There’s no question that the current employment market is tough for talent acquisition pros.
In August 2021, there were 11 million job openings in the US – nearly twice the open positions reported a year earlier. This puts job seekers in the driver’s seat and leaves employers competing fiercely for top talent. In fact, recruiters tell us that a lack of qualified candidates and competition from other employers are their top concerns for hiring in 2021.
In conditions like these, every visitor to your career site matters – and candidate conversion becomes a critical data point. Conversion metrics assess how many career site visitors transition to being a known candidate or applicant (either by completing an application or joining a talent network), which is critical information when candidates are in short supply. Yet Jobvite’s 2021 Fortune 500 Candidate Conversion Audit reported that 28% of companies don’t measure candidate conversion at all, and 39% get only very light conversion data from their recruiting platforms.
Increase conversions by improving the application process
If you’re looking to improve conversion and increase candidate volume, start by assessing the experience you’re providing. Today’s job seekers are incredibly selective, and they expect their experience to be simple, efficient, and seamless – especially when it comes to submitting an application. Nearly half of respondents (45%) in our 2021 Job Seeker Nation Report said that an easy application process was a top contributor to a positive candidate experience.
Here are three ideas to streamline your application process and eliminate barriers that may deter top talent from pursuing your open roles.
1. Streamline the preliminary application
Recent analysis shows that only 30% of applicants who start the apply process end up submitting a completed application. That means seven out of ten potential candidates are simply walking away from your open roles. When you’ve got a lot of jobs to fill, you simply can’t afford to miss out on that much talent.
The fact is, your online application may well be too long. There’s no reason to require a full application before an individual is being actively considered for a specific role. Simplifying the initial application can help to improve candidate conversion and drive more completed applications – so ask for the bare minimum as a first step. Once you determine whether they’re a viable candidate, you can follow up with more comprehensive questions in the next phase of the process.
2. Offer social apply functionality
Our research shows that 71% of workers are likely to share job openings via social media, and 82% are likely to click on an opportunity posted by someone in their social network. With numbers like these, it’s clear that social media is an important part of the candidate journey for many job seekers.
Take advantage of this popularity by allowing candidates to leverage their social profiles to apply for jobs on your career site. Offering candidates the option to auto-populate the application with information from their LinkedIn or Facebook profile increases the likelihood that they’ll complete the application. And you’re creating a better experience by eliminating repetitive data entry for candidates who don’t want to re-type information that’s readily available.
Our 2021 Fortune 500 Candidate Conversion Audit found that less than half of Fortune 500 companies (44.6%) currently offer social apply – so your efforts to streamline the apply process are sure to set your company apart from the crowd in a competitive employment market.
3. Embrace the convenience of cloud apply
Cloud-based applications like Dropbox and Google Drive are everyday tools for many people these days, which makes cloud apply no-brainer for busy job seekers. Yet just one-third of Fortune 500 companies (33.1%) have incorporated cloud apply functionality into their hiring process.
Like social apply, cloud apply lets candidates automatically populate their application with relevant information from an existing resume or other document stored in the cloud. The added convenience of cloud apply is a clear differentiator for companies looking to drive stronger candidate conversion and modernize their overall employer brand.
Improving candidate conversion is no small task, but incorporating an enterprise-scale recruitment marketing platform like Talemetry by Jobvite can help. Our AI-powered automation and deep analytics capabilities make candidate sourcing, nurturing, and conversion a seamless process. Add our hands-on training and industry best practices, and you’ll see why our recruitment marketing customers often increase their applicant conversion rate from 30% to 70% upon go-live! Visit our website to learn more about Talemetry by Jobvite.
You can also download the 2021 Fortune 500 Candidate Conversion Audit for more insights to help you increase application volume and get more candidates in your active talent pipeline, faster.
