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There is an elephant in the room that Talent Acquisition (TA) professionals at most organizations have yet to address: their application process.
In today’s hyper-competitive talent market, every step of the candidate journey matters, especially the application process.
Candidate expectations have changed significantly when it comes to submitting applications. SmashFly reports that an average of 74% of candidates start but never complete an application process. And according to ERE, today’s candidates are 365% more likely to drop out of your application process if it takes more than 15 minutes to complete.
For job-seekers unfamiliar with your organization, that means the application process is a make-or-break moment. Improving it will increase your number of applicants dramatically and put you ahead of other companies who’ve yet to address the issue.
It may be tempting to focus on more visible projects, like career site updates, optimizing sourcing tools, implementing new platforms, and employer brand innovations. But, improving your apply flow will lead to a bigger candidate pool, and more applications means finding the right fit for the job faster. Filling positions faster means less ad spend on hiring and saving your company more dollars.
Read on to determine how you can prove the value of an improved new-candidate experience — and how you can build one with Skuid.
Calculate your current application process drop-off rates
You can prove the value of a better candidate experience by showing how many job-seekers leave applications unfinished.
Calculate your drop-off rate by dividing your number of finished applications by the total number of candidates who started an application.
You should be able to access these numbers through your ATS or HCM software. If you’re having trouble locating this data, reach out to your ATS administrator and they should be able to show you where to find it.
Try applying for a job yourself
To build a better experience for candidates, start off by placing yourself in their shoes. Submit a test application on desktop and another on mobile for a role at your organization and record your experiences.
Here are some things to look out for as you test your application process:
- How long did it take you to submit an application from start to finish?
- How many questions were asked? The drop-off rate increases 50% for every additional field, reports Beamery.
- Do you need to log in or create an account? If so, how long does this process take?
- Can you use auto-fill for some fields?
- Could you submit an application using a social network like LinkedIn?
- Are there any technical issues in your process?
- Is the application process clear and intuitive?
- Were there any other frustrations encountered along the way?
Compare your application process to your hiring competitors’
Who are some of your biggest hiring competitors? Go through the same mobile and desktop application test to see how your organization’s process stacks up against theirs. Record the differences. Is your competition doing anything you might want to replicate? Perhaps there’s a process they’re using that you could improve on. Understanding the playing field will be helpful as you work on your own application process.
Make improvements to your application process
Improving your application process doesn’t need to be intimidating or costly. You can upgrade the look and performance of your application process while keeping your same ATS or HCM systems in place.
With Skuid, you can build a better experience on top of robust HCM and ATS systems like Workday, Peoplesoft, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors, Taleo, BrassRing, and more. This way you can improve the application process at a much lower risk, effort, and cost.
From pre-hire to retire, you want HCM user experiences that impact employee behavior for the better, enhance your brand, and maximize your HCM software investment. Skuid works with the systems you already have to give you control over end-user behavior and experiences.
Learn more about using Skuid to improve your candidate experience here.
