Building better careers content: from discovery to delivery

The problem: fragmented content and an unclear narrative

Our previous careers and employability web content for prospective students was struggling. We knew we had a great story to tell but we weren’t articulating our ‘careers offer’ as effectively as possible to our various target audiences, plus information was fragmented across multiple pages and usage was generally low. We collaborated with our Careers and Placements and Marketing teams to help make this better.

The solution: A structured, iterative process

We transitioned from a list of services and features to a clear, integrated story of benefits and student success through a structured development cycle:

1. Discovery and research phase: We analysed current content and stakeholder needs to define the core issues (fragmented content and an unclear offer). We then gained a crucial understanding of our careers offer by reviewing a summary of services document provided by our Careers and Placements team, which proved pivotal in shaping the subsequent structure and narrative.
   
2. Information architecture (IA) planning: We decided to consolidate information onto a single, authoritative page for taught students. This IA choice supports how users read (skimming) and boosts our SEO.
   
3. Narrative and key message development: We developed a strong, compelling narrative centered on “Find your career advantage.” We then wove key facts (like “top 30 most targeted universities by the UK’s leading graduate employers”) directly into the benefits to back up our story.
   
4. Mock-ups and structure design: We worked through several mock-ups to structure the page around three distinct, visually supported layers of careers support. This resulted in an “at a glance” view at the top, followed by a detailed view presented in accordions for clean navigation.
   • For everyone: Expert careers services
   • For your subject: Course connections
   • Just for you: Tailored support 
     
5. User journeys and signposting: We planned how best to link to the new single page across landing pages, course pages, department pages and global navigation and footers, including a visual “Find your career advantage” sticker graphic.

The result: Engaged users and more clarity

The new structure (designed for both scanning and deep-diving) is looking like a success so far.  In just over a month, we’re already seeing good initial performance and engagement:

• Total page views: The original three pages had just over 4,000 average page views in a year. Our new page has had almost 2,000 page views in just one month, which puts us on track to have achieved a 500% increase in views of this content.
• Engagement: The average engagement time is 41 seconds (a 28% increase), suggesting users are actively reading and finding value in the content.
• Bounce rate: We’ve seen an improved bounce rate of 39% compared to 45% for the previous undergraduate careers page.
• Top interactions: The top page interactions for prospective students are the ‘Placements and real-world experience: more details’ accordion and the ‘Explore our academic departments and subjects’ button, confirming users are engaging with key content. (Interestingly our job vacancies site is the top interaction, suggesting some users are staff or prospective staff looking for general vacancies).

This early data looks very promising and shows that a structured, user-focused approach delivers a more impactful experience.

Explore the new content

The new web page went live at the end of September 2025.

• Read the new careers page