In 2023, Dunelm and Blackbridge worked together to build a new employer value proposition, to ‘help people experience the joy of truly feeling at home’. The first iteration of this EVP would be its careers site, with the tagline, ‘Find your happy place’. This was intended to be a simple, informal role-browsing and application experience. Research showed that people were missing out when visiting the old site – moving directly from an external job posting to a listing on the Eploy ATS, and bypassing the careers content showing the reality of working at the retailer.

To bring more joy to their job search, Blackbridge customised every job listing with EVP messaging, benefits and value-added content. It created a series of user journeys that considered free-text search, location-based search or sector-specific features. The core site content was also redesigned to encourage and guide candidates to continue their research post application. Each role listing contains images and stories that reflect the reality of a job and the culture, with dynamic listings meaning greater personalisation. The content adheres to accessibility guidelines and is fully optimised for SEO. A range of media types means users can access content in formats and on devices they prefer.

Traffic to the website went up year-on-year significantly, and users spent less time on it because they could locate key information more easily. Improved SEO meant much higher organic search traffic, and a lower bounce rate suggesting more engaging and relevant content. Applications have increased strongly, with impressive rises in female candidates and those from Black and Asian backgrounds. Candidates reported feeling “a sense of belonging” from the website and said it was “head and shoulders” above other companies they had applied to.