What makes a careers page bring in support workers and nurses?
What support workers and nurses look for on a care provider’s careers page: pay, areas, checks, a short form and clear next steps in Australia.
A careers page brings in support workers and nurses when it answers their questions before they have to ask: what the job is, where and when the work happens, what it pays, which checks they need and how to apply. Keep the application short enough to finish on a phone in a few minutes. If the page leaves those questions open, a good candidate has no reason to pick you over the next provider.
What do support workers and nurses want to know first?
People who work in home care and disability support travel between clients, often on casual or part time shifts. They want the practical details up front, so put these near the top of the page:
The roles you hire for, using plain titles such as support worker, personal care worker, enrolled nurse or registered nurse.
The suburbs or regions you cover, and whether a car and driver licence are needed.
The type of work: casual, part time or full time, typical shift lengths, and whether weekends are part of it.
Pay: the hourly rate or the award and level you pay under, and how you handle travel time and kilometres.
Training, supervision and who a worker calls if something goes wrong on a visit.
How rosters are shared, for example through an app.
Each of these answers a question a candidate would otherwise ring you about, or quietly use to rule you out.
Which checks should the page explain?
Screening rules differ by sector, so say which ones apply to your roles and how you help with them.
Aged care. The federal health department says all aged care workers need either a police certificate not older than 3 years that does not record certain offences, or an NDIS Worker Screening Check. A worker who already holds an NDIS check does not need a police certificate. Saying this on your careers page tells NDIS workers they can start without another check.
NDIS. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission says registered NDIS providers must only engage workers who have been cleared for certain roles, called risk assessed roles. Workers apply through their state or territory screening agency, and a fee set by that state or territory applies. Tell applicants whether a role needs the check and whether you cover or reimburse the fee.
Nurses. Ahpra runs a free online register of practitioners that shows a practitioner’s registration details. Tell nurses you will check their registration there. It shows you take clinical standards seriously.
The government is working with the states and territories on a national worker screening check for the care and support economy, so review this section whenever the rules change.
How should the application form work?
The form is where most careers pages lose people. Ask only for what you need to make first contact:
Name, phone and email
The role and area they are interested in
Their availability
An optional resume upload
Ask for certificates, references and check details later in the process. Make sure the form works on a phone, and give every field a visible label, which is what the W3C accessibility guidance recommends for all form controls.
Applicants are trusting you with personal information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner explains that the employee records exemption does not cover collecting personal information about prospective employees. So if your organisation is covered by the Privacy Act, handle applicant details as your privacy policy says, link to that policy beside the form, and say plainly what you collect and why.
Finish with what happens next: who will call, and roughly when.
What makes a careers page believable?
Candidates look for signs that the page reflects a real workplace.
Photos of your own team, taken with their permission, rather than stock images.
A few words from current staff about what the work is like, used with their consent.
Job listings that are current. Remove filled roles and date new ones.
Each role on its own page, with the job title and location in the page title, so it can show up when someone searches for that role in their area.
A clear “Careers” link in the main menu and the footer.
A careers page that looks cared for suggests a workplace that cares for its staff. One that is out of date suggests the opposite.
If you would like someone to look at how your careers page reads to a support worker or nurse, send us your website and book a 30 minute chat. We design and build websites for health and care providers, and we are happy to talk through what would make the biggest difference for you.
Sources
Department of Health: Screening requirements for the aged care workforce
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission: NDIS Worker Screening Check
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current rules with the relevant government body before acting.
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