Within every recruiting process you have specific moments in your recruiting process where candidates fall off.  They may fall off for a variety of reasons: they may be unqualified for the position, be uninterested in the position, the apply process could be too long or broken, they may drop off to return later and a number of other reasons.

It’s important for recruiting organizations to track and identify at what stage in the recruitment process these candidates are dropping off and most importantly, look at ways to limit these drop-offs during your recruiting process.  Track these processes with real-time recruiting metrics that can help you easily quantify where bottlenecks are cropping up in your apply process.

When looking at your recruitment marketing funnel there are a few key action steps that are needed for candidates to become applicants in your ATS system.  Let’s take a closer look at these steps and how we can measure & improve the recruiting process to reduce the number of candidates that are dropping off.

JOB TITLE

 While some may think that job titles are worthless, this is the first major hurdle you need to jump in terms of attracting a candidate’s interest.  As candidates are searching through job boards and other job sites, your job title is the first thing they see that brings them into your recruitment funnel.  If it doesn’t pass the eye test, you will not get enough candidates to click through.

When you know a change is needed: When looking at the recruitment marketing metrics you collect, you need to check the “Views” metric.  This metric will tell you how many candidates have clicked on the job title to view your job description.  If you see this number as low, you may want to try different job titles and measure the difference in the amount of candidates.

Please also note that determine “low” views will change on the type of job position.  A very specialized role will usually see less views than a more common role.  Compare views metrics for similar roles in determining if changes are needed to your job title.

Tips for Improving:  While job title is usually dictated moreso by the hiring manager and / or the procedures in your HR organization, you may have leniency in your job titles that can help in recruiting.  While it may be common sense, make sure to include important keywords such as “Marketing”, “Sales”, “Java” that match the key skills needed for the position.  Most importantly, make sure that your title matches your job ad and is not misleading.

JOB AD MESSAGING

Once a candidate clicks on a job title, they are brought to your job ad.  At this point, they will quickly read the description to determine if it’s the right fit for them.  This process happens quickly and this will be where probably the most drop-off will occur.

When you know a change is needed: You know when your job ad messaging is lacking appeal, when you have a lot of “Views” of the job ad but very few “Apply Clicks”.  When this happens, candidates are viewing the job ad but don’t find the job compelling enough to actually apply for the job.  This could be for a variety of reasons but is a good indicator that you may want to take a look at your job ad.

Tips for Improving: When writing your job ad messaging focus on tailoring your messaging to your ideal candidate.  Make sure to sell your company as well as sell the position as succinctly as possible.  Less is more and bullet points are welcome.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Candidates see your job ad and decide they want to apply.  They enter your application form via your ATS and begin the apply process.  However, at some point in the process they drop off before clicking the final “Submit” button to become and applicant in your apply process.

When you know a Change is needed: When you see that you have a high number of “Apply Clicks” and a much lower number of “Applicants”.  This shows that candidates are entering your application only not to actually finish the application for one reason or another.  The first step is to check if your application is working correctly.

Tips for Improving: Depending on your ATS, you will ever different levels of control over your application process.  The key is to continuously evaluate and know what the candidate experiences when applying for a position.  Go through your application process on a monthly basis and try to take out misleading or unneeded steps.  And most importantly make sure all links are working properly.  You’d hate to lose candidates just because your application is broken.

Every step in your recruitment marketing funnel provides another hurdle for candidates to jump over in order to become an applicant in your ATS.  The key is to make it easier for candidates to make it to the next step and include hurdles that are necessary for screening and filtering the top qualified candidates.

Originally posted on the SmashFly Recruitment Technology Blog.