, but the microsite is still live and contains a host of pertinent information that enhances the organisation's reputation. When the agency needs to recruit in the future, one option is to simply upload the vacancy details.

Fulfilling a niche need

Although some microsites advertise a range of vacancies, they are most effective when used to promote a specific type of role.

One example is the recruitment microsite (www.sgbdtalent.co.uk/en/templates/sgbdtalent/index.jsp?_requestid=87363 ) that 4mat.com designed for Saint-Gobain Building Distribution, a major retailer of construction materials whose brands include Jewson, Graham and World's End Tiles. It is a campaign site aimed specifically at the recruitment of graduates. The text and overall design of the site are therefore written to attract this target audience.

"Typically, a microsite provides a lot more detail and talks the right language for the audience," 4mat.com's Saunders says. "A careers site that tried to appeal to both graduates and chief executives simply wouldn't work."

Primarily for economic reasons, microsites are less likely to be used to recruit to a single post, although in theory there is no reason why - if the post is senior or specialist enough - a recruiter could not adopt this approach.

In Saunders's experience, a web design company would not work with a company to build a one-off site and it is likely that at least two or three vacancies would be advertised on the site to make it financially worthwhile.

The other possibility is that a recruitment microsite is offered to the client as part of a suite of products. "The main activity in this area, and therefore the bulk of our work, is with recruitment consultancies, which may double-badge a recruitment microsite with their client company," Saunders adds.

An example of this "double-badging" can be seen on the recruitment microsite (www.edenbrown.com/qca/content_static/home.asp ) designed by 4mat.com as part of the recruitment campaign that recruitment consultancy Eden Brown is running for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The QCA is the government body that regulates the national curriculum in England and accredits a range of academic and vocational qualifications. The host site is Eden Brown's main site, and there are a number of jobs advertised on the QCA recruitment pages.

According to Saunders, employers have been slower than consultancies and other external advisers to realise the potential benefits of using microsites to enhance their online recruitment strategy.

"There is no reason why organisations can't commission a specialist provider to design a recruitment microsite directly for them as part of their online careers portal," he says, "and I think this will be a growing trend in the future."

Realising potential

As is the case with any use of the internet for recruitment purposes, the functionality and design of a microsite are fundamental to its effectiveness. The brand of the recruiting organisation also has a key role to play. "The research indicates that an employer's brand can be a huge lever in recruitment and it is important that this is reflected on the microsite," says Saunders.

The fact that a recruitment microsite usually acts as the focal point for submitting job applications also means that it has to be user-friendly and must make it easy for candidates to apply online.

As a general principle, the more information provided to potential applicants, the greater the opportunities for self-selection. "Don't be afraid of duplication in your web offering," Hens advises. "When online, a jobseeker is potentially time-poor but certainly 'click-happy'. There are plenty of other things to distract them when plugged into the worldwide web, so, for a little extra work, ensure that you provide them with relevant information that is likely to answer all their questions."

He adds that it is much easier to provide readily accessible information in sufficient depth and breadth when a microsite or campaign-related site is being used. It is likely to be speaking to a defined audience.

"It's too easy to look at the entire online offering as a single entity from the corporate perspective," he comments. "Put yourself in the candidate's shoes. They will probably only touch on very few elements of what may be out there, but when they do, you need to ensure that there is enough to capture their interest to find out more."

Equal access

While recruitment microsites potentially offer an effective and relatively inexpensive recruitment option compared with traditional print media, this route to market may be less appropriate for some target audiences.

The same equal opportunities issues - such as potentially less ease of access for some groups, for example people with disabilities - are as relevant to microsites as they are to the use of online recruitment generally.

As employers experience increasing skills shortages and the labour market continues to become more diverse, recruiters need to consider their choice of recruitment channels with care. It could be that an employer decides that the most inclusive resourcing strategy requires the use of a range of recruitment media and application channels.

However, the potential reach, immediacy and information-richness of the internet could ensure that it plays an important part in such an inclusive strategy. Microsites need not necessarily be restrictive in terms of their audience: they can be focused on a particular type of job or specific recruitment campaign, for example.

Even where the purpose of the microsite is to appeal to one group within the labour market, this could aid rather than hamper diversity and equality. The use of media to target underrepresented groups is well established as a means of fostering equal opportunities, one that the various equality commissions often advocate.

Coupled with an effective monitoring process that encourages visitors' and applicants' confidential disclosure of their gender, ethnicity, age and other key equality criteria, recruiters will have a good means of knowing whether their microsite impedes or promotes diversity and equality - and it will give them some hard information to improve matters further.