Managing Applications: how should candidates apply?

How should candidates apply for your jobs? Should they apply by email or should you have them use some kind of online application system? And what difference does it make really?

Email applications

This is the straightforward approach favoured by many employers. In the job ad, candidates are asked to send their application to the company’s email address. All applications are, therefore, delivered straight to your inbox and, as a consequence, management and tracking of everything is, for good or ill, in your hands.

Apply by email: the advantages

The application process is clear and candidates also feel like they are making a “real” application rather than an anonymous online application. You may find that candidates put more effort into their application, that covering letters are specific and CVs are written for your job.

Apply by email: the disadvantages

Too many applicants will probably be your biggest headache. You will have to go through each application and respond to it. It’s a lot of work. And with so many candidates sitting in your inbox, managing them can be a problem. You have to have a clear system to process your candidates.

And there is the spam problem. If your email address is put online, it may well get into the hands of email spammers. However, an easy solution to this is to set up a specific jobs@yourcompany.com email address for candidates. That way, your personal email doesn’t get bombarded with junk but candidates still have the email option.

Online Applications

Nowadays many applications for jobs are conducted not by email but via online web forms whether on the recruitment website or on the company’s own website. That is, candidates enter their basic details, attach a CV (or use a CV stored on the job board), answer some screening questions and send their application via the website. You will generally receive this by email but many job boards and Applicant Tracking Systems have online dashboards where you can review and manage the candidates.

Online applications: the advantages

Allowing candidates to apply online via a job board is handy. It automates the application process from the start. By using Apply Online you can keep all your applicants in one place (in the job board account) and manage them from there. What’s more, as your email contact details are usually hidden, you also don’t have to worry about your email address being picked up by spam bots.

Online applications: the disadvantages

Apply Online systems on job boards make it so very easy for candidates to apply for a job that many irrelevant people may apply for your vacancy. Screening and filtering questions can reduce the number of irrelevant candidates, but candidate spam can still be a problem. In addition, you might use more than one job board which will mean logging in and out of multiple accounts to manage your applicants.

More importantly, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that senior candidates are averse to applying for jobs via Apply Online systems on job boards. The reasons for this are uncertain, but it might be because candidates are anxious about the security of online application processes or that they cannot tailor their application for the job. Whatever the reason, only allowing senior candidates to send a speculative CV via a job board, without the opportunity to discuss the role, is off-putting for many.

So which is better? Apply online or apply by email?

It really does depend. As you can see there are advantages and disadvantages to both. We at whatjobsite think that for lower level roles online application is probably a better option. The functionality provided by job boards might just outweigh the negatives.

However, as you begin to move up the career ladder it does seem that making “apply online” your only application method is a risk. The more senior the job, the more direct contact channels you should provide. If you are looking for a board-level Sales and Marketing Director, for example, any applicant worth their salt will probably need to find out more about the job. In this case, not only should you give an email address but your should probably provide a telephone number as well.

One final note: in this article we did not look at postal applications. The reason for this is that we believe that it is an increasingly out-of-date process that seems, nowadays at least, to be largely the preserve of the public sector.

Next steps? Check out these other guides and articles:

• First things first: write a job specification
• How to advertise a job vacancy
• How to respond to candidates
• How to Screen Candidates on Job Boards
• How to write a job specification