ENTREPRENEURS
How to Create a Job Portal Website?
Discover how create a job portal website that offers jobs and career information to job seekers and how to market it the best way, weather you are an entrepreneur, affiliate marketer or an hr expert.
Designers, developers, and people in technical roles have long been creating online portfolios when looking for a job. Since the “warm introduction” is vital in many industries, having a landing page for friends-of-friends to share can be invaluable. And even when applying to roles through more traditional applications, including an online portfolio in a job seeker website might get you a second look from a hiring manager.
But what should such a site include? What does a good marketing job-seeking website look like? Should you use WordPress? I’ll cover all that in this article.
Let’s start with how you should set up your job seeker website.
How to Build a Job Website?
The most common CMS (content management system) for websites has been WordPress far longer than I thought it would be. Although it feels like it’s been around forever, maintaining a WordPress site is still a highly valued and surprisingly rare skill.
For that reason, I recommend you create your portfolio website on WordPress. For an even more prestigious display of your skills, deploy it yourself so you learn how to get it set up on a hosting service.
What Web Hosting Service do you need?
If your goal is to impress future employers, you’re better off deploying WordPress to a simple web hosting service. The digital services branch of Amazon began as a maze of awful documentation and poor support but has become surprisingly user-friendly of late. You can capitalize on its old reputation by learning to use it well before everyone knows it’s easier than they’ve heard.
The most difficult part of getting a new website up is usually handling the DNS (Domain Name System). A best practice is buying your domain (the technical term for a text-based URL like businessesgrow.com) from someone other than your hosting service. If you have two providers it’s less risky when one service is attacked or otherwise interrupted. Sites like WordPress.com offer a domain for an additional fee with their hosting services. Don’t buy such a bundle for security reasons.
In the past, I’ve been happy using typical DNS registrars like NameCheap. However, I recently used Google Domains. I was surprised at its simplicity, especially the ease of adding Google Workspace services. You might consider Google Domains if you also want to have a “yourname@yournewURL.com” email address run by Gmail.
Writing the About page for your job-seeking website
When writing your About page, be creative and show off your language skills. Whatever you write should showcase not just your work history and talents but also your interests and copywriting chops. This article has some great guidelines on creating a professional but engaging About page.
If your writing has gotten rusty or if you’ve never taken time to sit and study the basics of professional communication, these tools will help. Start with grammar basics in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. Learn copywriting 101 from Ann Handley in Everybody Writes. Another useful idea is to research how employees write at your prospective companies. This article about writing 6-pagers at Amazon is a great example.
One interesting technique you could try is to tailor your copy to each job posting. This would allow you to mirror the keywords from each job description, as you would in a cover letter or resume. This is very important these days as your documents are likely run through an AI-based program before seeing a human HR manager.
One word of caution about mirroring keywords—some job descriptions are not written by experts. A warning sign is odd descriptions of tasks typical in your industry that would be better described by well-known lingo. In those cases, don’t mimic incorrect or non-standard terms. Even if the human lacked knowledge, the AI is likely to be savvier about industry-specific terms. Rely on your knowledge base to avoid being kicked out of the job pool prematurely. This FastCompany article goes into more detail.
Common mistakes in the job seeker website
It’s smart to tailor your page to each role. However, if you make large errors, it can completely undermine your effort. Just be sure not to make these three common mistakes:
URL mismanagement – You’ll probably want to customize your tailored URL beyond adding a subdirectory that’s their company name. If you do, a human reviewer is likely to get curious and compare “yourname.com/theircompany” to “yourname.com/theirbiggestcompetitor” to see if you’re also applying to the Dark Side. Whoops. So make each URL logical but difficult to guess at random. You can use URL shorteners or QR code generators if you like, or just get creative. And whatever you do, give your target the correct URL! You don’t want to apply to ACME with a resume saying how much you love Dunder-Mifflin.
Differences without explanation – Even if you prevent a hiring manager from typing in their competitor’s URL, that won’t stop the savvy from heading to your main page at “yourname.com” to see which parts you’ve changed for them. When you deviate from your standard boilerplate, make it clear that you’re addressing that company in particular about a strength you might not generally highlight but is relevant to their role. Try beginning the page with a header like “Hi Amazon! This is why I would be a great [role title]” and reference the position again near any changed data or new examples.
Resume and site don’t match – When you create multiple sites, be sure your resume reflects the changes and submit the one that complements its tailored site.
Should you track links?
If you submit a paper or online resume, there’s always a chance no one will visit your site. As a marketer, it is tempting to use a URL shortener with link tracking to see when/if each employer clicks through to your page. However, I don’t think that’s in your best interest. Link trackers have a negative stigma as being an invasion of privacy.
A more accepted form of tracking is to install Google Analytics on your landing page. You can use a WordPress widget to input the GA code. If you do, be sure to also find a widget for GDPR compliance. You need to prove you’re compliance-savvy, even if you aren’t applying to European-based jobs.
What should a Portfolio page include?
Adding a Portfolio page to your job seeker website will showcase your past successes in tangible terms. You should focus on brevity, providing proof or data, and making the content engaging. Even if you’re primarily a copywriter, adding visuals will benefit you. Even large images of the first few words or other text-based graphics will help.
Consider your examples miniature case studies. Address questions like:
* What was the task or goal?
* Who was the audience?
* What was your role?
* How did you evaluate success, and most importantly?
* Why did your contribution make a difference?
You can list student projects here if you’ve graduated within the last few years. However, real-world and customer-facing examples are always better.
Read more here.