Job seekers spend significant amounts of time looking at your careers site, checking out the Recruitment Marketing content you’ve created and deciding whether to apply for one of your available roles. But no matter how compelling your site and content is, there’s a key moment where you might lose a candidate.
It’s in your application process.
A job seeker might be eager to click ‘Apply’ once they’ve learned more about your company, but a convoluted application process can be the thing that turns them away. It’s a good idea to put yourself in the candidate’s shoes here: Imagine how frustrating it would be to get excited about a potential employer and opportunity, only to find you have to jump through a range of hoops to submit an application or go through a process that feels disconnected from the company you’re applying to. That excitement can go out the window quickly and discourage you from even applying.
In our webinar, 4 Candidate Experience Mistakes You Absolutely Can Fix, we heard from Cox Enterprises’ Sr. Manager of Employment Brand Adam Glassman and Corteva Agriscience’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition Paul Boyett on how they and their teams have improved the candidate experience on their careers sites.
One of the most effective strategies for improving the candidate experience that both Adam and Paul discussed in the webinar was taking out friction in the application process. A disjointed apply process that makes it difficult for a job seeker to even start or submit an application can lead to frustration and abandonment, meaning you lose out on top talent.
Here’s how Adam and Paul worked to streamline their organizations’ application processes to ensure candidates move seamlessly through each step and have a great experience that carries on throughout the rest of their journey with the companies.
Bringing in consistency
The first step in enhancing the Cox Enterprises candidate experience was recognizing the mistakes in it. There was a lack of continuity between the different systems they were using, with many of them not being modernized enough to create an innovative and streamlined experience for talent. Take a look at Cox’s old application pages that were disconnected from the branding and messaging of their careers site.
Besides being unimpressive from a design perspective, the old process had nothing to tie it back to Cox Enterprises. If a candidate were to happen upon these screens without first visiting their careers page, they would have no idea they were applying for Cox. On top of that, job seekers were prompted to create a username and password from the very beginning, which tends to be a top frustration for candidates who just want to move forward in their application without having to create or remember log-in details later on.
Now, Cox uses the InFlight platform for their redesigned application experience for candidates. Talent who click the ‘Apply’ button are carried through to application pages that are familiar and aligned with the Cox employer brand. There is also simplicity in this experience, as Cox removed the username and password requirements and only ask for a candidate’s name and email before continuing on in their application.
This redesigned application process creates that needed consistency that supports and strengthens the employer brand and encourages candidates to submit an application with ease and speed.
Making it mobile friendly
Candidates increasingly use their mobile devices to search for and even apply to jobs. Many organizations have careers sites that are optimized for mobile, but that experience breaks once talent reaches the actual application screen. Companies that don’t create a seamless mobile-friendly application process from start to finish risk losing out on job seekers who want the convenience and ease of applying on their smartphones or tablets.
When Corteva Agriscience launched their new careers site that was aligned with their corporate and employer brand, the team knew they needed to further cut out friction in the application process for candidates who want to apply for open roles on their mobile devices, which is more than half of the company’s job seekers.
By implementing the InFlight platform, Corteva developed an entirely mobile-friendly careers site that gives candidates an easy and fast way to apply for open opportunities right from their device.
Your application process is one of your best ways to improve the candidate experience that you offer. By providing a consistent, seamless and easy process for submitting an application, you have a greater chance of capturing and retaining top talent who are eager to apply for new opportunities with your organization.