A website vacancies brief defines how a business publishes genuine openings, receives applications and closes each listing. The useful starting point is the recruitment process: who owns the vacancy, which information applicants need and what happens after the closing date. A careers page should support that process without exposing applicants' documents or making promises the employer has not approved.
For a Kenyan organisation planning website development, this worksheet helps separate a simple vacancies section from a complete applicant tracking system. The example decisions below are illustrative requirements, not claims about a particular employer or statements of employment law.
Decide what the website is responsible for
Choose whether the website only explains vacancies, accepts applications itself or directs applicants to an existing recruitment service. These are different scopes. Publishing a link to an external application form does not include building the system that stores documents, assigns reviewers or sends candidate updates.
Describe the journey in ordinary language. Someone should be able to find a current role, understand its requirements and reach the correct application destination. The recruitment owner should be able to correct or close the listing without waiting for a complete website redesign.
Keep general expressions of interest separate from an application for an advertised opening. If unsolicited applications are accepted, explain that route clearly. Do not present a permanent contact form as evidence that a specific vacancy is available. The page should reflect the organisation's actual recruitment arrangements.
Prepare an approved fact sheet for each role
Give each opening a stable internal reference and an approved public title. Record the employing organisation, work location or arrangement, responsibilities, essential requirements, application instructions and closing information. Where an item has not been decided, resolve it before publication rather than letting the designer invent plausible wording.
Distinguish essential requirements from preferences. A visitor should not have to infer whether a qualification is compulsory from the position of a bullet point. Have the recruitment owner review the wording as a complete role description, including any conditions shown beside the application button.
Supply approved information about compensation only when the organisation intends to publish it. Do not copy sample salaries from another employer or reuse outdated figures from an old vacancy. Treat the fact sheet as the source for the website, downloadable description and any approved announcement linking to it.
Make open and closed states explicit
Agree which states the website needs: draft, open, paused and closed may be sufficient for one employer. Another organisation may need a scheduled opening date or a separate archive. Define what a visitor sees in each state and whether an application action remains available.
A closing date needs an operational meaning. Specify the relevant time zone and who can approve an extension. A date printed in a paragraph is not enough if an automated form closes at a different time. Ask the project team to demonstrate the boundary in a controlled test environment.
Decide how to handle links that applicants have already saved. A closed vacancy page can explain that applications have ended and offer a route back to current openings. Avoid silently replacing an old role with a different vacancy at the same address, because the shared link would then describe the wrong opportunity.
Choose a controlled application destination
If applications go to another service, identify the exact approved destination and test that the role reference remains correct. Make it clear when the visitor is leaving the employer's website. Assign responsibility for maintaining the link if the recruitment service changes its address or closes the position.
If the website accepts applications, scope the information and attachments deliberately. Identify which fields reviewers actually need, which are optional and which should not be collected through this route. The employer should approve privacy information and access arrangements before real applications are accepted.
Keep applicant records separate from general sales enquiries and marketing subscriptions. A recruitment submission should not trigger a service quotation workflow. Use the website enquiry form testing guide as a starting point for checking destinations, while adding recruitment-specific access and handling requirements.
Specify document handling and reviewer access
List accepted document types, maximum sizes and how an applicant is told that an attachment was received. The developer should verify files on the server and protect them from public browsing. An upload button alone does not establish that a CV has reached the correct application record.
Name the roles that may review applications, export documents or change vacancy content. Those permissions may differ. A website editor who fixes a spelling mistake does not necessarily need access to every applicant's documents. The brief should make that separation visible to the implementation team.
Ask the employer to decide retention and removal arrangements with appropriate advice for its circumstances. This article does not set a legal retention period. Document the approved decision, responsible owner and method for carrying it out, rather than leaving sensitive files indefinitely in a shared download folder.
Plan discovery without promising search placement
Use a clear current-openings page and a separate detail page for each genuine role where that structure fits the project. Link to vacancies from an appropriate part of the website. Someone arriving directly from a shared message should still understand the employer, role status and application instructions.
Google's JobPosting documentation describes structured data for individual job postings and requirements for handling expired openings. If this feature is in scope, have the developer review the current rules and validate the implementation. Structured data creates eligibility, not a guarantee of special search placement.
Do not add job markup to a general careers introduction merely to make it appear more prominent. Keep the visible facts and any structured representation aligned. Search discovery is one part of the project; the employer still needs accurate vacancy content and a working application route.
Review the complete mobile journey
Open an approved sample vacancy on a phone and follow the application instructions. Check long job titles, lists, attachments and any external destination. A role description that looks tidy on a large screen may become difficult to navigate when a visitor is comparing requirements beside an application form.
Test the relevant states with controlled records: an open role, a closed role, a missing attachment, an unsupported file and a temporary service failure. Confirm that failure messages explain what the applicant can do next. Do not send fictional applications into the live recruitment process just to demonstrate the interface.
Agree the wording of receipt messages. Successful website submission, recruiter review and selection are separate events. A receipt should describe the stage actually reached and should not imply that someone has been shortlisted. Have the recruitment owner approve that distinction before launch.
Hand over a practical vacancy register
The handover should include current role references, page addresses, application destinations, closing rules and named owners. Record who checks that a vacancy has closed across all relevant placements. A website entry, attached PDF and external application form can otherwise disagree after an extension or correction.
Use the website news publishing brief for the wider editorial approval process. The vacancy register adds role status and application ownership, which need more specific handling than an ordinary announcement.
Before requesting a quotation, decide which work is needed now and which belongs to a later recruitment system. Discuss a website project with the number of active roles, application route, attachment needs, access rules and acceptance checks. That information makes the proposed build reviewable without inventing a feature list on the employer's behalf.
Frequently asked questions
Does a careers page need an application form?
No. It can link to an approved recruitment service or explain another genuine application route. The destination and responsibility should be clear.
Should closed vacancies disappear immediately?
Agree the treatment with the project team. Visitors following old links need an accurate status, and any job structured data must be handled appropriately.
Can the designer write the role requirements?
The designer can organise approved content, but the employer should supply and approve the actual responsibilities, requirements and conditions.
Is a submission receipt a recruitment decision?
No. It confirms the stage the system actually completed. Review, shortlisting and selection require their own authorised process.
