Careers Page: Examples and Playbook for Small Businesses Without HR
8 careers page examples plus a checklist for small businesses without HR. What to include, common mistakes, how to build one, and what happens after hire.
Careers Page
How to build a careers page that attracts candidates when you have 5-50 employees and no recruiter
Every careers page guide shows you Netflix, Airbnb, and Salesforce. Custom illustrations, professional video testimonials, interactive team maps, and careers sites that cost more to build than most small businesses spend on recruiting in a year. Then the guide says "now go build yours" as if a 15-person company with no designer and no recruiter can replicate what a billion-dollar company spent six months creating.
Your careers page does not need to look like Netflix. It needs to answer three questions that every candidate has: what does this company do, what is it like to work here, and how do I apply. You can answer those questions with a single page on your existing website, real photos of your actual team, a specific list of what you actually offer, and an application form that takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
This guide covers how to build a careers page that works for companies with 5 to 50 employees and no HR department. It includes 8 real examples from companies small enough to learn from, the 11 elements every careers page needs, the mistakes that small teams keep making, how to build the page on platforms you already use, and the step that every other careers page guide ignores: what happens after a candidate says yes.
What Is a Careers Page (And Why Small Businesses Undervalue It)
A careers page is a landing page on your company website dedicated to attracting, informing, and converting job candidates. It shows who you are, what you offer, what roles are open, and how to apply. For companies without a recruiter, the careers page does the work of answering candidate questions 24 hours a day without consuming anyone's time.
Most small businesses either do not have a careers page or have one that consists of a single paragraph and a generic email address. This is a missed opportunity. A candidate who finds your Indeed listing and then visits your website to learn more will leave if they find nothing. A candidate who finds a clear, honest careers page with real information about the company, the team, the benefits, and the open roles is significantly more likely to apply.
The good news: building an effective careers page for a small business takes 2 to 4 hours, costs nothing beyond your existing website hosting, and does not require a designer. The elements that matter most (specificity, honesty, real photos) are things that only you can provide and that no amount of design can replace.
8 Careers Page Examples Worth Copying
These examples are from companies small enough that their approach is realistic for a 15 to 50 person team. For each one, the focus is on the specific element that makes the page effective and how you can implement the same idea in an afternoon.
The pattern across all eight examples: specificity beats design. Ghost's simple page with exact salary numbers and real team photos outperforms a beautifully designed page with stock images and "competitive compensation." Basecamp's published salary formula does more for employer brand than any custom illustration. Candidates at the companies you are competing with (other small businesses) want real information, not a production.
The 11 Elements Every Careers Page Must Include
Not every element needs to be elaborate. Some take 10 minutes. The goal is completeness: a candidate should be able to learn everything they need to make an apply/not-apply decision from this single page.
You do not need all 11 on day one. Start with elements 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 (benefits, photos, job list, apply button, EEO statement). These take 1 to 2 hours and cover the minimum a candidate needs to make a decision. Add the remaining elements over the next 2 to 4 weeks.
Salary Ranges and Pay Transparency Law
"Post the salary range" is advice everyone gives and almost nobody explains. In a growing number of states it is not advice, it is a posting requirement with a per-violation penalty attached, and the trigger is not where your company is headquartered. It is generally where the work will be performed. A five-person company in Tennessee that posts a remote role open to anyone in the US has, in the eyes of most of these statutes, posted a job that could be performed in Colorado, and the Colorado rule applies.
That single mechanic catches more small employers than anything else in this article. If you are hiring remote, you are hiring under the strictest state on your list of acceptable locations. The two ways out are to comply everywhere (post the range, which you should do anyway) or to explicitly exclude covered states from the posting, which shrinks your candidate pool for no good reason.
| State | Employer size trigger | What the posting must contain |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | Any employer with at least one Colorado employee | Pay rate or range, a general description of benefits and other compensation, and the application deadline |
| California | 15 or more employees | Pay scale (salary or hourly range). Any employer, at any size, must give the pay scale to an applicant on request |
| Washington | 15 or more employees | Wage scale or salary range plus a general description of benefits and other compensation |
| New York | 4 or more employees | Compensation range, and the job description if one exists. New York City has its own parallel ordinance |
| Maryland | Any employer | Wage range plus a general description of benefits and other compensation |
| Illinois | 15 or more employees | Pay scale and benefits, in the posting or via a link to them |
| Minnesota | 30 or more employees | Starting salary range or a fixed pay rate, plus a general description of benefits |
| New Jersey | 10 or more employees | Hourly wage or salary range plus a general description of benefits and other compensation |
| Hawaii | 50 or more employees | Hourly rate or salary range |
| Vermont | 5 or more employees | Compensation or range of compensation |
| Massachusetts | 25 or more employees | Pay range |
Treat that table as a starting map, not a final answer. Several cities and counties have their own ordinances, more states pass versions of this every legislative session, and a handful of other states (Connecticut, Nevada, Rhode Island among them) require disclosure at a specific point in the process rather than in the posting itself. Before a hiring push, check the current rule for every state you will accept applicants from.
Setting the range is a 20-minute exercise. Pull two or three market references for the title in your metro (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics is free and defensible). Set the bottom of the range at what you would pay someone who just clears the minimum requirements in the job description. Set the top at what you would pay the strongest candidate you would realistically hire into that level, not the aspirational hire you cannot afford. For a single level, a spread of roughly 20 to 30 percent from bottom to top is normal. If your spread is wider than that, you are probably advertising two jobs in one posting and should split it.
Two things to do before you publish the number. First, check it against what your current employees in that role earn. Posting a range whose midpoint sits above an existing employee's salary is a compensation conversation you will be having within a week, because they will see the posting. Fix the internal number first or be ready to explain it. Second, make sure every place the job appears carries the same range. These laws generally reach postings made by you or on your behalf, so a compliant careers page paired with a bare Indeed listing does not solve the problem.
The Legal Fine Print on the Application Form
The careers page is where you collect the first personal data you will ever hold on a person who may never work for you. Most of the compliance rules that apply here are cheap to satisfy and expensive to ignore, and none of them require a lawyer to implement.
The EEO statement. Element 9 above says to include one. To be precise about why: no federal law requires a private, non-contractor employer to print an equal opportunity sentence in a job ad. What federal law does is make discrimination unlawful once you are large enough to be covered. Title VII and the ADA cover employers with 15 or more employees, the ADEA covers 20 or more, and many state fair employment statutes start far lower, some at a single employee. The statement itself is a signal, not a shield, but it is free. A workable version: "[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law."
Federal contractors carry real posting obligations on top of that, including the EEOC's "Know Your Rights" notice and specific taglines in solicitations. This area moved in 2025 when Executive Order 11246 was revoked, which changed the race and sex affirmative action program requirements while leaving the statutory obligations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act (disability) and VEVRAA (protected veterans) in place. If you hold or bid on federal contracts, get the current tagline language from counsel rather than copying it from another company's site.
What you cannot ask on the form. This is where small employers using a homemade Google Form get into trouble, because the form asks whatever the founder thought to type.
| Field | Problem | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Current or past salary | More than twenty states and cities ban salary history inquiries outright, and several ban relying on it even if volunteered | Ask for salary expectations, or skip the question and post your range instead |
| Criminal history | Ban-the-box laws in many states and cities prohibit asking on the initial application; some require waiting until after a conditional offer and a written individualized assessment | Remove the checkbox from the application; run background checks post-offer with FCRA disclosure and authorization |
| Date of birth, graduation year, 'digital native' | Proxies for age under the ADEA and state law | Ask whether the applicant is 18 or older if the role requires it, and nothing more |
| Disability, medical history, workers' comp claims | The ADA prohibits disability-related inquiries and medical exams before a conditional offer | Ask only whether the candidate can perform the essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation |
| Citizenship or country of birth | Immigration-related discrimination risk; I-9 documentation is a post-hire step | Ask only whether the candidate is legally authorized to work in the US and whether they will require sponsorship |
| Marital status, children, childcare plans | No lawful use, and direct evidence in a sex discrimination claim | Ask about availability for the schedule the job actually requires |
Voluntary self-identification. If you collect race, gender, veteran status or disability data, keep it on a separate screen from the application, label it voluntary, state that it will not be used in the hiring decision, and keep it out of the hiring manager's view. Federal contractors have a prescribed disability self-ID form (CC-305) that must be used verbatim. Everyone else should either follow that model or not collect the data at all.
Recordkeeping. Under EEOC regulations, application and hiring records must be kept for one year from the date the record was made or the personnel action was taken, whichever is later, and longer if a charge is filed. Federal contractors keep them for two years, or one year if they have fewer than 150 employees and no contract of $150,000 or more. This applies to the Google Sheet behind your form exactly as it applies to an ATS database, so do not clean out old responses at the end of the quarter.
Accessibility. An application form that cannot be completed with a keyboard and a screen reader excludes candidates and creates ADA exposure. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the reference standard everyone measures against. The five-minute version of the test: tab through your entire form without touching the mouse, confirm every field has a visible label rather than only a placeholder, check that error messages are text rather than color alone, and add one line near the apply button giving an email address and phone number for candidates who need an accommodation during the process.
Mistakes Small Teams Keep Making
| Mistake | Why It Hurts | The Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Stock photos instead of real team | Candidates know stock photos are fake. It signals that you are hiding something or that you do not care enough to use real images. | Take a phone photo at the next team meeting. It does not need to be professional. It needs to be real. |
| 'Competitive compensation' instead of salary range | Candidates interpret vague language as 'below market.' And in Colorado, California, New York, and other states, you are legally required to disclose salary ranges. | Post the actual range. Candidates who self-select out on salary save you interview time. |
| Application process longer than 10 minutes | Applications that require cover letters, essay questions, and 30+ form fields lose 50%+ of candidates before submission. | Name, email, phone, resume upload, and 2-3 screening questions. That is it for the initial application. |
| No mobile optimization | Over 50% of candidates browse on mobile. A page that is unreadable on a phone loses half your traffic. | Test the page on your phone. If the apply button requires pinch-zooming, fix it. |
| Stale job listings | A careers page showing roles that were filled 4 months ago signals disorganization. | Remove filled roles within 24 hours. Set a calendar reminder to audit the page monthly. |
| Hidden application form | If the candidate has to click 3 times and scroll past 2,000 words to find the apply button, they will not apply. | Apply CTA above the fold on desktop and mobile. Repeat it after each job listing. |
| No EEO statement | Missing for federal contractors with 15+ employees. Even without legal obligation, omitting it looks unprofessional. | Add a standard 2-sentence EEO statement at the bottom of the page. Takes 2 minutes. |
How to Build a Careers Page (Without an ATS or Designer)
You do not need a careers page builder or an ATS to create an effective careers page. If you have a website, you can add a careers page to it today using the platform you already use.
| Platform | How to Add a Careers Page | Application Form Option | Time to Build |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Create a new page. Use your theme's page builder or the block editor. Add sections for each of the 11 elements. | Embed a Google Form, Typeform, or WPForms | 2-3 hours |
| Squarespace | Add a new page from the Pages panel. Use the built-in section blocks for layout. Add a form block for applications. | Built-in form block or embed Typeform | 1-2 hours |
| Webflow | Create a new page. Use Webflow CMS for job listings that you can add/remove without editing the page. | Webflow native forms or embed Typeform | 2-4 hours |
| Framer | Create a page with Framer's component system. Use CMS collections for dynamic job listings. | Embed Tally, Typeform, or Google Forms | 2-3 hours |
| Custom HTML | Add a /careers route to your existing site. Basic HTML + CSS for layout, no framework needed. | Google Forms embed or mailto link | 1-3 hours |
The simplest viable careers page: a new page on your existing website with a 150-word company intro, a benefits list, a team photo, open positions with links to full job postings, and a Google Form for applications. Total setup time: 1 to 2 hours. Total cost: $0. This is sufficient for companies hiring 1 to 10 people per year. Add an ATS-hosted careers page when you have 3+ open roles simultaneously and need pipeline management.
Careers Page SEO in Plain English
Five things matter for careers page SEO. Most require less than 30 minutes to implement.
These five steps take 1 to 2 hours total and cover the fundamentals. Advanced careers page SEO (programmatic city pages, job-specific landing pages, internal link architecture) is a separate topic. The SHRM career website guide provides additional best practices for employer-branded career sites.
JobPosting Schema and Google for Jobs
Step 1 above says to add JobPosting structured data. It is the single highest-return item on the SEO list for a small employer, because Google for Jobs puts your listing in the boxed results at the top of a search for "jobs near me" without you paying a job board a cent. It is also the item most likely to be implemented incorrectly and then quietly stop working, so it is worth knowing which fields carry weight.
| Property | Status | What to put in it |
|---|---|---|
| title | Required | The job title alone. Not the title plus location, salary, or 'Now Hiring'. 'Staff Accountant', not 'Staff Accountant - Austin - Urgent' |
| description | Required | The full job description in HTML, including responsibilities and qualifications. It must match what a human sees on the page |
| datePosted | Required | The date you published the role, in ISO format |
| hiringOrganization | Required | Your company name, URL and logo. Use the employing company, not a staffing agency, unless you are one |
| jobLocation | Required for on-site | Full street address of the worksite. City and state alone is weaker but accepted |
| jobLocationType + applicantLocationRequirements | Required for remote | Set jobLocationType to TELECOMMUTE and list the countries or states the candidate may work from. Remote roles without this pair frequently fail to appear |
| validThrough | Strongly recommended | The date the posting expires. Without it, Google has to guess when the role is stale |
| baseSalary | Recommended | A MonetaryAmount with minValue, maxValue and unitText of HOUR, WEEK, MONTH or YEAR. Use the same range you post on the page |
| employmentType | Recommended | FULL_TIME, PART_TIME, CONTRACTOR, TEMPORARY, INTERN or a combination |
| identifier | Recommended | Your internal requisition ID, which lets Google tell two similar roles apart |
Four structural rules matter as much as the fields. Each job needs its own indexable URL, so a single careers page listing six roles in accordion panels will not produce six job results. The page must be crawlable without a login or an application wall. The same job must not live at two URLs, which is the usual failure when a company runs both an ATS-hosted careers page and a hand-built one. And the markup has to describe the same content a visitor sees; describing a $70,000 salary in the schema and "competitive compensation" on the page is exactly the mismatch Google's manual reviewers act on.
To verify: run each job URL through Google's Rich Results Test, then watch the Job Postings report in Search Console for warnings and impressions. New postings need to be discovered before they can rank, so submit them in your sitemap. Google also exposes an Indexing API specifically for JobPosting pages, which pushes new and removed roles for near-immediate crawling. If you use a hosted ATS careers page, the schema and the removal handling are usually done for you, in which case your job is to make sure your own site is not publishing a competing copy of the same listing.
What to Measure on Your Careers Page
| Metric | Benchmark | How to Track | What It Tells You |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page visits per month | Varies by company size and posting activity | Google Analytics | Whether candidates are finding your page. Low visits = discoverability problem. |
| Bounce rate | 35% average for careers pages | Google Analytics | Whether visitors engage or leave immediately. Above 60% = content or design problem. |
| View-to-applicant conversion | 8-11% is good | Application count / page visits | Whether visitors are motivated to apply. Below 5% = hidden form, missing info, or too-long application. |
| Mobile share of traffic | Expect 40-60% | Google Analytics (device report) | Whether your mobile experience matters. If 50%+ is mobile and your page is not mobile-friendly, you are losing half your candidates. |
| Time on page | 2-4 minutes average | Google Analytics | Whether people read the content or bounce. Under 30 seconds = the page is not answering their questions. |
| Application completion rate | Track started vs completed | Form analytics (Typeform, Google Forms) | Whether your application is too long. More than 25% drop-off = simplify the form. |
Check these metrics monthly. A careers page is not a set-it-and-forget-it asset. When you post a new role, check whether visits and applications increase. When a role stays open for 30+ days, check whether the conversion rate for that listing is lower than others. Data tells you what to fix. Without tracking, you are guessing.
What Happens After a Candidate Says Yes
Every careers page guide ends at "build the page and post your roles." None of them cover what happens after a candidate applies, interviews, receives an offer, and accepts. That transition, from candidate to employee, is where the careers page investment either pays off or gets wasted.
The moment a candidate accepts the offer, the experience they had on your careers page sets the expectation for what comes next. If your careers page promised a collaborative, organized company, and their first day is a laptop with no setup, no plan, and no training schedule, the disconnect drives early departures. Each early departure costs $15,000 to $50,000 in replacement expenses (SHRM), which is far more than the careers page cost to build.
The handoff from careers page to productive employee has six steps: offer letter via e-signature (same day as verbal offer), compliance paperwork during preboarding (I-9, W-4, handbook before Day 1), a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan built from the job description, training module assignments, buddy assignment, and scheduled check-ins at Day 7, 30, 60, and 90. FirstHR automates this transition at $98/month flat for up to 100 employees.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a careers page?
A careers page is a dedicated page on your company website where candidates can learn about your culture, benefits, and open roles. It serves as your employer brand's front door: the first place candidates go to evaluate whether your company is worth applying to. For small businesses, the careers page often replaces a dedicated recruiting team by doing the work of answering candidate questions 24/7.
What should a careers page include for a small business?
Eleven elements: a clear company mission or purpose statement, your company story in 2-3 paragraphs, a specific benefits list with real details, real team photos (not stock images), values with concrete examples, a filterable list of open positions, an application CTA above the fold, employee testimonials (2-3 sentences each), an Equal Employment Opportunity statement, mobile-responsive design, and analytics tracking (Google Analytics or similar). You do not need all eleven on day one. Start with the job list, benefits, and a founder paragraph.
How much does it cost to build a careers page?
From zero to a few hundred dollars. A simple careers page on your existing website (WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow) costs nothing beyond your current hosting. A custom-designed page from a freelancer runs $500 to $2,000. A careers page through a dedicated ATS comes bundled with their subscription ($29-$299 per month). For most small businesses hiring fewer than 10 people per year, a page on your existing site with a Google Form or Typeform for applications is sufficient.
Do I need an ATS to have a careers page?
No. An ATS provides a hosted careers page with built-in application forms and job board distribution. But you can build an effective careers page without one. Create a page on your existing website, list your open roles with descriptions, and link each to a Google Form or Typeform application. This works well for small businesses hiring 1 to 10 people per year. Consider an ATS when you have 3 or more roles open simultaneously or receive 50 or more applications per posting.
What is a good careers page conversion rate?
A good careers page conversion rate (visitors who submit an application) ranges from 8 to 11 percent. The average across industries is approximately 8.6 percent. Small businesses often see higher conversion rates (10 to 15 percent) because their visitors tend to be more targeted: fewer casual browsers, more people who already know the company through referrals or local reputation. If your conversion rate is below 5 percent, the problem is usually a hidden application form, missing salary information, or a process that takes longer than 10 minutes.
How often should I update my careers page?
Update your careers page every time a role opens or closes. A careers page with stale job listings (roles that were filled months ago) signals to candidates that the company is disorganized. Beyond job listings, review the page content quarterly: update team photos when people join or leave, refresh benefits if they change, and update the company story as milestones happen. An outdated careers page is worse than no careers page because it sets wrong expectations.
Should I include salary ranges on my careers page?
Yes, and in many states you are legally required to. Colorado, California, New York, Washington, and several other states mandate salary transparency in job postings. Beyond compliance, including salary ranges improves application quality: candidates self-select based on compensation fit, reducing the number of interviews that end with a pay mismatch. Listings with salary ranges receive significantly more applications than those without.
What is the difference between a careers page and a job board?
A careers page is a page on your company website that you control. It shows your brand, your culture, your benefits, and your open roles. A job board (Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter) is a third-party platform where your listings appear alongside competitors. Both are important. The careers page converts candidates who are already interested in your company. Job boards reach candidates who are not yet aware of you. The careers page is your home base; job boards are your distribution.
Can a small business compete with enterprise careers pages?
Yes, but not by copying them. Enterprise careers pages (Netflix, Salesforce, Airbnb) invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in custom design, video production, and interactive features. Small businesses compete on authenticity: real team photos instead of stock images, a founder letter instead of a corporate mission statement, specific benefits instead of vague promises, and a fast, simple application process instead of a 45-minute form. Candidates applying to a 20-person company expect a personal touch, not a production budget.
What happens after a candidate applies through my careers page?
The careers page is the beginning of the candidate experience, not the end. After someone applies, they should receive an automated confirmation email within minutes (even if it is just 'we received your application and will respond within 5 business days'). Then follow your standard hiring process: resume review, phone screen, structured interview, reference check, offer. When the candidate accepts, the process transitions to onboarding: compliance paperwork via e-signature, a 30-60-90 day plan, training assignments, and scheduled check-ins.