Joanne Barrett Consulting — PR & Marketing Recruiter Website

The brief

A recruiter site that sounds like a person.

Joanne Barrett is a solo specialist recruiter with 30+ years placing PR, Marketing and Communications talent — the anti-agency alternative. Her site had to sound like her (first-person, warm, opinionated), not like a corporate recruitment firm. It had to make the "personal, not a CV blaster" positioning immediately obvious to both hiring managers and candidates.

The challenge

Recruiter sites are usually identical.

Most PR/Marketing recruiter sites in South Africa look and sound the same — corporate stock photography, "leverage our talent pool" copy, a job feed dumped from Bullhorn, no sign of a real human behind it. Candidates and hiring managers can't tell one agency from another, and boutique operators get lost in the noise.

Voice-first, not template-firstEverything written in Joanne's own words — 30 years of tone, distilled into working web copy. No "we help candidates realise their potential" filler.
Anti-agency positioning made obviousThe homepage says explicitly what she does not do — no CV blasting, no filler shortlists, no 30-day guarantee gimmicks. Reads like a manifesto, not a service page.
Two audiences, one calm layoutHiring managers and candidates need very different things. The site splits them cleanly on the home page without making either feel like an afterthought.
Simple enquiry flowNo lengthy candidate application form or "hiring manager portal" — just a short, plain-language brief with the option to attach a CV or JD, going direct to Joanne's inbox.

The approach

Voice first. Typography second. Editorial layout underneath.

We started with long-form founder interviews — 30 years of placing people, distilled into a written voice guide. Then a pastel colour-block brand system with Fraunces (display serif) paired with Montserrat (sans body) and a dandelion motif — soft, personal, unmistakably not an agency. Then a hand-coded static site pointed at two CTAs (hiring managers, candidates) from every screen.

01 · Voice discovery & positioningFounder interviews with Joanne, competitor audit of SA recruitment sites, and a written voice framework — including the "anti-agency" manifesto that anchors the homepage.
02 · Brand system + hand-coded static sitePastel colour-block palette, Fraunces + Montserrat pairing, dandelion illustrations — then a hand-authored static site in vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. No WordPress, no plugin bloat, no monthly fees.
03 · Enquiry flow & local SEOTwo clean enquiry paths (hiring manager brief, candidate application), CV / JD upload, LocalBusiness JSON-LD, and copy targeted at "PR recruiter South Africa" / "marketing recruiter Johannesburg" / "communications jobs" searches.

The result

A recruiter site that opens conversations.

jb-consulting.co.za now does what a boutique recruiter site should do — sounds like the person, not the industry. Hiring managers and candidates land in different flows without either feeling second-class. The enquiry form skips the CV-portal ceremony and goes direct to Joanne. The whole site loads in under a second.

Audience flows

Hiring managers and candidates each get a dedicated path — from homepage split through to the enquiry form. Neither feels like an afterthought.

100 Lighthouse score

Perfect scores on Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO — every page loads in under a second on 3G.

Ongoing platform fees

Hand-authored static site — no CMS licence, no plugin subscriptions, no ATS integration overhead. One person can update it in minutes.

Stack & services

The smallest possible stack. Zero recurring fees.

A solo recruiter shouldn't be paying WordPress + plugin licences to run a five-page website. We shipped hand-authored HTML/CSS/JS — faster, cheaper to host, and Joanne can hand edits to any developer at any time. No lock-in.

FrontendVanilla HTML/CSS/JS FontsFraunces + Montserrat HostingStatic · CDN-fronted FormsDirect-to-inbox enquiry form UploadsCV / JD attachment handling SEOSemantic HTML + LocalBusiness schema AnalyticsPrivacy-safe stats · POPIA-ready GoogleGoogle Business Profile PerformanceSub-1s LCP · 100 Lighthouse HandoverVoice guide + brand book PDF

Common questions

What people ask us about recruiter websites.

How much does a boutique recruiter website cost in South Africa?

Every recruiter site is quoted after a short brief call. A solo recruiter site with a full voice framework, brand system and enquiry flow is a fixed-price engagement — no hourly billing. Boutique operators, solo recruiters and small agencies all welcome.

Do you build sites for other kinds of recruitment agencies?

Yes — solo recruiters, boutique agencies, executive search firms and specialist retained recruiters. We do NOT build generic "job board" mass-CV sites; our sweet spot is high-touch, relationship-first recruiters who compete on judgement, not volume.

Can the site integrate with an ATS or job board?

Yes if you need it — Bullhorn, Workable, JobAdder, LinkedIn Talent, or a plain job feed. But for many solo recruiters, an ATS integration is overkill and dilutes the "personal" positioning. We'll help you decide.

Do you write the copy or does the client?

Either. For Joanne we did long-form voice discovery interviews and wrote every page — because the whole point was to sound like her. For clients who prefer to write their own copy, we provide a voice framework, tone-of-voice rules and page skeletons.

Can you build the brand identity alongside the website?

Yes — and we recommend it for a solo recruiter. Building the brand system and the site in the same engagement is faster, cheaper and keeps everything cohesive. You get a working brand book at the end that runs the site, LinkedIn, email templates and candidate pack templates.

Do you work with recruiters outside Johannesburg?

Yes. We build websites for solo recruiters, boutique agencies and executive search firms across South Africa — Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, plus UK and EU firms. Everything's remote-friendly, delivered on a shared workspace, with weekly demo calls.

JB Consulting.

JB Consulting, built.

A recruiter site that sounds like a person.

Recruiter sites are usually identical.

Voice first. Typography second. Editorial layout underneath.

A recruiter site that opens conversations.

The smallest possible stack. Zero recurring fees.

What people ask us about recruiter websites.

Running a boutique recruitment practice? Let's build it right.

JB Consulting.

JB Consulting, built.

A recruiter site that sounds like a person.

Recruiter sites are usually identical.

Voice first. Typography second. Editorial layout underneath.

A recruiter site that opens conversations.

The smallest possible stack. Zero recurring fees.

What people ask us about recruiter websites.

Other things we've shipped lately.

Barizsta

Deacon & Associates

Running a boutique recruitment practice? Let's build it right.