The hiring of non-digitalized workers is essential to the functioning of key sectors like healthcare, transportation, and food service. Yet, companies face significant hurdles in recruiting and retaining these vital workers. A major obstacle? The high rate at which candidates abandon the job application process. This article dives into the impact of this application abandonment and how traditional Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) often miss the mark when it comes to hiring these essential workers.
The Problem: Application Abandonment Among Non-Digitalized Candidates
Application abandonment happens when candidates start a job application but don't finish it. It's a widespread problem. In fact, a large majority of job seekers will abandon online applications they perceive as too rigid and time-consuming. Some studies even suggest this figure can be as high as 60%.
What's driving this abandonment?
- Lengthy application forms. This is a huge factor. Candidates prefer processes that take 40 minutes or less, ideally with 30 or fewer questions. Long forms are overwhelming and frustrating.
- Lack of mobile optimization. We live in a mobile-first world. Studies show that up to 40% of applicants will abandon an application if it's not mobile-friendly. For hourly workers, who often rely on smartphones, this is a critical issue.
- Account creation requirements. Forcing candidates to create an account before applying adds complexity and time. This is a major turn-off for those who want a quick, direct application process.
- Technical difficulties. Technical hurdles during the application process are a major cause of abandonment. Slow loading times, broken links, and confusing layouts all contribute.
- Poor communication. A lack of clear communication and transparency from recruiters or the company during the process leads to candidates losing interest.
The Bottom Line: The interplay between digital literacy and application design significantly impacts completion rates, especially among non-digitalized job seekers. Complex online processes are a real challenge.
Why Traditional ATS Systems Struggle
Traditional Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), designed to streamline hiring, often struggle to attract and process applications from non-digitalized workers effectively.
Here's why:
- Designed for office roles: Many ATS were built for office-based, salaried positions. Their features and workflows aren't suited to the high-volume, hourly-position needs of frontline, non-digitalized roles.
- Over-reliance on resume parsing: Early ATS, and many still in use, rely on resume parsing and keyword matching. This can miss qualified non-digitalized workers who may not have polished resumes or use specific professional terminology.
- Complex application forms: Traditional ATS often feature long and complex forms, requiring manual input of lots of information. As we've seen, this is a major cause of abandonment, especially for non-digitalized workers.
- Lack of mobile-friendliness: Many traditional ATS weren't designed for mobile. Given that many non-digitalized job seekers use their smartphones for job searching, this is a huge barrier.
- Inefficient for high-volume hiring: Traditional ATS can struggle with the high volume of applications common for frontline roles. They may not be able to quickly process and filter large numbers of applications, and tasks like mass communication can be inefficient.
In essence, traditional ATS systems often create unnecessary barriers for non-digitalized workers, hindering effective recruitment.
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