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25 Mistakes to Scare Away Your Applicants

Christine
Jul 24, 2019 9:12:00 AM

There is an enormous competition for skilled personnel today and you may have already noticed that it is becoming more and more difficult to recruit new employees for your company. This makes it all the more important to optimize your recruiting process and avoid mistakes. In this article we show you the 25 mistakes with which you scare away applicants.

Mistakes Scare away Applicants

With These 25 Mistakes You Are Guaranteed to Scare Your Applicants Away

Demographic change, low unemployment rate and digitalization ... the list goes on and on. This is why it is more important today than ever before to optimally attract and inspire new applicants and to successfully recruit them for your company. Moreover you should avoid mistakes, that risk your recruiting process. In the following list we show you the 25 mistakes that will definitely scare your applicants away:

  1. No mobile optimization. Every person is online these days. Most job seekers use their mobile phones to search for vacancies. So it's terrible if your job advertisement and career page is not designed for mobile use, making it difficult or even impossible for candidates to handle. You might want to take a closer look on your mobile recruiting!
  2. Manuel resume record. It takes time and nerves for an applicant to enter his CV manually in your form. Depending on the length of the CV, the task may take a lot of time. Since he or she may already have a completed CV you lose applicants who do not want to duplicate their work.
  3. Dead end. An interested candidate has landed on your career page - great! And now? If there is no suitable job for him, he will quickly disappear and possibly never visit your website again. You could simply invite him into your talent pool and draw his attention to new suitable vacancies later.
  4. Upload-limit. Your applicant is supposed to submit his CV, cover letter, certificates, photo, work samples and other important documents in a good (legible) quality. Don't put your candidates on the spot and give them the opportunity to submit everything in good quality - without too low limits for their uploads.
  5. Upload-splits. There are various upload options: A field for the resume, a field for the cover letter, a field for the photo, ... and so on. Make it as easy as possible for your candidate to leave their documents. Small and perhaps even insane divisions make this more difficult. Perhaps the candidate would like to submit the documents even in a complete file. Why don’t you let them choose themselves?
  6. No response. Your applicant has invested valuable effort and time in the application - and then he does not receive any confirmation of receipt. On the one hand the candidate is unsure whether his application has arrived and on the other hand he does not receive any (first) appreciation for his effort and work.
  7. Job advertisement is a PDF. A interested person finds your job advertisement in PDF format. And now? There are no links that lead to your website or career page. No button invites him to a talent pool. At this point your candidate finds difficulties in the process to go one step further and breaks it off in the worst case.
  8. Registration. A candidate is on your website and would like to apply. Often a registration is required for the first time. A step that means extra work for your candidate and can make him leave quickly.
  9. Poor readability. Job seekers look at various job advertisements during their search. It is therefore all the more important that you communicate clearly and simply what it is all about. Long nested sentences, incomprehensible technical terms and a complicated way of expressing yourself are less helpful.
  10. Importing data. The ability to have your CV imported so that the information is pulled from the file seems simple at first glance - but can become a real challenge if it just doesn't work. You are guaranteed to lose your applicants here.
  11. None or too many job filters. On a career page, filters are a good way to make it easier for Job seekers to find a suitable job. If you don't offer any - the right job may be lost in the masses. On the other hand, too many filters can complicate the process.
  12. Long loading times. Beautiful career pages, job advertisements and application forms are very important - but: Too long loading times put the person in a waiting position, in which he or she may turn to other things and breaks off the process.
  13. Unclear application process. Your candidate wants to know what happens next! What happens after the application? Is there possibly one interview or even two? In what time frame will the decisions be made? Keep your candidates up to date and communicate clearly about what they can expect!
  14. Too much text. A potential applicant wants to understand what it is about in a few moments. So don't write a huge essay in your job advertisements, but explain what it is all about in just a few sentences or key points!
  15. Spelling mistakes. You expect well-prepared documents from your applicants. Applicants expect the same from you! So be sure to use correct spelling and grammar in order to appeal serious.
  16. Broken links. It's time. An applicant finds a button to be redirected to your application process. And then it happens: The link does not work. In the worst case he doesn't keep on trying to find his way and you lose the candidate who was actually willing to apply.

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  17. No contact person. Who is the application addressed to? Who can an applicant contact with questions? Make sure to indicate a contact person on the career page and job advertisements!
  18. Unclear requirement profile. What do you expect from a candidate? People should be able to see whether they are suitable for a position in just a few seconds. Unclear requirement profiles can be confusing and make it difficult for candidates to answer this question.
  19. Job advertisements not to be found on career page. Job advertisements are often published somewhere on the Internet (e. g. various job boards) - and forgotten. In some circumstances, job seekers may find these advertisements, but will not be able to get any further on your career page - because the job is not advertised anymore . Always make sure that only relevant advertisements are online!
  20. No benefits. There are many companies. There are many job advertisements. Why should a person apply to you? What do you have to offer? Free fruits, flexible working hours or even health offers are advantages that you could should communicate openly to attract candidates.
  21. Ratings. Kununu, Glassdoor, Stepstone ... various sites present employer ratings. Especially if a candidate doesn't know a company yet, he takes a look at your ratings. The chances for an application are definitely worse with negative evaluations. So take care of your image!
  22. Bad design. The design of your job ads and career page should be appealing for potential applicants. For example unreadable fonts or inappropriate photos can be dissuasive and may appear unprofessional.
  23. Not to be found. One of the worst mistakes you can make: You create a job advertisement - but it is not even seen by anyone, because it is just not to be found. In job boards, for example, the right keyword or job title is an important aspect. If a person is looking for "Online Marketing Manager" he will not find your job advertisement when it says "Digital Marketing Guru"! Optimize your job ads on search engines. You can read more about this here.
  24. Employer branding. How do candidates and employees see your company? How would they describe it to another person? This is your employer branding, a very important and challenging task. Via website, career page, talent pool, social media, job advertisements etc. you influence your employer branding and the perception of your potential applicants. Would you like to find out more? Read more about the topic here.
  25. No relationship building. You may already have a few candidates in your talent pool. At this point don't forget about your Candidate Relationship Management to build sustainable relationships for recruiting candidates from your talent pool when needed. There are various possibilities to choose from: Newsletters, job alerts, event invitations, etc.

From job advertisements to talent pool: Talention supports you throughout the entire recruiting process with all relevant tools you need. Request a free demo and we'll show you how Talention can help you. Request a demo now.

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