Application forms are the go-to tool for recruiters to discover top talents, build qualified talent pools, and have a sense of assurance that the candidate that they are going to move forward within the hiring process is worth the time and effort. However, as much good as an applicant form can bring, it can also cause distress for you and the applicant.
An Appcast study found that 92% of job seekers who clicked APPLY for an open position didn’t follow through and left the application process incomplete. Whether it’s the fear of not being able to answer a complicated question appropriately or just the sheer length of the applicant form, there can be several reasons why job-seekers choose to abandon the application process (sometimes even for their preferred company and job role). Through this blog, we will help you with some foundational tips that you can use to develop better vacancy applicant forms for any job role.
Why Use a Job Application Form?
Job ad landing pages or career pages, instead of simply accepting a resume, it’s always a plus to create an applicant form instead. Specifically, when 70% of applications lie in their resume (Resumelab). Although a CV is a great place to learn about a candidate, it’s the applicant form that delivers more insights and specifics into the compatibility of the job seeker to the job role and organization.
When preparing a job application form, a recruiter must understand that it’s more than an element of the preliminary steps in the hiring process. With a tailored form that standardizes candidate information collection, the form helps in reducing hiring biases and delivers a level playing field for all applicants. The applicant form also helps in shaping the employer brand by showcasing a level of professionalism and sincerity with a streamlined approach to equity in the recruitment process.
When it comes to creating an application form, it’s necessary to note that you are dealing with personal information. Therefore, falling in line with the legal requisites and compliance needs of the job market is also a factor to consider. Your focus must be on collecting the right information by asking questions relevant to the job role and specific to the particular stage of the process i.e. application. Respecting a candidate's time and effort, you must ensure that the application data isn’t being manipulated or used inappropriately. Here, a recruitment software can come in handy. The right set of tools can check your form to confirm their compliance with legal requirements and data protection regulations like GDPR.
5+ Tips to Create Better Applicant Forms
Keep it simple
An applicant form is meant to gather candidate information. You aren’t going to use it to make the final decision of hiring or rejecting a candidate. You also don’t want to scare away the candidate with complex questions that demand long, essay-like, answers. So, keep it simple. The longer your application form is, the less qualified candidates you will receive. Spend time contemplating which questions you absolutely need to use in the form and which can be kept for later rounds in the process. A simple and effective vacancy form is the better way to go. Moreover, a Hubspot analysis of 40,000 landing page forms displayed that forms with the highest conversions (25%) had just 3 fields, followed by 5 fields (21%).
Ask relevant questions
Keeping the form simple doesn’t mean not asking the right questions. The primary goal of using an applicant form is to find quality candidates who have the skills required to finish the set job role. Therefore, instead of vague and common questions, be specific. This way irrelevant candidates will automatically drop off and truly interested applicants will move forward. For example – if you are looking for a UI/UX developer, instead of asking – What is your understanding of prototyping, ask them a use case question that not only tests their understanding of prototyping tools but also their application. This grows more relevant when you do high-volume hiring.
Keep it tidy
Although it’s a form, not a job ad that needs to be aesthetically pleasing, you must still put some effort into keeping it tidy. After all, first impressions do matter. Enhanced visibility of your form can also boost candidate response rate and lead the applicants to finish the form. Work on developing a clear and professional-looking form with standardized font sizes and types. Always go for a readable font that maintains clarity in smaller sizes, for example – Calibri or Verdana with a font size ranging between 11 and 15 points.
Grammatical errors and complex sentences can also be red flags for candidates and reflect badly on the employer brand. Hence, use tools like Grammarly to ensure that the content of your form is grammatically sound. With these aspects implemented, you can develop an applicant form that’s both functionally accurate and visually appealing, at the same time.
Comply with privacy policy
In order to build trust and develop a sense of security, complying with privacy policies is a must. When creating questions, you must consider adhering to regulatory requirements set by the governing bodies of the particular state. By doing so, you confirm that the applicant data collected is being protected and handled responsibly and transparently. Some of the steps you can take can be – obtaining explicit consent for data collection, ensuring data is securely stored, and allowing applicants to access or delete their information upon request. You must also inform and take appropriate content from the applicant if required.
Make it mobile-friendly
Appcast explains that 67% of job applications were completed on a mobile device in 2021, this is a rise from 51% in 2019. Looking at the trend, we can confirm that the number has only gone up. The new-age job-seekers i.e. millennials and Gen Z are more active on job boards like LinkedIn. They prefer the ease and accessibility that mobile devices bring in and choose to apply for jobs via the same. Therefore, your application form must be mobile-friendly to reach maximum potential candidates.
Don’t forget to thank
Once the candidate has completed the application process, greeting them with a thank you message, either on the same page or via email can act as a confirmation and a gesture of good candidate experience. In addition to greeting, you must also provide details like the approximate time the organization will take to review and revert and a brief on the next steps in the process. You can also include links to preparatory resources like how to prepare for an interview round in the mail.
Identify Quality Applicants faster with Skima AI
Once you have gathered all data information via CV and applicant forms, the next step is to screen this information to identify the groups of suitable candidates who can move further in the hiring process. Executing this manually or using retro, keyword-based, parsers can jeopardize your hiring strategy by delivering inaccurate results.
Skima AI works on highly trained machine learning models and employs artificial intelligence to effectively screen your candidate pool to pinpoint the qualified applicants, suitable for a particular job role. Instead of keywords, Skima AI employs multiple data points and prepares candidate personas to execute the complex task of picking the right candidate for a role. With Skima’s AI Matching Score, you can visualize every candidate in a ranked format between 0 and 100 depending on their suitability for the job.
End Note
An applicant form is a useful tool that every recruiter and hiring manager must employ in their hiring practices. It provides key insights into the candidate that resumes can’t deliver. Applicant forms also assist you in making more informed decisions about picking the right candidates for the next steps. Use an applicant form wisely to see an increase in applicant form compilation, better candidate experience, and more quality candidates.
All the best!
