What do jobseekers expect from the job application process?

Skills shortages are commonplace, meaning organisations need to prioritise talent attraction and retention in order to remain competitive. Reviewing your job application process is a good first step to take when evaluating your current employee experience and identifying areas for improvement.

Jobseekers use application and interview processes as a way of assessing a company’s employee value proposition (EVP), which encompasses aspects like company culture, opportunities for professional development, ways of working, sustainability commitments, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policies.

The latest research from our What Workers Want report reveals that more than half (59%) of Irish professionals have had been deterred or almost deterred from a prospective employer because of a poor interview experience. Jobseekers commonly experience poor communication, unprepared interviewers and a general lack of clarity and structure during interviews.

What do professionals want and expect from the job application process?

• Salaries included on job adverts
• An insight into an organisation’s culture and work environment
• A seamless application experience

Salaries included on job adverts

Jobseekers expect to see salaries included on job adverts before they decide whether to engage with the application process, so simply stating you provide a ‘competitive salary’ just won’t cut it anymore.

Our What Workers Want report shows that 82% of professionals will only consider applying to organisations that disclose salary information on their job adverts. If you don’t currently include details of your salaries on job adverts, then you could be losing out on top talent. Take a look at our Ireland Salary & Recruiting Trends guide to make sure you’re pitching your salaries right, compared to other organisations in your sector.

An insight into an organisation’s culture and work environment

A job description consisting of the salary and a list of responsibilities is not sufficient to attract the right candidates in today’s market. Applicants are keen to gain an understanding during the application process of what it’s like to work for your company and assess whether this aligns with their values and career aspirations. EVPs are becoming an increasingly important consideration for jobseekers – our research indicates that 68% of professionals would only apply for a job with an organisation that has a clear EVP, an increase of 11% from 2018.

Mismatches of expectations between employees and employers are surprisingly common and the financial implications of these mis-hires for organisations can be substantial. The main reasons that employees leave a job within their first year include training not being provided as expected (43%), incorrect job advert content (37%) and mismatched expectations for the role (28%). Communicating elements of your EVP throughout the application process, including professional development opportunities, work-life balance and commitments to DE&I and sustainability, can ensure you attract applicants who align with your company’s culture and values.

Through conducting employee engagement surveys, you can find out what people like about working for your organisation. You can even feature comments from employees on your website, which allows jobseekers to understand your organisation better and determine whether they’d be a good fit for a role with you.

A seamless application experience

It’s crucial that your job application process is as streamlined and engaging as possible, since jobseekers often evaluate an organisation based on the application experience. Professionals may view a lengthy and convoluted recruitment process as a reflection of a poor employee experience within an organisation.

At the start of the application process, jobseekers want to know how many stages there’ll be, what they’ll be asked to do and how long they can expect to wait for a decision, so you need to communicate these points from the outset. After a successful interview, our report shows that 47% of job applicants would wait for 24 hours after a verbal offer to receive a written offer of a role and a further 45% would wait for up to a week.

To ensure all applicants have a positive job application experience with your organisation, it’s important to provide feedback to as many people as possible, even if this consists of a short email. Only just over half of organisations are doing this already, so providing feedback to all applicants could help enhance your brand reputation by demonstrating your respect for other’s time.

Get access to our What Workers Want 2024 report today to learn more about what jobseekers expect when applying for roles. You’ll also find recommendations for how to improve the job application process in your organisation.