Website Accessibility Is Not Just ‘A Nice Thing To Do’, It’s Essential

September 15, 2021

  • Accessibility benefits not only those with disabilities but the wider population as well
  • It is sustainable and socially responsible to make your website accessible
  • Clients will require those in partnership with them to ensure accessibility
  • Website accessibility is surprisingly easy to achieve with a few simple adjustments

Imagine your business was in retail – would you feel comfortable if potential customers with certain impairments were prevented from entering your shop? It’s time to take a look at your website’s accessibility!

 

What are the advantages? 

Let’s start with the most obvious and important…

  • ESSENTIAL ACCESS

People with impairments and disabilities can access your website. 15% of the world’s population have a disability [ref] plus many more with age related acquired disabilities.

  • ACCESS FOR ALL

Accessible websites can be used by as many people as possible – also benefiting people without disabilities too. People using devices with small screens, those with changed ability due to ageing or a broken arm, as well as people with ’situational limitations’ such as bright sunlight or an environment where they cannot listen to audio.

  • ACCESS TO INNOVATION

Accessibility drives innovation – accessible design is flexible and anticipates the most intuitive ways to interact online.

  • ACCESSIBILITY ENHANCES

Accessible design improves the online experience for all users, increasing satisfaction and enhancing your brand reputation.

  • EFFICIENT 

A redesign to include accessibility, alongside other best practices, can result in reduced costs for maintenance and service.

  • THE LEGAL CASE FOR ACCESSIBILITY

In many situations accessibility is required by law; many countries have laws requiring online accessibility, with legal cases increasing against those seen to discriminate.

 

“Businesses that integrate accessibility are more likely to be innovative, inclusive enterprises that reach more people with positive brand messaging that meets emerging global legal requirements.” [ref]

 

You’re doing the right thing

Access to information and communication technologies is defined as a basic human right in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [ref].

  • The world we live in today makes no excuse for those who don’t have inclusivity at the heart of their business
  • Equal access and equal opportunity should apply everywhere, echoing the world we want to live in
  • Excitingly, accessibility barriers that are present in the outside world to audio, visual and print can be more easily overcome by web technologies
  • Accessibility can combat social exclusion of those who are isolated due to certain factors; people with disabilities, older people or those living in rural areas.

 

What’s in it for the clients?

Clients big and small are increasingly aware of the importance of accessibility, and of their responsibility to ensure they are compliant. Together in your quest to make the recruitment marketing world a more accessible place, you’ll understand each other on this one and they’ll require you to know your stuff. Job pages will need to be accessible, language gender-neutral and inclusive as well as many of the website changes listed below.

Achieving accessibility is easier than you think

But how? you may ask…

First start by checking what is required to be fully accessible and what the international standards are here.

There are many ways to make a website accessible, here are a few to consider:

  • Text alternatives for non-text content 

    • Brief descriptions of audio and video files
    • Descriptions of data in illustrations, diagrams and charts
    • These can be read aloud, enlarged or displayed on a specialist device
    • Descriptions must be informative and meaningful

  • Captions and other alternatives for multimedia

    • Audio descriptions – narrations describing important visual detail
    • Captions and transcripts for audio content
    • Sign language for audio content
    • Captions for tables, diagrams and graphs

  • Adaptable content presented in different ways

    • Text increase and decrease options
    • Automatic generation of page summaries
    • Custom colour combinations
    • Must work if zoomed in or on mobile/tablets

  • Content easier to see/hear

    • Foreground and background colour contrasts
    • Control for automatically played audio – could interfere with assistive devices

  • Keyboard accessibility

    • Everything available by mouse also available by keyboard

  • Enough time to consume content

    • Controls to stop or hide content that scrolls or moves
    • Controls to adjust or stop time limits
    • Session expire without losing data

  • Content that doesn’t cause physical reactions

    • Avoid unnecessary flashing content with particular patterns that may trigger seizures etc
    • Controls to switch off automatic animations
    • Provide warnings before flashing content begins and alternatives where possible

  • Well organised content

    • Clear titles and section headings used to organise pages
    • If content is repeated on multiple pages, provide ways to bypass this
    • Meaningful link text making what the link does very clear
    • Use of whitespace to reduce clutter

  • Text content is understandable to broadest audience possible

    • Identify the primary language of the web page
    • Use simplest and most concise language possible
    • Provide definitions for unusual words or phrases

  • Content is predictable

    • No changes to the page without consent of user
    • Navigation is in the same place on each page
    • People are able to operate the website in a way that works for them

  • Help with user error

    • Provide opportunities to correct or undo submissions
    • Detailed instructions for complex functionality
    • Feedback given if something goes wrong

  • Compatible content

    • Content works well and flexibly with assistive technologies
    • Content is compatible with different browsers

 

To find out more complete the below form to receive our free guide on improving accessibility.

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Welcome to our new home

September 15, 2021

Exciting times at FifteenTen HQ recently – we’ve moved! Our old workspace was wonderful to us and we have many happy memories of working on interesting projects, site launches and progressive recruitment web design there. However it became clear that we needed a bit more space to accommodate our continued growth…

So! Here we are in BS1! Located on a 17th century street in the historic city centre of Bristol. Cobblestones, ye olde taverns, the harbourside and our web design agency. Next door to the Bristol Old Vic theatre and opposite a few of the great aforementioned pubs, we are so happy to be surrounded by the creative inspiration that comes with being in the centre of a vibrant city like Bristol. We liked some of the creativity that surrounds us so much that we brought some inside with us too.

As talk turns to life post-lockdown we are more appreciative to have this new space than ever before. A full office with space to bounce ideas around (still keeping a strict 2m distance of course) and chats around the water cooler – ok, it’s mostly filling up our coffee tankards – are soon to be a real possibility when restrictions allow and we can’t wait!

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

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A Video Says a Thousand Words – Act II

September 15, 2021

  • Following on from our previous article about the ways in which lockdown living has influenced the ways we work
  • Why you should harness the power of video technology for your business
  • Different types of video useful for recruitment marketing
  • How you can use video to reach more clients and candidates, keep their attention and present your brand in an engaging way

What makes video great for recruitment marketing? 

Continued CONNECTION

Connection is the central point of all credible marketing activity! When your recruitment marketing includes speaking directly to your audience by sharing your values and visions in your unique voice, you can cultivate a loyal following of those who ‘get’ you. They are more likely to be the ones who will invest in your business because they believe in what you are doing.

Providing CREDIBILITY

By using a range of video tools you can show clients and candidates 

  • who makes up the business
  • what you offer your clients
  • life ‘behind the scenes’
  • what’s important to you
  • how you are able to solve their problems

We have more time to connect virtually now so make it count! With people online for longer, more opportunities are provided to show them why you are so good at what you do. Video can help to do this in so many ways – not just on your recruitment website, but your social media accounts and advertising content too.

COMPETITION is on…

Video is already an important part of the recruitment marketing strategy for increasing numbers of companies with more and more seeing the benefit…

  • 7 out of 10 marketers in this study of video marketing statistics said their video marketing budget for 2021 will increase. 
  • In this stats roundup on the impact of coronavirus on marketing, over 80% of marketers reported greater audience reach due to elimination of barriers to physical presence (travel, accommodation booking, capacity of venues, etc.)

 

What should we use and why?

Interviews 

This could be celebrating inspirational people in and out of the office. Demonstrates striving for true excellence as a feature of your company.

Animations

Animation could be used to highlight vision and values or to introduce video clips. It is useful for social media where short snappy videos are key. Branding and training videos also benefit from animation as it can break up and create energy around content that is heavy on data.

Industry updates

How do you make sense of the trends within the industry in your own unique way?

Day in the life

Great for focus on a particular role. Highlighting tasks, responsibilities, the employee’s insight on why their job is vital to the company and what they find rewarding about it.

Testimonials 

Providing testimonials in a video format is a more engaging way to show visitors to your recruitment website, social media or blog what working with you is really like. Seeing someone speak firsthand about what they do and why they love it is more likely to establish trust with a potential candidate than reading about it in text form. 

Behind The Scenes

Can be used to focus more on your company as a whole, how a particular aspect works, or perhaps a certain team. Videos used to this effect enable you to share your company culture, vision and values up close and personal.

Event videos

Perhaps you want to share how your annual Christmas party was absolutely off the wall pre-Covid and how you made it as fun as you could this year? To showcase some industry leaders’ speeches at a conference, team events that demonstrate how you create community at your company, or ways in which you’ve made events happen virtually in lockdown. Use event videos to show how you do you and how you do it brilliantly.

Brand videos

A chance to show people what’s unique about you. You could feature interviews with employees showing what you are proud of as a company, or telling the story of how you got to where you are now.

 

Making the right choice

One size does not fit all when it comes to using video. You’ll want a different approach for video on your recruitment website to that for the content in your email marketing for example. This is all about knowing 

  • What suits this form of media best?
  • What do I want to say?

 

Video can be used in a recruitment marketing strategy across

  • Your recruitment website
  • Careers and recruitment blogs and resources
  • Social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
  • Email marketing
  • Ads and promo content

 

A great recruitment marketing strategy will look at who your audience is, what they want and what works well with this demographic. Different styles of video content can be used across different platforms to match both the platform and the people who are viewing it. This is why it helps to have guidance from those who know video really well, as they can quickly and easily analyse this data to come up with a strategy to perfectly complement your unique business needs.

 

Summary in stats

  • 84% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads [ref]
  • 94% of video marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service [ref]
  • 86% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website [ref]
  • 87% of brands who have a video marketing strategy say it provides a good return on investment [ref]
  • 91% of webinar marketers say they’ve been a success [ref] 
Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

A Video Says a Thousand Words – Act I

September 15, 2021

As we prepare to exit our third lockdown of this pandemic, it’s important to look at the lessons learned from over a year of living – and working – in a socially distanced world. While people will start attending meetings once it is safe to do so, it is also true that many of us have seen the benefits of working from home. Video technology has a huge part to play in the future working environment, allowing us to show up without being physically present and ultimately maximising our time.

 

  • The importance of video in a socially distanced world
  • What video can do
  • Why video works for your audience
  • Video is successful in providing a better online experience when used well and can give you a great return on investment

 

Video in the spotlight

As coronavirus has forced so many to adapt to different ways of working, so too has it driven innovation in the way people engage online. Video content has become more necessary than ever – people are at home more, online for longer and a larger demographic of people now feel comfortable in using a wider range of media.

Fact Check

  • In 2021 people watched on average 2.5 hours per day/18 hours a week of online video [ref]
  • Kantar’s global study into consumer attitudes, media habits and expectations during the COVID-19 pandemic shows that social media engagement has grown around 61% since the pandemic began
  • In this article for Forbes the way in which social media is used by businesses is shown to be changing, with ways to connect one-to-one favoured over more traditional advertising and marketing
  • 96% of consumers say the amount of video content they’ve watched online has increased due to the pandemic [ref]

And this doesn’t look likely to change… Recent research has found the majority of employees don’t want to return to their old way of working.

 

What does this mean for your audience?

Making CONNECTIONS 

Lockdown has left all of us lacking in connection. Clients and candidates are looking for companies who are familiar, and are more likely to use those they know and trust. 

Video can do this by…

Creating COMMUNITY

Videos feel more personal and can replace some of the face-to-face interaction that is missing. 

CAPTIVATING audiences

Video works in a practical sense due to the way people behave online; text is skim read and cannot capture attention anything like as much as video. 

  • People are twice as likely to share video than any other content [ref]
  • 69% of those asked said they’d choose watching a short video over any other marketing tool to learn about a product or a service [ref]
  • 84% of people say they’ve bought into a service or product solely due to watching the brand video [ref]

Instilling CONFIDENCE

Familiarity with the technology is another reason why video makes sense now more than ever. In a time of Zoom calls with the office and FaceTime with family, there are simply more people using video tech in everyday life, changing preconceptions about video being complicated to use or ‘something for the younger generation’. All this adds up to more confidence in using video, creating a wider range of people with the ability to consume this type of content.

 

Video – giving you a starring role

  • Video is used online everywhere; more and more people are becoming confident users and consumers
  • It can help create connection and community in a world where we are physically separated or less willing to travel
  • This gives you more opportunity to show off more of what you do and how well you do it. 
  • There are many different ways to use video to complement a recruitment marketing strategy that fits your company

For an in-depth look at why video works well for a recruitment business, and how you can best use it as an important addition to your marketing strategy, check out our final part of this series on video… 

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

Making A Recruitment Video

September 14, 2021

 

In the ultra competitive recruitment world it’s important to stand out; those companies that do have the best chance of finding the right candidates. With the online side of marketing gaining more and more importance in how we do this, one of the ways you can put yourself out there is to create an outstanding recruiting video.

 

In this article we’ll talk you through

  • Why a recruitment video can help you attract the right talent
  • How to create a recruitment video – and make it great
  • The process of making a recruitment video

 

What can a recruitment video do for you?

As we have spoken about before in our two part video article here, video is the boss when it comes to content. Talking recruitment specifically, CareerBuilder found that video job postings get a 34% greater application rate than those without video – using video = more applications [ref]. Video shows the viewer who you are and demonstrates the human side of your business; something that an ordinary text-based job post just can’t compete with.

 

Make it great

Here are some tips for a video that will stand out

 

  • Cut to the chase –  introduce your business, the people, your values and culture and make it short and sweet

 

  • Tell ‘em like it is – what is it like to work for your company, what does the role involve day to day?

 

  • Show off – what is special about you? Is it your sociable work culture, your amazing work-life balance, your super smart office…?

 

  • Testimonials – including an interview with the CEO/people at the top and clips of employees sharing their views on life at your company. Ask interesting questions such as ‘describe your job/our company in three words’, ‘tell us about an exciting project you’re working on’, ‘what do you love about your job?’ and ‘what keeps you here?’

 

  • Day in the life – show your people going about their daily life in the office. Candidates will feel more confident to apply to your company if they can see the working environment you’ve created

 

  • Call to action – what do you want candidates to do now? ‘Apply here’, ‘Send your CV to..’, ‘Call us on…’ are all clear calls to action that let the viewer know how they can closer to working with you

 

So how to do this…?

  • First create a checklist of must haves for your video
    • Introduction to company
    • Company culture and values
    • Your business principles
    • Day in the life
    • Interviews
    • Call to action

 

  • Script – Discuss and finalise your ideas before you start shooting. Check your use of jargon – the ultimate turnoff for candidates looking for answers to their questions. Plus it makes you sound like David Brent

 

  • Hook ‘em in – Start with something interesting that will catch the viewer’s attention straight away

 

  • Be real – As tempting as it sounds, reeling off all the ways your company is the best in the recruitment world can come across as a bit fake. Far better to show moments of difficulty (alongside all the ways you ARE amazing) and demonstrate how you’ve grown

 

  • Lights, Camera.. – Make sure you have the equipment you need or hire someone that does!

 

  • Sound on – No matter how perfect your video, if the sound quality is poor, viewers will switch off. Ensure the soundtrack you choose fits well with the message and feel of your company

 

  • Subtitles – Don’t forget to make your video accessible to those with hearing difficulties as well as those who are unable to play the sound due to situational factors (being somewhere quiet/no headphones)

 

  • Edit – Online behaviour is more fast food consumption than take-your-time-over-a-long-meal kind of deal. Viewers are more likely to watch something short and snappy; the average time candidates spend watching recruitment videos is 1 minute 36 seconds [ref]

 

  • Share the magic – Post your video on job pages, career sites, all your social channels, send it out via newsletter and on company review sites. Basically get it out there!
Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

5 Essential People to follow on Twitter in Recruitment

September 12, 2021

Here at Fifteen Ten, we have experience with some top clients in the recruitment industry. Seeing as 92% of companies use social media for recruiting, we think it’s important for those in the recruitment industry to pay attention to these growing platforms and to understand how they could help your business.

According to new stats from social recruiting solutions provider Gozaik, Twitter is poised to become the number one social recruitment tool out there, beating out rivals like LinkedIn and Facebook.

On that note, we’ve decided to list some essential accounts to follow on Twitter in recruitment. The list is relevant for recruitment companies and HR teams within companies, and the accounts are in no particular order.

  1. Social Talent (@socialtalent)

Johnny Campbell is a recruiter based out in Dublin, Ireland. With 7,475 followers on Twitter he has managed to build himself as an authority figure in the recruitment industry on Twitter. He often tweets about new trends in recruitment, new platforms and job boards, and new tricks and techniques to use as well as social media advice.

  1. The Employable (@theemployable)

The Employable has over 2,500 followers and is an excellent resource for tips, advice, guidance and support on all things relating to job-seeking. Their regular posts include bad things to say in job interviews, and common CV mistakes – all great content for recruiters to share with their candidates.

  1. The HR Director (@TheHRDirector)

The account has just under 7,400 followers and is the Twitter account for the print magazine. The account provides a fantastic resource for HR Directors, and Senior HR Practitioners with news and facts. They also share HR case studies from key global companies and HR industry professionals. Occasionally they also tweet quotes from inspirational people, which is always good content to share.

  1. Talent Culture (@TalentCulture)

Talent Culture is a US website publishing some great content about workplace culture and innovation, talent management, technology and strategy. The content is written by professionals working in leadership and management roles. The Twitter account is huge with over 50,300 followers and provides a constant stream of the best web content.

  1. UnderCover Rec (@UndercoverRec)

The Undercover Recruiter is another great website offering plenty of content both for candidates and recruiters. This is a great place to source content to share with jobseekers, as they often share tips about social media, the application process and interview techniques. They also share interviews with key business leadership experts and authors from other blogs and content hubs online. The account has over 77,500 followers.

Try to build out your Twitter community by finding new Twitter accounts to follow that are similar to those in our list. By following these accounts and more, you will have access to some engaging and relevant content that you can share with your own followers. We would recommend not just retweeting content, but trying to continue the conversation with your community by asking them for questions and opinions relating to the content which you share.

If you are looking for some social media advice then please do get in touch with us here at Fifteen Ten.

Written by:

Mike Wedge

Director

Connect on LinkedIn

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