Overview
This article helps you run a PulseCheck audit on your careers site and understand your results. PulseCheck is an in-system app within Access Attract Evo that gives you your website's health score at a glance, with a breakdown across four key audit categories. No developer experience is needed: the results are clear, actionable, and written in plain English.
Key benefits
Monitor your careers site health at any time without raising a support request.
Identify performance, accessibility, best practice, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) issues quickly.
Compare mobile and desktop scores to spot device-specific problems.
Export your results as a PDF to share with your team.
Before you start
Before running a PulseCheck audit, make sure you have:
Ability to log into Access Attract Evo.
The URL of your live careers site.
📌 Note: PulseCheck analyses publicly accessible URLs only. It is not designed for sites that require login credentials or staging environments.
Add PulseCheck to your dashboard
PulseCheck is an app that must be added to your dashboard space before you can use it. It is not listed under the Products menu.
Select My Dashboard in your Access Attract Evo workspace.
Click Add App in the top-right corner.
Enter 'Pulse Check' in the search field.
Click Add to Space.
A confirmation banner confirms PulseCheck has been added to your dashboard space.
🤓Tip: Once added, PulseCheck appears as a tile on your dashboard for quick access in future.
Run a PulseCheck analysis
Once PulseCheck is on your dashboard, you can run an audit at any time.
Click the PulseCheck tile on your dashboard to open the app.
Visit your careers site and copy the URL of the main page.
Paste the URL into the PulseCheck app.
From the Device strategy dropdown, select the device you want to report on:
Mobile
Desktop
Both (Mobile & Desktop)
Click Analyse site.
📌 Note: Report generation takes a couple of minutes. You can browse another tab while you wait.
Once complete, the report displays your Summary score, key performance headlines, category breakdowns, Core Web Vitals, and the full audit detail.
Understand your results
This section explains each part of the PulseCheck report so you can interpret your scores and prioritise action.
Summary
The Summary panel displays a single score (expressed as a percentage, e.g. 83%) that represents the combined health of the site across all four audit categories. It is displayed prominently at the top-left of the report alongside a plain-English summary label (e.g. 'Could use some improvement') and a short explanatory note about what the score means.
To the right of the Summary panel, the report highlights three key Core Web Vitals at a glance:
Loading Speed: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) - how quickly the largest visible element loads.
Visual Stability: Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) - how much the page layout unexpectedly moves during load.
Interactivity: Total Blocking Time (TBT) - how long the page is unresponsive to user input during load.
These three metrics give you an instant read on the most user-visible aspects of site performance before you explore the full report. Full definitions and scoring thresholds for all five Core Web Vitals are covered in the Core Web Vitals section below.
Use the Summary panel to track progress over time and identify when a site change may have introduced a problem.
Audit category scores
PulseCheck evaluates your site across four categories. Each category receives a score from 0 to 100, accompanied by a colour-coded status label.
Score range | Status label | What it means |
90–100 | Good | Performing well - no urgent action needed |
50–89 | Needs Improvement | Issues present - review and address flagged items |
0–49 | Poor | Critical issues - prioritise fixes urgently |
The four audit categories are:
Performance: Assesses how quickly your site loads and becomes usable. This is the most technically complex category and includes the Core Web Vitals sub-section.
Accessibility: Flags issues that make the site harder to use for people relying on assistive technologies, and for web crawlers that index your content.
Best Practices: Identifies issues relating to web standards, security, and compliance.
SEO: Evaluates whether your site is correctly configured to be found and indexed by search engines.
Mobile vs Desktop comparison
The report shows separate scores for mobile and desktop across all four categories. Use the Device View tabs to switch between views:
Combined Average: shows an averaged score across both device types.
Mobile Only: shows scores for mobile devices only.
Desktop Only: shows scores for desktop devices only.
📌 Note: Many candidates browse job listings on mobile. A low mobile score is a high-priority issue for recruitment websites.
Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals is a sub-section within the Performance category. It shows five industry-standard metrics used by Google to evaluate page experience. Each metric displays a raw value, a score percentage, and a colour-coded status banner indicating Good, Needs Improvement, or Poor.
Metric | What it measures | Good | Needs improvement | Poor |
First Contentful Paint (FCP) | Time until the first text or image appears on screen | Under 1.8 seconds | 1.8 s – 3 s | Over 3 s |
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | Time until the largest text or image element is rendered | Under 2.5 seconds | 2.5 s – 4 s | Over 4 s |
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | Unexpected layout movement - visual stability | Under 0.1 | 0.1 – 0.25 | Over 0.25 |
Speed Index (SI) | How quickly page content is visibly populated | Lower is better | Lower is better | Lower is better |
Total Blocking Time (TBT) | Time the main thread is blocked and unresponsive to user input | Under 200 milliseconds | 200 ms – 600 ms | Over 600 ms |
Detailed audit results
Within each category, audit items are organised into two groups:
Failed Audits: Issues that have been detected and require attention. Each failed item includes a plain-English description of what was checked and an estimated saving where applicable.
For example, 'Est savings of 1,090 ms' for render-blocking requests, or 'Est savings of 399 KiB' for image delivery.
Use estimated savings to prioritise which issues will have the greatest impact when fixed.
Passed Audits: Items with no issues detected. This section is collapsed by default and can be clicked to expand to review what was checked.
Each individual audit item carries one of four statuses:
Status | What it means |
Passed | No action required |
Failed | An issue has been detected that requires attention |
Need Improvement | Not failing critically but could be improved |
N/A | The audit does not apply to this site or page |
What each audit category checks
The examples below show the types of issues PulseCheck can surface within each category. Actual results will vary depending on your site.
Performance
Performance assesses how quickly your site loads and becomes usable. Example audit items include:
Font display: Whether fonts are configured to remain visible during load.
Forced reflow: JavaScript triggering layout recalculations that slow rendering.
Image delivery: Whether images are optimised in size and format.
Legacy JavaScript: Unnecessary polyfills increasing page weight.
Network dependency tree: Chained resource requests extending load time.
Render-blocking requests: Resources preventing the page from displaying quickly.
Time to Interactive: How long before the page responds to user input.
Unused CSS / Unused JavaScript: Dead code consuming bandwidth unnecessarily.
Cache lifetimes: Whether browser caching is configured to speed up repeat visits.
Accessibility
Accessibility flags issues that make the site harder to use for people relying on assistive technologies, and for web crawlers that index your content. Example audit items include:
Colour contrast: Whether text and background colours have sufficient contrast for readability.
Heading structure: Whether headings are ordered correctly for screen readers and crawlers.
Links or elements without accessible names: Elements that are visible but not labelled for assistive technologies.
Best Practices
Best Practices identifies issues relating to web standards, security, and compliance. Example audit items include:
Third-party cookie usage: If the site uses third-party cookies without informing users, this may indicate a potential General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance concern.
SEO
SEO evaluates whether the site is correctly configured to be found and indexed by search engines. Example audit items include:
Pages blocked from indexing: Pages with a noindex directive that prevent search engines from including them in results.
Act on your results
Once your report is generated, you have two options:
Take action yourself: No developer experience is required. Review the Failed Audits in each category, use the estimated savings to prioritise which fixes will have the greatest impact, and work through the issues at your own pace.
Contact the Customer Success team: If you'd prefer support interpreting your results or help actioning fixes, the Customer Success team are available to walk through the report with you.
Common use cases
The examples below show how PulseCheck can be used to address specific challenges on your recruitment website.
Self-serve site audit
Run a PulseCheck at any time without raising a support request. You'll immediately see the health status of your recruitment website and get a clear list of specific issues to fix, no waiting, no back-and-forth.
GDPR compliance check
The Best Practices audit surfaces third-party cookie usage. If your site uses third-party cookies without informing users, PulseCheck flags this as a potential GDPR compliance concern, giving you early visibility of an issue before it becomes a problem.
SEO improvement
The SEO audit identifies pages that are blocked from search engine indexing. Unblocking these pages can improve your site's search engine ranking and drive more organic candidate traffic.
Accessibility review
The Accessibility audit flags elements that may make it harder for web crawlers and assistive technologies to navigate your site. Addressing these issues supports both better SEO performance and a more inclusive candidate experience.
Mobile performance optimisation
By comparing Mobile Only and Desktop Only scores, you can identify whether your site has a mobile-specific performance problem. Given that many candidates browse job listings on mobile devices, a low mobile Performance score is a high-priority issue for recruitment websites.
Export your results
You can export your completed PulseCheck report to share it with your team or retain it for your records.
Review your completed report on screen.
Click Export to download the report as a PDF.
The exported PDF is titled 'PageSpeed Insights Report' and mirrors the on-screen report, including the report header, category scores, Mobile vs Desktop comparison, Core Web Vitals table, and all detailed audit items.
🤓 Tip: To return to a previous report at any time, select View Reports from the left sidebar within the PulseCheck app.
FAQs
Q1: Do I need developer experience to use PulseCheck?
Answer: No. PulseCheck was designed to require no developer experience. The results are written in plain English, with clear scores and descriptions that any user can understand and act on.
Q2: Where do I find PulseCheck in Access Attract Evo?
Answer: PulseCheck is not listed under the Products menu. You need to add it to your dashboard space by clicking Add App on My Dashboard and searching for 'Pulse Check'.
Q3: How long does a PulseCheck report take to generate?
Answer: Report generation takes a couple of minutes. You can browse to another tab while you wait, and return to view the completed report.
Q4: What do the status labels Good, Needs Improvement, and Poor mean?
Answer: These labels reflect your numerical score for each audit category. A score of 90–100 is Good, 50–89 is Needs Improvement, and 0–49 is Poor. Use these to prioritise which areas to address first.
Q5: What does N/A mean on an audit item?
Answer: N/A means the audit does not apply to your site or the page tested. No action is required for items marked N/A.
Q6: Can I see how my site performs on mobile and desktop separately?
Answer: Yes. The report includes Device View tabs - Combined Average, Mobile Only, and Desktop Only - allowing you to view separate scores for each of the four audit categories by device type.
Q7: What is the exported PDF called?
Answer: The exported report is titled 'PageSpeed Insights Report' and mirrors the full on-screen report.
Q8: What should I do if I don't understand my results?
Answer: You can contact the Customer Success team, who can walk through your PulseCheck results with you and help you prioritise and action any fixes.
Q9: Can PulseCheck analyse a site that requires login credentials?
Answer: No. PulseCheck analyses publicly accessible URLs only. It cannot be used to audit sites behind authentication or staging environments.
Q10: Are there any limitations I should be aware of?
Answer: There are two known limitations to bear in mind. Report generation takes a couple of minutes - you can browse another tab while you wait. PulseCheck also analyses publicly accessible URLs only and cannot audit sites that require login credentials or are hosted in staging environments; always use your live site URL.