Do you have a client who's trying, and failing, to find new hires from diverse backgrounds? Their less engaging web sites could be driving away potential hires.

According to a a new study, elements of employers’ Web sites, like design and content, are an influence on how prospective employees’ shape their job search intentions.

The study conducted by Caren B. Goldberg, management professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business and David G. Allen, a management professor at the University of Memphis, is titled “Black and White and Read All Over: Race Differences in Reactions to Recruitment Web Sites.”

“The findings indicate that employers can attract more diverse applicant pools by paying more attention to site design and content,” says Professor Goldberg.

The study asked job seekers’ to evaluate a selection of recruiters' web sites. The researchers found that the more the students favored an employer’s Web site, the more they favored the employer itself, and the more motivated they were to pursue employment with that recruiter.

The job seekers evaluated four areas of the Web sites:

• ease of use
• usefulness
• allowance for two-way communication
• engagement

Of the Web site qualities, the opportunity for two-way interaction was more strongly related to African Americans’ attitudes toward employers and their intention to seek employment with those employers. Web site engagement and attitudes toward employers also had greater influence on African Americans’ intentions to pursue employment.

Organizational diversity statements published on the web sites had no influence on the study sample. However, when the sample results were analyzed according to race, African American job seekers evaluated Web sites with diversity statements as more engaging.

The study was published in the summer 2008 issue of the journal Human Resource Management.