Is your website helping or hurting your recruitment effort?   Companies spend thousands of dollars developing their websites. Although, in some situations, you wouldn't know they spent a dime. The problem is that most sites are designed from a marketing perspective. That's fine if your employee base closely resembles your market, but what if this isn't the case?   Here are some signs that it might be time to revisit the design of your website.   Click-throughs, but no resumes   A potential client who works for a marketing firm recently called to say that they weren't receiving many responses to a posting they had listed on one of the major job boards. They indicated that they were getting plenty of hits, but not many resumes.   All it took was one click to figure out the problem. The firm was looking for someone who excelled in a creative environment. Their website talked about how innovative and resourceful the company was, but you certainly wouldn't know it by their website. The text was gray, the background was white, and there were a few dashes of red thrown in for good measure. There were no pictures or visuals on the entire site.   When it comes to recruiting, company branding counts. You get 30 seconds to impress a candidate. Then they move on.   Ask friends and colleagues to look at your company's website as if they were a job candidate. Adjust your site, based on the feedback you receive. Then watch your resume volume increase substantially.   Navigating the rough seas   Sailing through some websites can be treacherous. You find yourself bouncing from one page to the next, never quite reaching your destination.   Make it easy for job seekers to find out about job openings and how to apply for work at your company. If you don't, someone else will.   Check out your competition   It is common business practice to benchmark your processes with other organizations in your industry. You should do this with your recruitment piece of your website. Simply click on the competition to gather ideas on ways you can improve your site.   Don't limit your benchmarking to your specific industry. Consider all types of companies that compete with you for qualified job candidates.   Wrong messaging   Congratulations! You've made it through your first few years of business. You finally have the resources to bring in some seasoned talent.   Your 18 year-old son built your website a few years ago. He thought it was pretty cool that everyone on the site looked like someone from a Gap ad. Now that you are looking to attract more experienced workers, it may be time to revisit the images on your site.   It's no coincidence that employers who are seeking a diverse workforce have pictures that reflect a multi-cultural organization. The same is true for companies that are looking to hire an intergenerational workforce. At the very least, try and replace some of your current images with pictures of people who are more like the candidates you are trying to attract. Looks matter, especially when it comes to recruiting the generations.   Keep your site updated   It may be a relief to know that you have just completed a major overhaul of your site but now is not the time to revel in your glory. Recruitment sites require constant attention. At the very least, make sure your job listings are up-to-date.   Take the time you need to turn your website into a strong component of your recruitment strategy. The fight for talent acquisition is going strong and you will need all the weapons in your arsenal to be in tip-top shape.     About Roberta Matuson Roberta Matuson is an expert at creating intergenerational harmony at work. She's President of Human Resource Solutions, a firm that provides consulting and training to resolve intergenerational conflicts and help companies capitalize on the unique generational perspectives of their workforce. She has appeared on FOX's "The O'Reilly Factor" and has been quoted in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and many other national business publications.