Working-at websites: what makes a careers site actually convert

A candidate lands on your careers site. They've already seen three others today. They're not going to read another page about 'competitive salary and a great team'. They want to know what it's actually like. What does a normal Tuesday look like? Who are the people? Why would they choose you over someone else?

Most careers sites don't answer that question. They answer a different one: what jobs do you have open right now? That's useful. But it's not why candidates convert.

Working-at websites are a different category. They're standalone employer brand destinations built around one goal: giving the right candidate enough of an experience that they believe you before they apply. At Livewall, we design and build these platforms for brands that understand recruitment starts with conviction, not selection.

What separates a working-at website from a careers page?

A careers page embedded in a corporate site is a functional tool. A working-at website is a destination. The distinction matters because they serve different psychological moments.

The careers page answers 'do you have something for me?'. The working-at website answers 'do I want to work here?' That second question requires a different experience. Not a list of perks, but real employee stories. Not a generic culture statement, but something that shows how decisions get made, what growth looks like, and what kind of people thrive here.

The technical build is the easy part. The harder part is developing a clear employer value proposition, then designing an experience that makes it felt rather than just stated.

Three things most working-at websites get wrong

1. A vague employer value proposition.

Your EVP needs to be specific. 'We work hard and have fun doing it' tells candidates nothing. What is the actual character of your organisation as a place to work? What do you expect from people and what do you genuinely give back? That requires EVP development grounded in what current employees actually experience, not what HR wishes they experienced.

2. Employee stories that feel curated.

Candidates are very good at spotting polished corporate content. A scripted video of a smiling employee listing company benefits does more harm than good. Authentic stories, in real people's words, from a real cross-section of the organisation, always outperform. Show who actually works there, not who the brand thinks should work there.

3. An experience that doesn't match the brand.

A retail brand with a playful identity can carry that through into its recruitment experience. Interactive elements, a strong visual narrative, a light team introduction mechanic: anything that lets a candidate feel the culture rather than just read about it. The experience design of the working-at website should feel like the brand.

Preboarding as an extension of the employer promise

A strong working-at website doesn't stop at the offer. The best employer platforms connect directly into a pre-boarding tool that keeps new hires engaged in the window between signing and starting.

That window is where dropout happens. Candidates accept a counter-offer, lose the thread of connection, or simply get anxious without any contact. A good preboarding experience closes that gap. At Livewall we often build the working-at website and the preboarding platform as one connected journey, so the candidate experience is consistent from first click to first day.

Recruitment as a brand campaign

The line between employer branding and consumer marketing is blurring. Candidates are also customers, or will be. The impression a working-at website leaves affects how people feel about a brand even if they never apply.

That means the bar for design, content quality, and user experience on a working-at website should be as high as any consumer-facing campaign. At Livewall we bring the same thinking we apply to brand campaigns into the employer experience space.

For Kruidvat, alongside preboarding we also built the Vriendenteam campaign: a recruitment campaign that let friends apply together. That kind of creative approach changes how younger candidates see a brand as an employer. It doesn't just fill roles. It builds affinity.

For Bosch we worked on an employer branding campaign that brought employee stories to the front, revealing the diversity of careers inside a large organisation to candidates who might not have considered it.