2020 was a tough year for businesses, however, 2021 isn’t proving to be much easier for rebuilding. The pandemic led to decreased earnings and increased layoffs. This means thousands of companies are now searching for employees to fill their important positions.
Unfortunately, this now means there are more job openings than people to fill them.
As you can imagine, the increased competition to land great employees can put a serious damper on the hiring process. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to expedite the hiring process and find great, qualified employees. The first step is adopting online job applications.
From increasing your response rate to broadening your search, online recruitment can be a great solution. However, there are a few downsides you’ll need to consider before you jump in. Keep reading to discover the advantages and disadvantages of using online job applications and determine if this approach is right for you.
The Pros of Online Recruitment
First things first, let’s tackle the distinct advantages that using online job applications can have for your business.
Here are the top reasons you should use digital job applications to attract your next employee:
Faster Processing Times
Going through paper applications is a lot of work.
Fortunately, by using an online application, you can actually set certain parameters to speed up processing. This can then reduce the time it takes to find and hire a fantastic employee.
You can set filters to weed out candidates that don’t have the qualifications you are looking for. Advanced tech can then compare and contrast applicants in an easy-to-digest format. This means you can say goodbye to reading hundreds of poor applications for every one qualified candidate.
Consistent Information Collection
Everyone has a different idea of what should go on a resume. This leaves you with a wide range of information to dissect and contrast. What’s more, is that that information may not always line up for accurate comparison.
By using online job applications, you can set specific questions to capture the information you need. This reduces the time you need to spend hunting and searching through resumes for the appropriate answers. You’ll then be able to see applicants’ answers to the same question side by side.
This makes it much easier to compare candidates and choose the best-qualified applicant.
Trackable Data for Future Postings
Have you got multiple positions to fill? One of the perks of using an online recruitment program is your ability to track and analyze hiring data.
By gathering information on what kinds of applicants you attracted and even where they found your job posting, you can customize your approach to hit a more accurate audience with your next posting. This not only helps you improve your chances of finding a great employee but can also save you time and money posting to job boards.
Reduce Incomplete Applications
There’s nothing more frustrating than opening up an application to find it incomplete and messy. It’s safe to say these half-done applications are a clear sign that those employees are not a suitable fit for your business. So why not cut them out from the start?
As you select your questions for the application, you can require certain fields to be ‘mandatory’.
This means that while applicants are applying for a job, they won’t be able to move on without giving you the details you need to make an accurate decision. You can then say goodbye to these incomplete disasters and hello to easy, accurate information gathering.
Wider Pool of Candidates
Remote work opportunities are more in demand than ever before. If you are considering opening up your position for a remote or even partially remote role, online recruitment is a fantastic option.
By opening up your applications to online candidates, you increase your chances of finding a great candidate, even if they are outside your local area. They’ll be more inclined to apply to your position because they don’t have to travel to put their foot in the door.
What’s more, is that the remote world is a serious perk for job seekers. This can help you land the best of the best by standing out above your hiring competitors.
Save Time and Money
Sorting applications, hosting interviews, and onboarding new employees are time and money-intensive. What’s more is that the longer it takes, the more it can cost your company in production.
Online applications can help speed this process up to shorten the time it takes to fill those positions with simple systems.
Pair your online employee applications with a great digital onboarding software such as this one and you’ll have a formula for speed and success!
Automated Notifications to Applicants
As applications pour in, the phone starts ringing. You’ll receive calls from candidates confirming you’ve received their applications. Then it’ll ring again when they haven’t heard anything about their progress.
While these follow-up calls can be good, they consume a lot of your receptionist or HR manager’s time. Beyond this, it can be incredibly awkward and unpleasant to let applicants know they were not successful.
Online employee job applications take this step out of the equation by sending automated confirmation emails to candidates. They’ll know their application made it into your hands and that they’ll hear back soon.
You can then send automated updates to let candidates know when you’ve filled the position. This will reduce the follow-up calls down the road and eliminate that awkward phone call altogether.
Receive Applications After-Hours
Some of the candidates applying for a job with you could still be working for another company. This can make it difficult to pay your location a visit to drop off a paper application if the hours of business overlap with their current role.
By offering online applications, you open up the field to receive those applications from qualified employees already working in similar roles. This group of people could be more qualified, have more experience, and be an overall great candidate that you simply can’t afford to miss out on.
Dynamic Job Postings
If you’ve ever posted your job listing in a newspaper before, you know how difficult it can be to fit all the important information into the tiny ad. This can make it difficult to sell your company to potential candidates and attract relevant applications.
By posting online, you have the chance to really flush out your descriptions and let applicants in on the details of the role.
You can include day-to-day expectations, valued qualifications, and even give them an idea of what your company culture is like. The best part is that they learn all of this before they even hit apply. This not only increased your chances of drawing the right applicants but also decreased unwanted ones.
The Cons of Online Job Applications
While online recruitment holds a lot of benefits for your business, there are cons to choosing this process as well.
Here are the problems you may face with your digital job applications:
Can Places Limits on Applicants
When you only allow online applications for your openings, you do reduce the number of people who can realistically apply. While you do open up your position to a larger audience geographically as we mentioned above, you now cut out anyone who isn’t online from applying.
This not only means people who don’t have internet access or aren’t comfortable online. It also rules out anyone who isn’t using the platform you chose to post with.
While you can reduce this problem by posting to multiple job boards, you still may miss out on the perfect candidate due to this limiting factor.
You Could Miss Out on Great Employees
Just because an applicant doesn’t have a specific degree or work experience title, doesn’t mean they aren’t the perfect person for the role.
Training is a necessary component of any position, no matter how experienced they may be. With this in mind, you may find the person with the right attitude and work ethic to be more valuable than the one who has years of experience. Unfortunately, online job applications can make it easy to miss out on those potentially great employees.
If your filters and requirements are set to narrow the system will boot out applicants who could actually be the perfect fit.
Overwhelming Response
Online job applications are easy to sit down and submit. In fact, many job searchers will send a serious chunk of applications out each time they sit down and hunt.
This means you could end up with an absolutely overwhelming amount of applicants to sift through. While filters help to cut this down, having too many applicants can make it challenging to narrow your list and choose the right candidate.
This could cost your company more time and money than having a smaller amount of high-quality applications to choose from.
Application Fraud
Lying on a resume is pretty common these days. Of course, with interview questions and screening, you can usually tell when the information on an application is not quite right.
However, when you take your search online, there’s no real way to tell if your applications are authentic or fraudulent. In fact, the person applying for your job may not even be the same one listed on the application form.
This can be disastrous for your company and make for complicated employment problems. After all, once you’ve hired a candidate, you’ll need adequate evidence to legally let them go.
Technical Breakdowns
Perhaps the most common concern with applying for a job online is the chance of technical bugs and problems along the way.
You could have the perfect candidate fill out an application and never receive it due to a glitch or submission error. Beyond this, there’s also a chance of communication error. This could cause great potential employees to miss out on an interview or never receive your job offer.
While technology can be a handy feature, we are all but at its mercy when a breakdown or glitch gets in the way.
Personal Data Security Risk
In addition to the technical errors that can stall your hiring process, you’ll also have to keep the risk of a personal data breach in mind.
When you collect personal info in your application, you are responsible for keeping those details private and secure. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hackers out there who rely on things like online job applications to steal personal data.
It’ll be your job to ensure the privacy policies of whatever application software you choose cover you for these circumstances. Beyond this, you run the risk of poor publicity for your company based on unhappy applicants falling prey to identity theft. Yikes!
Impersonal/Informal Approach
Last but certainly not least, using a strictly online platform to receive and evaluate applications takes away that personal impression and professional touch.
Because you’re getting that face-to-face impression of applicants, you’ll have to rely solely on a piece of paper to get to know that person. Of course, this is right next door to impossible.
At the end of the day, applicants can be anyone they want to be on a piece of paper. The real test of character and personality comes from sitting in a room and getting a genuine impression from your candidates. While they may be qualified, you’ll want to ensure your future employees fit the company culture and environment you work so hard to uphold.
Online Recruitment for Your Business
Now that you know the pros and cons of using online job applications for your business, you’re fully equipped to choose the right hiring process for your brand. From the distinct advantages to the risks, we hope this article helps you take on your next hiring journey with confidence.
Want more tips and tricks for your employee recruitment? Check out our other articles to discover everything you need to know about the business world and how to see success in the year ahead.