Posting job vacancies and competitions on the organisation’s website
Information about vacant jobs, competitions and other selection processes must be clearly and promptly published on the organisation’s website. This is an important part of transparency, openness and good public governance, especially for public bodies such as municipalities, schools, libraries, museums or other public bodies. Residents and potential candidates should be able to find relevant, clearly presented and regularly updated information in one place.
Clearly presented information about employment opportunities helps ensure equal conditions for all candidates. In addition, a properly managed job vacancies page reduces the number of additional enquiries by phone or email, as the most important information is provided in advance. This is especially relevant for organisations that regularly run competitions for civil service, administration, cultural, education or service posts.
What information should be published?
In the job vacancies and competitions section, it is recommended to publish not only the notice itself, but also all the information a candidate needs. The content should be structured, easy to find and understandable both to someone visiting the website for the first time and to a regular user.
- Job title. It should be stated accurately and clearly, avoiding internal abbreviations or unclear wording. If the role is linked to a specific department, it is worth noting that, for example, in the school administration, library branch or municipality department.
- Nature of the role and main duties. A candidate needs to understand what kind of work is being offered and what the main responsibilities will be. A short, clear description helps attract more suitable candidates and reduces uncertainty in advance.
- Requirements for the candidate. Education, work experience, competencies, language skills or other specific requirements should be stated. In public bodies, it is especially important that the requirements are justified and presented in a non-discriminatory way.
- Document submission procedure. It must be clearly stated which documents the candidate must submit, by when and how to do so. If documents are accepted by email, through a document management system or another platform, this must be clearly indicated.
- Deadlines. The notice must show the start and end of the application period and, where applicable, the competition or selection date. Expired notices should be removed in time or moved to the archive so that misleading information does not remain on the website.
- Contact person. It is useful for candidates to know whom to contact for additional information. The name, job title, email address and, if needed, telephone number of the responsible employee should be provided.
How should the information be presented for users’ convenience?
Job vacancies should be easy to find in the main menu or in a section dedicated to administrative information. Titles such as “Career”, “Job vacancies”, “Competitions” or “Open positions” are clear to users and help them quickly find the content they need. Especially on the websites of municipalities or larger organisations, it is important that this information does not get lost among news items or general announcements.
It is also worth ensuring that each notice has a clear structure: a heading, a date, a short summary and all the detailed information. If an organisation publishes several selections at the same time, it is useful to create a list with the option to filter by department, type of position or publication date. This is especially convenient for larger organisations, for example municipality administrations, education centres or networks of cultural organisations.
Accessibility and compliance with requirements
When publishing information about competitions and job vacancies, it is important to follow digital accessibility principles. The text must be legible, clearly structured, and the documents must be accessible to people using assistive technologies. If notices are provided only as scanned PDF files or images, such information may be difficult to access for some users.
It is recommended to provide the most important information on the website page itself in HTML format, using attachments only as supplementary material. This helps not only to ensure better accessibility, but also improves the discoverability of the information in search engines and makes it easier to use on mobile devices.
If candidate applications are accepted online, data protection requirements must also be taken into account. Since candidates submit CVs, contact details, education or work experience information, the organisation must ensure that these data are processed in accordance with GDPR requirements. The website or application form should clearly state how the submitted personal data will be processed, how long it will be stored and whom the candidate can contact to exercise their rights.
Good practice for public bodies
For schools, it is relevant to publish clear information about selections for teachers, education support specialists or administrative staff. For libraries and museums, it is important not only to provide general information about the competition, but also to describe the nature of the work clearly, especially when seeking specialists in culture, education or collection management. For municipalities, it is useful to centralise job vacancies from all subordinate organisations in one place or to link them together clearly.
A properly maintained jobs and competitions section strengthens the organisation’s credibility and reputation. It shows that the organisation operates transparently, follows established procedures and respects candidates’ time. Therefore, this information should not be an occasional news item, but a regularly maintained and strategically planned part of the website.