Image courtesy: Unsplash
If your company’s job application page has a lengthy application form, perhaps many candidates will lose interest before they reach the end. And if they do, you can’t blame them. According to research, a whopping 92% never complete an application after clicking “Apply.”
If your company is facing a significant candidate drop-off rate, it’s a cause of concern. With rising global talent shortage, 75% of employers reported difficulty finding suitable talent in 2024. A decade earlier, it was just 36%. If your application process drives candidates away, how will you find skilled talent?
Having a poor application process will adversely affect your brand image. Additionally, the money your company spends on job advertisement, recruitment marketing, and employer branding will go to waste.
Interested in knowing what you can do with your job application process to reduce applicant drop-offs and ensure your candidates have an improved experience?
Here are the top five tips.
1. Remove Login Requirements
Does your job application ask candidates to login with a username and password? If it does, it could be the step that causes a significant application drop-off rate.
Job applicants typically apply to numerous jobs, not just yours. They prefer a process that’s easier and faster. Making it harder with login requirements can drive many away (except the most diligent ones) who may never return to your website.
Whether you are hiring for specific positions or at scale, making the job application process as easy as possible will help you get a higher number of candidates to screen.
2. Facilitate Quick Apply
Your ideal candidates could already have profiles created on LinkedIn or Indeed, which they can send right away if your job advertisements on these sites allow “Quick Apply.” Adding this feature to your job post can streamline the application process for your prospective candidates.
Instead of making candidates fill up a lengthy application form on your website or recreate a detailed profile, helping them share their profiles from the sites where they have found your job advertisement (LinkedIn or Indeed, for example) can save them precious time and effort. This could even help your company earn some brownie points as an employer-friendly brand.
3. Focus on Mobile Optimisation
Over 50% of internet traffic comes through smartphones and tablets. According to Statista, almost 55% of all website traffic in Q4, 2023, was generated from mobile phones. If your job application delivers a sub-par mobile experience, you will stand to lose a significant number of suitable applicants.
By focusing on mobile optimisation, you will attract professional candidates. Prospective candidates, who work with computers all day, are likely to search for jobs using their smartphones in their off hours. Optimising your job application process for mobile will entice them into applying. Mobile optimisation shouldn’t just emphasise high-volume roles. Instead, it should be applicable for all open roles to attract better candidates.
4. Make the Application Form Shorter
From having login requirements for your job applications forms to using drop-down menus that don’t list certain undergraduate or graduate majors to let candidates represent their accurate qualifications, unnecessary elements can make the entire process lengthy and frustrating. If your company does something similar, it’s time to shorten the time a candidate takes to complete the application.
Outdated recruitment systems with ridiculously long applications are likely to turn talented individuals away, who see such process a sheer waste of their precious time. Only a handful of candidates may be willing to use their free time to fill your lengthy forms. It’s much better and wiser to honour the candidates’ time and make the application process enjoyable and informative.
5. Send an Automated Email Confirmation
Filling a job application and then waiting endlessly is a nightmare of almost every job seeker. Not knowing if the application was submitted right and what the following steps would be could be tiring. To spare your candidates this anxiety, sending an automated email confirmation with a hint of the next steps is the right thing to do.
You could make the process automated where a one-liner acknowledgement of the submitted application, followed by a brief about your company, is sent. This way, you can create an opportunity to communicate more about what the company does and why it’s a good place to work to create goodwill. Prompt communication is also a gesture of respect toward the candidates. Sending interview confirmations or rejection emails on time is equally vital as it protects your brand reputation.
Final Words
Improving your candidate experience is vital because giving them a shoddy treatment would mean words get out, making it difficult for your company to find the next hire. Your candidates are your customers too, who should be handled well as they impact your market reputation and build market perception of your brand.
By having a good application process using the tips above, you can take the first steps to making your hiring process better, which is a good start for a new hire.
If you need help with your hiring, you can always rely on us at InHunt World!
This article was written by Sonali