Is Your Application Process Killing Your Candidates?

Have you considered your online application process recently? With the growth in automated and online recruitment systems, candidates are getting increasingly reluctant to complete long-winded online forms.  Does this mean you are missing a slice of the market? We have seen many recruitment systems in our time; some good and some bad.  We have directed thousands of applicants from job boards to applicant tracking systems, in boxes and even (dare we say it) bottomless holes.  But, in the rapidly developing world of online recruitment, candidates are getting savvier about where their CV goes, what information they have to divulge and how long it takes them to apply for a job. We agree there is a balancing act;  make it too easy to apply and you get a lot of time wasters and rubbish, but make it too complicated to apply and you risk losing the best candidates. We have noticed in the last 12 months; that directing applicants from the job boards into to a company’s recruitment system has an even higher potential to reduce the volume of applications and in some cases by 95%.  In fact, we recently handled one vacancy that had over 35 “applies” according to the job sites, but not a single CV entered the company recruitment system.  We quickly contacted all 35 candidates who (according to the client) “could not be bothered filling in the company’s application form” and found that 4 of the candidates were spot on for an interview.  Why did they not end up in the employer’s recruitment system? Online Recruitment Technology is a wonderful thing, but in our opinion many developers and/or users either: a) Over complicate it or b) Try to turn an offline process into an online process. Let's recap the basics: 1. Online recruitment advertising targets your ideal market and generates as much quality response as possible from this source. 2. Once you have that response in a dedicated area you can; filter, communicate, ask questions, reject or interview. If you don’t have all that response in a nice cosy place to manage it in the first place, how can you be sure you are going to recruit the best candidate? “If they can’t be bothered filling in the online application forms then we don’t want them”.  Sound like someone you know?  Consider it from an applicant’s perspective. “all applications go to a system & no one ever gets back to me! IIt takes 45 minutes to apply and they ask information that is irrelevant to the job or on my CV.   Have you completed your online application process recently?  Have you timed how long it takes to go through your online application form? Do you have an online application form, or are you asking candidates to navigate around your website to find a PDF that they have to download, convert and then go back to your system again to find an email address? Do you know what is on your application form and is there a business critical reason for having an application form? Do you get feedback from your job candidates about your process?  Do you know how many applicants get lost in the black hole between job board / your website and your online recruitment process/system? If you want to get the best candidates from using online recruitment advertising methods then I recommend that you test your own process from a candidates perspective. Consider what changes you could make to ensure that your process hits the right balance, and you capture ALL the quality response you worked so hard to get! We are really honest at Flat Fee Recruiter and have tested loads of companies "apply processes".  We will always check and make sure any process works before directing applicants into a black hole - if we can help make improvements to your processes and ROI then we will. Why not give us a call if you are unsure about your process and we can have a look for you... If you like this post, you may also like:

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