Candidates Are Quiet Quitting Your Job Applications

While most of the content on our blog is for recruiters, this one is written from the perspective of a candidate on the hunt for their next opportunity. Hopefully you will find some insights or refreshers that shed light on your own challenges and opportunities to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

When you realize that the job you have is no longer for the long run, it’s time to start looking. You might ask around, you may have a few target companies in mind, but regardless of where you start one thing is true: few people apply to one job and then wait around to see if they get it.

Most of the time when looking for a new job, you aren’t applying to just one place – you’re going to increase your odds of getting hired by applying to many jobs. And that means a lot of searching, researching and applying.

After the first arduous application (create a login, 40 questions, pinch and zoom, etc), you already know that the biggest hurdle to getting your next job is going to the application process.

Scrolling through job boards, such as Indeed, I see a job I’m interested in. Most of the time, here is how that process will go:

• I see the job and I have to click to apply on the company site

• The first job I select, I have to create a profile (but after that I don’t have to)

• A new window in my browser opens

• I’m redirected to the company site

• I have to select ‘Apply’ again (between 1-3 more times) that I want to apply for the job

• I have to create a login to complete an application

• I have to agree to terms and conditions (sometimes for the ATS and not even the company)

• I then have to complete the application

• Most of my autofills will fail and I will have to enter even the most trivial information that my browser stores, again

You might be thinking to yourself, “Wow, that is an obnoxious amount of steps”, or you might be saying, “That’s not too bad, if you want the job you’ll do it!”

The problem is, I’m not only applying for this job. This process is continuous. With each experience worse than the one before it. My phone can’t even remember my passwords because they are swiftly replaced with the next (but it thinks it knows because hey, it has seen Workday before).

Through my process, I do get some Easy Apply options where I can quickly put in my basic information and click submit. Those are so easy, at times, I forget I have even applied to those companies. And when those companies do respond it’s to my Indeed email, that I rarely remember to check.

And then there are the chatbots. I have to apply through a chatbot where I have to answer each question as they come. Some of them are pretty good, but others get stuck on certain answers if they are unexpected or the chatbot doesn’t have all the information mapped properly. Try living on an Air Force Base, or having an overseas address. And no clear workaround.

Then SMS (text messaging) kick in.

By this point, I have about 15 browser tabs open, I have created ten logins, and have lost my original Indeed search in the shuffle of all of the new tabs. I’m getting bombarded with text messages to finish the application I started before quitting my search for the day.

But what kills me, is there is a solution. A Talent Acquisition Automation Platform that sits between the candidate and your TA tech stack, emulating companies application on the job sites’ Easy Applies. How does it help?

1. Your candidates don’t leave the job site they are applying on. This means they don’t get redirected and in some cases have to create an account before applying (which has a 95% drop off rate).

2. They complete your full application, knock out questions, and EEO questions.

3. Your organization will get 2X-5X more applications by adding the Easy Apply.

4. Mobile first applications get more completed mobile applicaitons.

5. It’s not just Indeed – the top job sites all support this better approach.

6. Happiness. So much happiness.Your candidates are happy, and your recruiters are happy.

   You can learn all about the Talent Acquisition Automation Platform in our latest report.