Your online career center is a valuable benefit for your members. It’s the go-to destination for members seeking career development opportunities. It connects them with top jobs and employers within your industry. It helps you support members through all stages of their careers.
So, it’s safe to say that your career center’s work is never done. But even though your career center must continue to evolve alongside your organization, you can still plan for specific activities during certain times of the year.
Here’s a breakdown of what you can do to optimize your online career center each season of the year:
Winter
Early winter is the perfect time to plan for the new year. Companies typically have fewer job opportunities during the holiday season. In the first quarter of the new year, however, they have updated budgets and the resources to move forward with new job openings. That’s one reason many job seekers have the mentality of “new year, new job,” which can lead to an increase in your career center traffic and engagement.
Use this time wisely. Invite employers to post their jobs on your career center and help them fill the roles with your highly sought-after members.
TECH TIP: Offer hiring managers options that maximize exposure of their job postings to improve their return on investment. For example, introduce a job email to your members. Employers are often willing to pay extra for this distribution of their jobs to additional potential candidates.
Spring
It might be no surprise that springtime is a popular job-hunting season. Career center traffic often spikes during this time. And with an increase in demand comes more opportunity to promote your career center to members and employers.
One reason for the traffic spikes during this time is recent college graduates. They are hungry to begin their careers, and they look to career centers and job boards for open opportunities. Use this time to encourage employers to post their positions on your career center by sharing member data about graduates and early careerists.
TECH TIP: Use your job board software to automatically send opportunities to interested, relevant job seekers via email when they are posted, and allow your members to quickly apply to jobs from their mobile devices.
Summer
This season often brings a slowdown in the job market. This is a great time to focus on virtual career events, making it more convenient for members who cannot attend in person to participate from wherever they are. Summertime is also another example of a time for prepping and planning, especially with fall conference season right around the corner.
TECH TIP: Increase engagement and job views during this slower time by using your career center software to recommend opportunities to job seekers based on their prior searches.
Fall
Members often look to their associations to provide career advancement opportunities and resources at their annual conferences, and many conferences happen in the fall. This can be one the best times for an onsite career event, hosted by your career center in conjunction with your conference, during which industry recruiters meet with members on-on-one.
Fall is also where we see another new wave of hiring. With summer vacations behind them, job seekers are eager to begin searching for their next career opportunity before the end of the year.
TECH TIP: Through your online career center, provide employers with functionality to attract, screen, and manage applicants, including an anonymous resume bank that safeguards job seekers’ identities.
Taking your career center to the next level
With the right career center technology solutions, you can deliver these types of experiences for your members year-round. YM Careers by Community Brands makes it easy to connect your members with their next great job opportunity.
