Spider Online have been commissioned by COSLA to review www.myjobscotland.gov.uk with a view to improving the user experience of the web site. This follows on from the successful SEO campaign that Spider Online has been running for the last 18 months. myjobscotland is the national shared recruitment portal for Scotland's 32 local authorities and processes around 300,000 applications every year and is a UK and international first in terms of scope and scale.

As part of the project Spider Online will look at the design, architecture and usability of the site, working closely with StepStone who built the application tracking system behind the site. The purpose of the commission is to improve the navigation and user perception of the site and to ascertain the best way to drive the most relevant traffic to the site.

John Campbell, MD Spider Online said; “Our experience of working on the soon to be released PIN's portal and our extensive experience of working on large complex public sector sites such as FirstGroup and Aberdeen University were integral in COSLA’s decision to use Spider Online for this key role. We will be looking at recruitment in the digital channel for features and functionality that can improve the site for the large number of candidates and job seekers who use it to find jobs in the public sector in Scotland.”

Attracting, retaining and developing staff is becoming more challenging for all employers, including Scottish local government. Councils face increasing competition for suitably qualified staff while being expected to deliver higher quality services. Local government needs to make effective use of resources in delivering improved performance, and that depends on being able to compete effectively for candidates. Increasingly, this is conducted in an online environment.