When I first started my business, I knew the first steps on the roadmap I’d eventually take. I had the vision, I had the concept, but I couldn’t imagine how truly unique and fulfilling the end product would become.
I knew I was diving headfirst into web design and development, but I had no idea the growth and direction that the company would take in such a short amount of time. My partnership with the Job Portraits team is a huge representation of that process.
We connected initially with their need for a web developer, which led to business strategy creation, and then turnkey project and account management. The result? Consistent business for both of us.
Let me explain.
First, a little about Job Portraits.
Essentially, Job Portraits helps tech companies find and attract the right talent. They help candidates understand what it’s truly like to work at a company and verbalize that culture through well-crafted copy and content.
They’ve been effectively creating Employer Branding content since 2014, but it was time to level up.
Early in 2020, Job Portraits successfully sold four career micro-sites, all to tech companies. The concept was to integrate their proven written content with a reliable, user-friendly career site that attracted qualified applicants, simplified the application process, and created an ease of use for HR Managers on the back end.
Simple, right?
The kicker was, Job Portraits had sold a product but needed a partner to bring it to life. They knew their vision. They knew their concept. What they needed was execution.
That’s where I stepped in.
When I first started my business, I knew the first steps on the roadmap I’d eventually take. I had the vision, I had the concept, but I couldn’t imagine how truly unique and fulfilling the end product would become.
I knew I was diving headfirst into web design and development, but I had no idea the growth and direction that the company would take in such a short amount of time. My partnership with the Job Portraits team is a huge representation of that process.
We connected initially with their need for a web developer, which led to business strategy creation, and then turnkey project and account management. The result? Consistent business for both of us.
Let me explain.
First, a little about Job Portraits.
Essentially, Job Portraits helps tech companies find and attract the right talent. They help candidates understand what it’s truly like to work at a company and verbalize that culture through well-crafted copy and content.
They’ve been effectively creating Employer Branding content since 2014, but it was time to level up.
Early in 2020, Job Portraits successfully sold four career micro-sites, all to tech companies. The concept was to integrate their proven written content with a reliable, user-friendly career site that attracted qualified applicants, simplified the application process, and created an ease of use for HR Managers on the back end.
Simple, right?
The kicker was, Job Portraits had sold a product but needed a partner to bring it to life. They knew their vision. They knew their concept. What they needed was execution.
That’s where I stepped in.
Job Portraits initially hired me for one job - to handle the web development portion of a career micro-site.
The initial creative strategy sessions were exciting for me and the Job Portraits team. Despite being “just a contractor,” the Job Portraits crew were completely open to my feedback and ideas.
The client knew the elements they wanted to include on their micro-site but didn’t have a good idea of how they wanted the site to be laid out. My job was to structure the site to guide potential applicants through the story of what it’s like to work with the client. This included visuals and imagery, of course. However, we also needed to ensure the cross-links made sense to optimize the user experience. The layout needed to be engaging and initiate a conversation, and it eventually all needed to work on the technical end.
The process was compelling, fulfilling… and challenging.
Eventually, Job Portraits connected me directly with their client. As an Account Manager and Developer combo, I handled the technical communications with the client. Through emails, phone calls and Zoom chats, progress was made and relationships were built.
A month into the project, Job Portraits decided we were the right fit to contract the remaining three career micro-sites. I was excited and grateful.
And that’s when things got interesting.
We’d created the strategy, layout and design for the career micro-site. Next, we needed flawless technology to make the site function seamlessly for their HR team. The client wanted more than a beautiful, user-friendly website. They needed a fully customized job board with search functionality. Additionally, we had to get the individual job postings from their applicant tracking system, Greenhouse, to the job board on their careers site. The end goal was to achieve a high-level application tracking system along with live display data for HR Managers.
Our first tech platform worked, but the response time was too slow. If you have 50 HR Managers all updating job positions within a system, the information for that position needs to go from the applicant tracking system to the career site quickly so anyone searching at any time sees the most up-to-date information.
Dang it. Time to look for another solution.
Our next integration worked better. We found a new database platform that more or less gave us what we wanted. We’d solved the problem.
Still, the website was good, but it wasn’t perfect. I wanted to make it even better.
For example, the site lacked a search function. There were over 650 job listings that you couldn’t filter specifically to find, say, an Account Executive position. Greenhouse didn’t allow that. I continued to investigate solutions, and we solved that problem too.
We gave the client a final product that included all the search and brand customization they needed, all with a completely different integration.
Our final switch allowed us to bring all the job board data live within the microsite, increasing load speed and optimizing SEO.
The end result was agile, intuitive, and creative. Just like us.
The work we did on these career micro-sites launched Job Portraits to that next level they envisioned. We’re now incorporating a Diversity & Inclusion add-on, GDPR compliance and making the microsite multi-language.
Prior to these projects, they were a content-only agency. Now they can offer turnkey career sites they know are reliable and user-friendly. The site creation can additionally grow to sell blog pieces, LinkedIn pieces, employee profiles - any content related to candidate messaging. All with the reliable tech to back it up.
With our help, Job Portraits now has a fully functional career micro-site template they can sell again and again.
I love a good puzzle.
Putting together the right pieces. Finding solutions. Coordinating professionals of all kinds to achieve the end goal.
And this is what makes hmpsn. unique. We get the branding, and we get the tech. We use a network of compatible no-code solutions that provide answers to our client’s problems. And we roll it out with on-message branding and great design.
Ready to take that idea you've been kicking around and built it into something tangible? Drop some time on my calendar for a 30 minute strategy session. I look forward to chatting with you soon!
