Saving With Online Recruitment

Online Job Application Systems - Two Sides Of The Same Coin

The applicant's point of view...

It's jobs day in the local paper! Great! This one suits you perfectly. You make your application online. It only takes five minutes. Very easy to use – if you miss a field, you get an on screen reminder. Even repeat fields are filled in for you. So you know you’ve done it right. Just click once when you’ve finished, and off it goes. Reassuringly you get an instant confirmation that they’ve received it by email.

What a difference to last week! Your job application was paper-based. It seemed simple at first. All you had to do was give them a call. You planned to do it after lunch, but you were on a training course. You called them after work, but they were closed! By the time you’d remembered to ring up to ask for the application form, you had wasted two days.

You then had to wait for someone to remember to send you out the form itself! You really wanted it to arrive before the weekend, but it actually turns up four days later. At least it didn’t get lost in the post! You’re already into week two.

Then, you had to fill in the form. You were not happy with your handwriting, you made a silly spelling mistake. You crossed it out. It looked a mess. You were so cross, you nearly forgot to fill in the mandatory fields. All this, and you hadn't even started the main section! Eventually, you reached the additional equal opportunity and reference sections where you had to repeat most of your personal information!

At last, it was finished! But you couldn’t find an envelope that was big enough to take the form. Then you had to dash down to the post office in your lunch break to get it weighed. And finally, you were able to pop it in to the post box! Whew – what a marathon!

Then you just had to sit and hope that it actually got to the company without getting lost, damaged, torn or sent somewhere else!! It was enough to make you wish you hadn’t bothered!

Meanwhile, at the organisation...

Now, let's look at the other side of the coin with an anonymous example, based on real life, where an organisation’s annual recruitment drive attracts around 5,000 applicants, of which 3,000 return their applications.

Using a paper-based system

Writing letters to the 3,000 candidates and sorting through applications to produce shortlists for first and second interviews and assessments is costly and extremely time consuming. There are currently 12 permanent staff in the HR department and they find the recruitment drive - which can last up to four months - puts a serious strain on their resources - even though they regularly employ up to four temps at a time to help process the huge volume of applications.

The demands of the recruitment drive mean that permanent HR staff also find it hard to keep abreast of the needs of the 1,700 workforce who continue to need HR services such as leavers, appraisals, sickness absence issues and pension issues.

It's a costly headache without a solution. Or is it?

The online option

By setting up an online application system, it is possible to streamline the whole process and, in turn, reduce staffing hours and costs.

Let's look at how an online system would work. Job advertisements will be placed in the same media as before. Candidates will be offered the option to apply online by going to a website which will contain everything that is normally sent to applicants in the initial information pack. This includes details of the job, benefits of joining the organisation, eligibility criteria and a job application form.

Candidates can complete the job application form on screen and send it to the organisation over the internet. As this is an electronic questionnaire, it will automatically identify candidates who fall below the minimum entry requirements. Personnel staff will keep candidates informed of their progress by email / internet, rather than by post.

Cash savings

Print and postage costs associated with mailing the applicant packs currently stand at £2.50 per pack. Each campaign sends out 5,000 packs, so the total saving using online application is £12,500 per campaign.

Online application would remove the data entry costs associated with temporary staff entering applicant details onto the HR system’s recruitment module.

Eight temporary staff are employed for six weeks to help with administration including data entry and screening out candidates who do not meet the minimum eligibility criteria. The agency charges £400 per week, amounting to £19,200 per campaign. By using an online application system, this money would be saved, as there would be no need to employ temporary staff.

The cost of writing a follow-up letter to an applicant is £2, including postage. A single recruitment campaign generates 7,000 letters at a total cost of £14,000 per campaign. This money would be saved by using an online application system.

The total potential cashable savings with an online job applications system would amount to £45,700 per campaign.

Additional benefits

With an online job applications system, candidates can apply 24/7, at any time of the day and night. This makes it easier for people in work to apply, so the number of applicants will be increased.

Using a web-based system is consistent with being a progressive 21st century organisation. This creates an improved image for the organisation - a fact which is sure to attract higher quality candidates.

An online application system avoids the inevitable errors involved in completing paper-based forms. Paper forms can also get lost or mismatched and there is always a small possibility that a job could be offered to the wrong candidate. This could have serious consequences, such as accidentally employing a criminal.

Online systems make it easier and faster for organisations to respond to applications. With paper-based systems, it can take up to two weeks to post out an applicant pack. This delay can 'put off' candidates, so they decide not to continue with their application. As there is no backlog build-up during the campaign, online systems give staff more time to deal with ongoing personnel matters. Backlogs caused by paper-based systems can have a detrimental effect on staff morale. For example, staff appraisal reviews can be delayed by up to three months during a recruitment campaign.

Conclusion

Each online recruitment system operates in a different environment with different parameters, but quick wins with a pay-back period within the first year are readily achievable.

Of course, there are other issues which organisations need take into account, such as managing staff expectations. The organisation cannot move to receiving all applications electronically, overnight. People must be prepared for a period of transition. But taken overall, online systems offer significant benefits in terms of cost saving, improved efficiency, and staff and customer satisfaction.