Tip Or Treat - Don't *Scare* Your Applicants Away with a Bad Hiring Process

Happy Halloween from ApplicantPro! While it’s the season for all things scary and spooky, we want to be sure you’re not scaring your job applicants away! We found four ways your company might be scaring your applicants away and four ways to fix them!

Check what you might be doing, and how you can fix it below!

Don't Scare Away Your Applicants!

1. Too Long of an Application

The myth tends to be that if your company has a long application process, it helps weed out people who aren’t dedicated and wouldn’t really want the job, but research has shown it’s the opposite! When you have a long application process, applicants who are desperate and sometimes under qualified are the only ones willing to complete your application.

One way that ApplicantPro recommends fixing this problem is with a two-step application. The first stage of the application is just some general information only gathers the absolute necessary information you would need to screen the applicants. Then after the first round of screening a second stage of the application is sent that gathers more information such as job skills, education and past experience.

2. Overstating Your Job Requirements

It's easy to get carried away with required skills when writing a job ad, but when that happens it usually scares away some applicants that are highly qualified for the job.

When writing your job ad sit down and make a list of job requirements, and then really ask yourself if each one is absolutely required for the position or if it’s simply a "nice to have". If you come across something that would be "nice to have" but isn’t necessarily a requirement, for example 2 years of experience even though you offer onsite training, take it out of the job ad.

3. A Legal Job Description or a Jargon Full Job Ad

Sometimes sitting down and reading a very technical job description can be scary and overwhelming to your applicants. We suggest the KISS method when it comes to job ads – Keep It Simple, Stupid. If you’re company is adamant about having a legal job description, add it as a link at the end of the job ad, that way you’re still covered legally, but the job ad is still applicant friendly.

Another way we see job ads go wrong is when they’re full of industry jargon. While the industry you work in might have special terms for different positions we find it best if you just state the most known position label. One that we tend to see a lot is a different name for a customer service rep. While your company, or your industry may call them "client success managers" or "account managers" these high level terms might deter applicants.

4. A Boring Job Ad

If you are writing a super boring job ad, the applicants are less likely to finish reading it. If they don’t finish reading it they most likely will not apply. Rather than making a big long list of boring requirements for your job ad, make it a fun and exciting way to showcase your company! Talk about the perks, and the company culture, and have it read more like a story of what a day in the life of that role will be.

Take a look at your application process and make sure you’re not inadvertently scaring your applicants away. If your application process is too long, or you’re interested in how you can write a better job ad, reach out to ApplicantPro today and we’ll set you up with our excellent team of job ad writers, and help you set up a two stage application today!