How to create a job resources website to benefit your community

According to one of the leading job boards, the average job seeker uses an average of just under 20 resources for job hunting. What does this mean for the present and future of job resources websites?

In a nutshell, it means that if you build a job resources website to benefit your community, job seekers will come! Even though the overall national unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percent (reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as of May 2016), it is still hovering around 4.7 percent, which means there are literally millions of candidates still searching for jobs.

In this post, learn the steps you need to take to create a useful job resources website that can benefit job seekers in your community.

Step 1: Select a Web Host.

Your very first step to create a website that can serve as your job resources board is to decide where to host your new site. You have so many options here, but you want to be sure to choose a web host that offers each of these features:

– 99.9 percent up-time. “Up-time” means your site will be “up” and visible when job seekers navigate to it.

– Email service. Having a way to send and receive email associated with the job website makes it easier for job seekers to communicate with you and with potential employers.

– Easy building tools. Unless you plan to have a designer build your site for you, you will want to choose a host that offers easy technology to build your site.

– Sound security measures. You want to make sure the host you choose takes data and website security very seriously and has measures in place to protect your site, data and files from hackers.

– E-Commerce features. If you want to accept donations or sell products or services, you will want to be able to integrate your site with e-commerce functionality.

Step 2: Register Your Domain Name.

Once you have found a hosting provider you trust that is affordable for your budget, your next step will be to register your website domain name.

This can be the most exciting part, because you will be naming your job resources board! Whatever name you choose will begin with “www” and end with whatever tag you choose (the most common being “.com,” but you may want to choose “.org” if you are a nonprofit or “.biz” if you think it will make your site stand out more).

Once you choose your domain name, you can register it with your hosting provider or you can register it independently with Register.com. Here, you may just want to do a price comparison and decide what is most economical.

NOTE: many hosting providers will offer a free domain name registration with purchase of a hosting package – so don’t buy a registration until you check if you get one for free.

Step 3: Sign up for hosting service.

Once you have selected a hosting provider, you will want to go ahead and sign up for a hosting service package. Many providers will offer a free trial period lasting anywhere from one week to one month before you begin paying for the service. This can be an ideal time to test out the hosting provider to ensure they provide everything you need.

NOTE: Steps 2 and 3 can be done interchangeably depending on whether the hosting provider you are interested in signing up with offers a free domain name registration as a perk of signing up.

Step 4: Begin to create a website.

You will want to have at least the shell of your website already up and running before you begin reaching out to employers to source available local jobs. There are many free or low-cost software options to help you build your website, or you can check to see if the hosting provider you have selected offers this as part of their service.

You will want to carefully map out your website navigation to make sure it will make sense to job seekers who visit your job board. In general, you will want to make sure you have the following pages:

– Home/ About Us. To introduce yourself and the purpose of the job resources board.

– Contact Us. To provide a point of contact for questions, job seekers and prospective employers.

– Registration. This feature can permit job seekers, prospective employers and others to register for accounts on your site.

– Job Board. This page will include a searchable database of job listings.

– Job Blog. This can provide a great way to get the word out about your new job resources board. You can bring in guest bloggers, write posts yourself and feature new resources to facilitate the most successful job search.

– Job Resources. You may want to include links to useful resources such as resume writing guidelines, cover letter how-tos, follow-up how-tos, interviewing basics, et al.

– Store page. Whether you are operating as a nonprofit organization and just want to be able to accept donations or you plan to offer different levels of membership using a fee-based structure, having an e-commerce store page can easily facilitate this goal.

Once you have created and launched your job resources website, all that remains is to put the word out that there is a new job hunting resource available to employers looking for candidates and workers seeking new positions.

By taking the time to carefully select a web host, register a compelling and clear domain name, set up a simple and easy-to-follow website navigation and populate your website with lots of enticing jobs, you can look forward to serving your community in one of the most important ways of all – by providing networking for employment!