The Value of “Easy Apply” in Recruitment

Key Takeaways:

• Easy Apply streamlines and simplifies the job application process, allowing candidates to apply quickly without navigating through lengthy forms. 
• Easy Apply enhances mobile accessibility, enabling job seekers to apply using their smartphones. This convenience can lead to an increase in the number of applications organizations receive.
• Easy Apply helps foster a positive reputation for the company. Candidates appreciate a faster, more seamless application process, which improves their perception of the organization and makes them more likely to recommend it to others.

When attracting quality talent, the last thing any organization wants is a cumbersome job application process. Lengthy or complex applications often lead to abandonment, wasting the effort spent on candidate engagement. Easy Apply solutions streamline the process, enhancing the candidate experience.

What is Easy Apply?

As its name suggests, Easy Apply is a job application alternative that enables candidates to apply for positions while bypassing the many questions typically asked in a traditional application. Also sometimes called “one-click” apply, sites like LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and Indeed offer it as an option for applying directly on the job site with a resume or LinkedIn profile. Instead of 30 minutes or more, applying takes seconds.

Key Benefits of Easy Apply Solutions

A lengthy application process is not only a candidate's pet peeve; it can also mean the difference between a healthy applicant conversion rate and a mounting pile of abandoned applications. Consider these findings:

• • • In an informal Twitter survey conducted by CareerBuilder, more than 78% of respondents said they preferred a one-click application vs 21% who said they preferred a longer one.
    • A Hays survey found that 73% of applicants said they would abandon a job application if it took longer than 15 minutes.
    • Formatting materials for applicant tracking systems (ATS) and following a lengthy application process were among the top frustrations reported by candidates in a FlexJobs/Job Hunt survey.

• • • Higher Application Completion Rates: Candidates are more likely to complete their applications with a one-button process, resulting in more applications per job post for organizations.
    • Easier Application From Smartphones: Many job seekers use their smartphones to apply for jobs but often lack a saved resume on that device. Easy Apply lets them submit profiles or resumes without switching to a desktop.
    • A Positive Company Reputation: Easy Apply offers a faster, user-friendly experience, improving an applicant’s opinions of the company and its hiring process.

Tip: Since applicants may exist in the job site dashboard or a recruiter’s email inbox, what will be the process for enabling hiring managers to reach out to candidates?A strong employer brand helps to boost candidate quantity and quality. Organizations can elevate their reputation and reach more target candidates with a compelling employee value proposition (EVP) and an effective brand strategy, organizations can elevate their reputation and reach more target candidates.

Ways to Maximize the Impact of Easy Apply

Though Easy Apply tools aren’t new, they’ve grown in popularity because of the convenience they offer candidates who are applying to several opportunities at once. They also benefit organizations in high-volume hiring mode and recruiters seeking to improve their applicant conversion rates.

Despite its many benefits, Easy Apply is most helpful to organizations when used in conjunction with recruitment best practices and integrations. Otherwise, talent acquisition teams risk becoming overwhelmed with a deluge of applications from unqualified and poor-fit candidates. 

Steps to Unlock the Full Value of Easy Apply

1. Integrate Easy Apply with the ATS

Bypassing the questions typically on a longer application, Easy Apply captures far less candidate information for recruiters to review. Some sites allow candidates to attach a resume, but others capture only name, contact details, past and present job titles, education, and skills. Applicants coming from LinkedIn’s Easy Apply solution may have the individual’s profile photo and headline included. 

A slimmed-down application requires recruiters to do more legwork when learning about a candidate and can create some inefficiencies in the applicant assessment process. Easy Apply applications typically live in job site dashboards or the recruiter’s email, not within the ATS.

Conversely, a well-integrated ATS enables recruiters to have the best of both worlds. They can receive more applicants with Easy Apply, and still collect detailed information about each candidate. One mechanism that makes this possible is the post URL feature. Post URL allows recruitment teams to track which job sites applications are coming from and funnel more detailed candidate information directly into the ATS. From there, recruiters can review more complete candidate profiles.

Tip: Easy Apply capability is a key characteristic of a candidate-driven ATS. Recruitics’ recruitment technology solutions are designed to help organizations optimize ATS features and improve the candidate experience.

2. Enhance Job Descriptions

Since Easy Apply tools ask fewer questions (including no follow-up questions about experience or skills), recruitment teams must include more details in job postings to prevent an excessive number of unqualified applicants. This is essential because almost half of applicants fail to meet basic job requirements. 
Creating clarity around desired experiences and qualifications will help prospective applicants determine if they are a good fit before hitting “Apply.” Areas to enhance in job descriptions include:

• • • Job duties
    • Working hours and possible shift schedules
    • Job location, e.g., hybrid with three days per week on-site
    • Technical skills and systems knowledge
    • Experience in specific settings or industries
    • Salary range and compensation opportunity

Tip: Leaving pay details out of job postings can significantly limit the number of applicants a job receives. A recent survey found that 44% of candidates wouldn’t apply to a job that didn’t include salary information. 

3. Align Applications with Candidate Engagement Activities

Though Easy Apply candidates don’t enter the ATS or candidate relationship management (CRM) systems like traditional applicants, talent acquisition teams still need a way to communicate with and engage those applicants as they would any other applicant. Questions for your team to consider include:

• • • Initial Outreach: How will Easy Apply candidates receive the initial communication letting them know about potential next steps?
    • Hiring Manager Access: Since applicants may exist in the job site dashboard or a recruiter’s email inbox, what will be the process for enabling hiring managers to reach out to candidates?
    • Ongoing Engagement: Is there a way to ensure Easy Apply candidates receive periodic updates about similar job opportunities, career events, and other relevant information?

Answering these questions depends, in part, on the level of CRM integration and the current candidate engagement mechanisms in place. With the right technology and planning, talent acquisition teams can ensure all candidates, including those who opted for “easy apply”, receive the correct level of outreach and engagement.

Tip: An effective candidate engagement strategy increases the organization’s ability to nurture talent pipelines, engage current applicants, and re-engage past applicants. AI-powered talent engagement technology makes it even easier with optimized career sites, landing pages, and video content.

4. Integrate Easy Apply with Programmatic Job Advertising

Using Easy Apply in conjunction with programmatic job advertising enables recruitment teams to efficiently invest job advertising dollars while simultaneously managing high numbers of easy-apply/one-click applications. 
To achieve these benefits, it’s necessary to bridge the gap between the ATS and the applicant tracking challenges created by Easy Apply. Ways to accomplish this include:

• • • Utilizing an integrated ATS, such as Bullhorn or iCIMS, that integrates directly with job board Easy Apply tools
      Importing easy applies into a database that uploads to the ATS.
    • Managing applicants within each job board platform (may be problematic as recruiters have to manage each platform separately).
    • Sending Easy Apply resumes directly to a recruiter’s email address (not ideal because recruiters would then have to enter details into the ATS manually).

Using one of the above options, organizations can apply a programmatic solution to ensure job ads are delivered to target audiences according to location, budget, and strategic recruitment objectives. When high numbers of one-click applications begin rolling in, recruitment marketers can rely on the programmatic algorithm to start, stop, and redirect job advertising dollars based on performance, number of applications received, and many other options.

Tip: Programmatic advertising is essential to a successful recruitment marketing strategy. When enhanced with AI and powerful analytics, it helps organizations reach even more target candidates where they are in real time.

Unlocking Easy Apply's Full Potential

Pairing Easy Apply with current hiring practices attracts more applicants and streamlines the process. Despite challenges, recruitment technology and engagement solutions help maximize its value without sacrificing candidate quality.

—-

For help getting started, the team at Recruitics is here to help! Recruitics’ AI-powered recruitment marketing and candidate engagement solutions help organizations improve the candidate experience and reach their hiring goals.