Swapping quality for quantity?

Last week, LinkedIn announced they had launched a new ‘plug in’ that would enable job seekers to apply more easily for job opportunities. All you do is click ‘apply with LinkedIn’ and your LinkedIn profile page is sent off the employers.

I am sure I’m not alone in thinking there are more than a few problems with this concept.

An employer is looking for someone to fill a specific role at their company. They design an application form to extract the information they want to know, in addition to the applicant’s CV, to screen the candidate effectively. They have specifically designed that application form, complete with questions that if answered incorrectly will automatically discount that applicant, to ensure that they find an appropriate group of candidates. By having this application form, they want to make sure that the candidate who is applying wants to take the time and effort it takes to fill in this application form as it shows their enthusiasm for the role.

Introduce the ‘apply with LinkedIn’ button.

Suddenly, people’s LinkedIn profiles are popping up in the Recruitment Manager’s inbox, 80% of whom are completely unqualified or unsuitable for the role. There is no screening process that they go through; they simply clicked the button on the page. Also, from my experience, some people’s profiles don’t always contain that much relevant information and don’t always fill out everything. Some people’s employment history only goes back so far, some people haven’t put their employment history at all – there are no dates of birth, no addresses, no email addresses, no phone numbers. How would you contact the applicant should they prove to be suitable?

The LinkedIn apply button also lends itself quite dangerously to applications ‘on a whim’. A candidate is browsing jobs and, because it is so quick and simple, clicking the application button for 30 jobs in the time it would have taken them to do just one application form. Surely it gets to a point where the candidate is barely even taking the time to properly read the job description or research whether they’d want to be part of the company, so easy is the application process.

By having the LinkedIn ‘plug-in’ on a job application, is the company in question merely swapping candidate quality for candidate quantity?

Comment by Karen Rehn on August 4, 2011 at 12:04pm: I agree, HH Staffing gets slammed here when we post a job for a position with 70% -80% of people who just sent their resumes to just send it...they in no way have the qualifications to apply or any abilities to do the job - big time waster sorting through those piles.

Comment by Emily Stevenson on August 5, 2011 at 4:47am: Thanks for your comment - I don't know if it's just me but if a candidate cannot be bothered to take the time to fill in an application form for a role, then they don't really want the role enough. I think it's just encouraging applicants to apply for as many things as possible rather than take the time to apply for roles they really want.

Comment by Ben on August 5, 2011 at 6:22am: Hi Emily, Interesting post. I have my concerns about the Apply with LinkedIn button also, many of them mirror yours. In principle I think it's a great idea in terms of the "candidate journey" and simplicity from their perspective however I'm concerned by the additional layer of screening and admin etc at the recruiters side of the fence when their departments are already usually time and resources poor.

As it currently stands, (and I’m not suggesting for a second this isn't going to change as the function develops) but one thought process I currently have is:

"Okay, so you want me to apply with this LinkedIn button."

"Then the chances are you're going to contact me to say, thanks for applying with LinkedIn, please send me your CV"

"Hang on a sec, why didn't I just send you my CV in the first place and save us both a whole heap of time and remove a tier from your recruitment process?"

I have other initial issues about the Apply Button but could write a whole blog post of my own about it........hang on, maybe I might???

Yes, in future the CV might die. When most folks are on LinkedIn (and although the numbers are impressive [currently acquiring 2 new members a second] let us not forget that "most" aren't... Some will argue, "yet").

And when "most" are on they'll need profiles completed in as much details as currently contained on their CV (some believe this may never happen)

And yes, in the future the whole interview process might take place over video conferencing via cameras on our watches... But these days are quite a way away.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that when LinkedIn’s apply button is set up in such a way that it actually removes a layer from a process as opposed to adds to it that I can see it being a huge benefit.

Comment by Emily Stevenson on August 5, 2011 at 6:51am: Sounds like you will write a blog post on this! Thanks for the comment, Ben - I think at the moment we all feel pretty much the same about this plug-in. It seems to just be a bit of a admin hassle and a needless addition of work to a recruitment process..

Comment by Ben on August 5, 2011 at 6:54am: I think I just did... in your comments section ;-) No need to write another one. There's already so much out there on the topic. I may have missed the boat on this one.

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