A good example of a complete waste of time – Job application websites

I often wonder how those non-user friendly job application websites were developed. Are there any human beings behind them? Have those website developers ever applied for a job on this kind of website? I doubt it. It’s extremely frustrating to submit an application which takes at least 15 to 30 minutes if the system is working, or might even take an hour if it’s not. If you’ve previously applied for a job with the same company you might even have to remember your user ID and password! If your previous application was made some time ago you will have difficulty remembering this information. If you’re actively looking for a job you will probably apply for at least 3 to 5 jobs per day, so you can waste a significant amount of time on applications every day.

Let’s look at different examples of how you can apply for a job:

Version A: You simply send your CV to the given e-mail address.

Experience from the applicant’s point of view: Painless, time spent maximum 2 minutes.

Version B: You apply via LinkedIn, so you just click on “Apply”, then “Submit”.

Experience from the applicant’s point of view: Painless, time spent maximum 2 minutes.

Version C: You apply via a company’s job application website.

Experience from the applicant’s point of view: Painful, it takes between 15 and 60 minutes.

Who benefits from companies’ job application websites? Definitely not the applicant. Do HR or recruiters use the information received via their job application websites at all, or do they simply open the attached CV anyway? If a recruiter uses all of the tool’s features such as tracking, filtering, reporting, automated messages, etc. then it could be beneficial. But again, who is benefiting? The applicant spends a significant amount of time in submitting an application, then he or she simply receives a generated e-mail saying “Thank you for your application – we will get back to you”.   The applicant often doesn’t hear any more from the company so he or she has another disappointing experience.   On the other hand, the applicant might immediately receive an e-mail saying “you don’t fit”. This is a great feature (for the recruiter) as the filter immediately identifies the “don’t fit candidates”. However, it’s possible that the applicant has simply clicked on or chosen the wrong button while completing the application, because he or she couldn’t decide what was applicable for him or her. The company could lose an applicant with wonderful talent, purely because of the system they use and because they think this is the easiest way for them to identify good fit candidates.

Who is the customer here? Is the company itself its own customer? Some companies strive to make such applications user-friendly for themselves without considering whether they are user-friendly for the applicants. This is an interesting approach. Shouldn’t it be the other way round? They invest tremendous amounts of time and money in developing and upgrading these applications which don’t add any value to the customer. They want best in class applicants and employees, don’t they? So why don’t they invest in customer friendly applications nor have a manual process in place, instead of spending millions on applications which don’t have any value and are a complete waste of time from the applicant’s point of view?  If they don’t do this, companies might miss out on applicants with excellent skills who simply don’t have the time or patience to apply via such websites. Maybe those people who have time do apply… but are those applicants necessarily the best?

Again, if you’ve replied to a company’s job ads previously and you are somehow able to remember your user ID and password (or request a new one or register again if you are very enthusiastic), you probably have to update a lot of information including personal data such as your phone number, address, marital status etc. as well as uploading a new CV and adding all new relevant data to the website – data which will most probably not be read by anyone, as they simply open your CV. My personal favorite is to fill in all educational and work experience information (company name, position, date from – to, responsibilities, etc.). This is pointless as all this information is clearly already in your CV!  If you are over the age of 22 then you have to spend at least a half an hour filling in or correcting data which the system has automatically generated wrongly!

How frustrating it is when you conscientiously apply for a job and dedicate half an hour of your valuable time only to receive a “Thanks, but you don’t fit” automated e-mail 5 minutes later.

Do you prefer to apply to those companies where you simply have to send your CV or click on “apply/submit” on LinkedIn which automatically sends all relevant information including your CV to the company? How simple is that? I prefer this!  It’s quick and time effective, there’s no frustration, it’s professional and it benefits both the company and the applicant.

It’s very noticeable how some companies operate with the human touch while others don’t make it a priority at all.  Many people these days will judge a company on how helpful and user-friendly their website is. Management or stakeholders sometimes tend to think that those things are not important but they are.  Their company’s reputation is at stake.

I tend to apply first to those companies which only request a CV; for the rest of them, I first save the job on my computer and then decide later on if I should apply or not. I don’t apply for at least 50% of these, as I don’t want to waste my time. People usually spend time updating their CV continuously so there is no need for additional wasteful activity. Why do applicants have to spend time correcting the application tool’s defects? Is this right? Doesn’t the applicant (candidate, potential employee) matter? One candidate can share a negative experience with others or discourage others from applying for a job with a company.

It has never ever happened that any company to whom I applied has contacted me some months or years later, telling me that they have a suitable position for me. It simply doesn’t happen. So why do they have a database and keep all applicants’ entire records if they are never going to use them again?  They are causing waste as well, in the form of excessive inventory (storage space). Wouldn’t it be simpler to get a CV, check it and if doesn’t fit then after a certain length of time (e.g. 3 months) simply delete it? For HR professionals (including talent management), it should take no more than 2 minutes to screen a CV.  It takes less time than it does to log in to an application.

Try to find a solution which is best for the company and for the applicants as well! Don’t forget how important user experience and the human touch are.