The hiring process is one of the most important pillars of employer branding. A candidate-oriented hiring process makes companies even more attractive to new talents and reduces the dropout-rate of applicants. Even the smallest mistakes can cause significant disadvantages for the company by creating frustration among new potential candidates and reducing the number of applicants.
Therefore, it is up to the companies to optimize their recruiting process. The advantages include a larger selection of candidates, strengthening of the employer branding and possible conservation of resources. In order to enjoy these benefits, a company must first know at what point applicants drop out and what mistakes they make.
„Not everyone has to do the same stupid things.“
– Roman Herzog
Competition in the labor market is high and recruiting is more complex than ever. This requires an evolution of the hiring process to stay competitive. In today's blog article, we give an overview of the 10 biggest mistakes that can happen during the hiring process.
1. Bad job advertisements
If your job ad is badly written and doesn't provide the necessary information, potential candidates may bounce. This will decrease your selection of candidates and your suitable candidate will not apply for this job-offer . Make your job ads exciting and include all the necessary information.
2. Complicated signup process
The signup process is the first real point of contact with the candidate and is a crucial factor when it comes to candidate in-flow. After all, if the candidate bounces during the sign-up process, the number of potential applicants drops drastically. According to a study, more than 67% of website visitors leave forms forever when they encounter complications, with only 20% contacting the company in any way. So first impressions are crucial here. Make it as easy as possible for the applicant in the sign-up process to leave a positive impression. Find out how to improve your application process here.
3. Do not require too many documents
If you ask too many questions or require too many documents during registration, or they are cumbersome to upload, this could be the second hurdle for the applicant. Mobile applications are becoming increasingly popular. A study underscores this trend, showing that 76.1% of participants use smartphones for searches and 79% want mobile-optimized job ads. In line with this development, it is therefore important to make the application experience - and thus also the uploading of documents - as simple and mobile as possible. After all, which candidate already has their resume on their smartphone?
4. Unorganized scheduling
If you find a candidate interesting, most people want to get to know him or her better in a first interview. Usually, a first-interview appointment is scheduled by the company. If it doesn’t suit the candidate, he or she must reschedule. Be flexible - let the candidate choose from several time slots, this will save you a constant reshuffling in the schedule and at the same time make it more convenient for your candidates, as they get to make the decision.
5. Lack of company information
This error usually occurs even before the application process. Applicants search for the company and the associated information, but find nothing or find what they are looking for only through laborious searching. Make company information easily accessible to facilitate the search for candidates and actively communicate your corporate culture to the outside world. Tips for a smarter career site can be found here.
6. Bad employer branding
To have a choice of talent, you need to sell your company attractively to applicants. Strengthen your employer branding by creating recognition, communicating company values and showing candidates the benefits of your company. Sell your employer brand and create a positive feeling among candidates. The candidate experience also plays a big role here, as candidates often bounce if it's not designed optimally. To improve this point, it's important to regularly go through the process yourself from the beginning to identify and address any shortcomings. Make it as easy and pleasant as possible for the candidates to guarantee a good inflow.
7. Too long waiting times
Not too much time should pass between the individual application steps. The applicant market is highly competitive and you don't want to lose the ideal candidate because he or she receives or accepts another offer during the long waiting period. Optimize your application process, shorten your response times and improve not only your employer branding but also your applicant inflow.
8. Do not hire under time pressure
Even if the company wants to fill a position as quick as possible, it is not advisable to fill a position carelessly. After all, in the long run, it does not benefit any of the parties involved if an unsuitable person is hired due to time pressure. This also has a positive impact on candidates. As the demand for candidates currently continues to rise, many applicants now know their value. In order to choose a company, candidates want to feel valued by companies - pushing through processes in an unplanned manner is definitely the wrong sign. Take the time to find suitable candidates and introduce the company to the selected candidates. This increases your chance of hiring the right person and improves the candidate's feelings.
9. Lack of availability
Be easily accessible at all times and provide quick responses to applicants. This doesn't mean you have to provide someone to answer emails 24/7. Today's technologies offer bot solutions in addition to FAQs that increase your accessibility to the maximum and provide talent with the accessibility they need across all channels. This accessibility should always be available on mobile as well, since applying via mobile devices is already standard for most candidates.
10. No feedback
Everyone knows this situation - the application is out and then you receive a standard rejection mail. This is neither timely nor a pleasant experience for the candidate.
One way to strengthen your employer branding is to give feedback to unsuitable applicants or integrate them into your talent pool. Referrals are also an amazing way to generate value from the application process. Not only does the company get a bonus from a referral, but so does the candidate, because he or she finds a job faster through a referral and remembers the recommending company very well.
Before we come to the measures with which you can improve your application process right away, here is a summary of the 10 biggest mistakes in the application process:
- Bad job advertisements
- Complicated signup process
- Do not require too many documents
- Unorganized scheduling
- Lack of company information
- Bad employer branding
- Too long waiting times
- Do not hire under time pressure
- Lack of availability
- No feedback
An optimal hiring process "out of the box ready" with MoBerries
MoBerries is a recruiting platform that enables you to make your application process more applicant-friendly. On MoBerries, candidates are matched with suitable jobs and companies find talent that matches their requirements.
With our latest feature - our MoBots, we offer companies an engagement solution for their career site, which allows candidates to quickly and easily find jobs or information of the respective company - at any time of the day through any channel. Thus, we help companies to optimize their application process and strengthen their employer branding.
And this is how MoBerries helps you:
By integrating our Omni channel engagement solution, you enable candidates to easily apply via mobile channels - for example, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Whatsapp. A chatbot requests all the information needed for the application in a simple communication via the respective channel.
Furthermore, by integrating our engagement solution into your career site, you are reachable 24/7 and can thus significantly shorten the general application process beyond your response times. Act in a timely manner and let your candidates decide when and through which channel they want to reach you.
But beyond reachability, our omnichannel engagement solution also provides a great way to stay in touch with your candidates. Using the integrated mobile channels, you can launch re-engagement campaigns at any time and reactivate candidates who have not been hired in the past in a simple and organic way.
Improve your enrollment and application process - with our omni-channel engagement solution.
