Did you know that a casual job seeker will spend, on average, about 11 hours per week looking for work? That’s a lot of time spent searching for suitable recruitment ads, and filling out applications. As we all know, the job-seeking process is by no means a fun one. So those 11 hours are full of hard work and self-doubt.
If you’re looking for a way to help ease that burden for job seekers, one obvious place to start is speeding up the overall job application process. By doing so, you provide applicants with a better experience, and remove barriers to qualified candidates hitting “Apply”.
Easy applications are a great way to enable a speedy job application process. This article will cover the basics of easy applications, and explain some of the main benefits and considerations you should be aware of.
What are easy applications?
Easy applications allow candidates to apply directly on the platform you’re using to host a recruitment ad. It lets applicants apply using their pre-existing profiles on that platform, and avoids the need to manually upload resumes and personal information for each job. When a candidate sees a recruitment ad they like, they can hit the “Easy Apply” button, which auto-populates their profile, resume, and contact information.
Easy applications are most commonly seen on platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, both of which allow users to create profiles and digital resumes. But, you’ll also see these buttons on many different job sites, which link back to a LinkedIn profile. This allows job seekers to use this streamlined process regardless of what platform they’re using to research positions.
When an applicant hits “Easy Apply”, the recruiter will receive a generic list of information that includes:
- Name
- Profile photo
- Location
- Current title
- Past experience
- Education
- Contact information
- Skills keywords
Recruiters who use easy applications regularly can also specify custom questions like work authorization, VISA eligibility, and so on.
This information can be automatically ported into the recruiter’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and parsed based on predetermined job requirements. In general, easy applications deliver instant data about new job applicants, which can be used to stay on top of potential candidates.
How do easy applications benefit the job-seeking process?
Easy applications are designed to make job applications easier and faster for your candidates. That’s the key benefit. But there are many different advantages that easy applications unlock for applicant retention, user experience, and sourcing efficiency.
Here are five benefits of easy applications to the job-seeking process:
- They help candidates avoid re-entering information. If you’ve ever been a job seeker, you know how annoying and tedious this can be. It’s time-consuming, unnecessary, and creates a generally poor candidate experience. Removing the bane of every job seeker's existence is perhaps the most important benefit of easy applications.
- They let candidates stay on the same platform. Forcing your candidates to jump from a job site to your website to an application portal, and so on, is a great way to ensure that they drop out of the race early. Easy applications ensure that once you have the candidate hooked with your job ad, you don’t lose them with too much clicking and confusion.
- They remove barriers to completion. Job seekers, like everyone today, are busy people. If you put up too many barriers for candidates, then it’s likely that they’ll leave your application process for later (and forget about it) or, worse, not bother applying at all. Easy applications remove all of these barriers, and make it as easy as possible for candidates.
- They remove the risk of technical hiccups. Longer job applications that rely on numerous touchpoints and pages run the risk of technical failure. If that failure isn’t identified immediately, then you can end up with a dead website on your hands without anyone knowing about it. This leads to a poor user experience, and lost applicants. Easy applications remove that risk by keeping the process short and simple.
- They offer a better candidate experience. Because of the four benefits above, giving candidates the option to ”Easy Apply” creates a generally better experience for applicants. This reflects positively on your company and increases the likelihood of hiring top talent.
Of course, fast and simple job applications can cause some issues for recruiters as well. Let’s take a look at some things you should be aware of before deploying easy applications.
Potential negatives of easy applications
Opening up your recruitment ads to easy applications means that you’re likely to receive a deluge of applications of varying levels of quality. That makes sense. If it’s easier to apply, then more people will do it. That principle brings some potential negatives of easy applications that recruiters should keep in mind.
These include:
- Easy applications don’t always allow for tailored applications. That means that you’ll be receiving a lot of generic applications, which may be missing pieces of information that are relevant to your position.
- They enable bulk applications, which may lead to a higher number of applicants than you’re ready for.
- They have the potential to gather more passive than ideal candidates.
- They can skew recruitment metrics like “cost-per-applicant” or “applicant to qualified applicant conversion,” making your sourcing appear less efficient.
- It can often appear informal or, worse, lead to fraudulent applications.
Each of these negatives should be taken into consideration and be addressed when deploying easy applications. Luckily, most of them can be alleviated by using the proper tech stack and processes to handle the heavy lifting.
Tips for streamlining the job-seeking process with easy applications
You can achieve the benefits of easy applications, without so many of the negatives, by following some simple recruitment best practices and using the right tools. As mentioned earlier, the job-seeking process is tedious and deflating. Applicants want it to be easier to find jobs that they’re qualified for and simple for them to apply.
To accomplish both of these, without overloading your hiring team with too many unqualified applicants, follow these tips:
- Use your recruitment ad as your first line of screening. Spend the time early in the hiring process to determine job requirements, must-haves and nice-to-haves, and your ideal candidate persona. Take the time to craft a compelling job ad that conveys these clearly, and showcases your company culture. Done properly, candidates will be able to pre-screen themselves before they hit “Easy Apply”.
- Make sure that everything works on mobile. Candidates today expect the entire job-seeking process to be completed on their mobile devices. Take the time to make sure your application process is mobile-friendly, and you will increase the consistency and volume of qualified candidates who appreciate the positive experience that you offer.
- Ensure you have an ATS that can handle your needs. That means ensuring that your tech stack can handle the volume required from your easy application ads and that you have the keyword parsing set up to accurately shortlist qualified candidates.
A combination of good planning, solid infrastructure, and the right tools will make easy applications that much more effective. When you have all three in place, the volume that you create will be handled seamlessly and automatically, helping you generate an expanded reach and more accurate shortlisting. This combination leads to a reliable inbound engine that you can use to fill open requisitions quickly and reliably.
And, of course, job seekers will thank you for the easy application process.
