FROM APP TO APPLIED IN 60 SECONDS: LAUNCH OF SOCIAL MEDIA-BASED APPLICATION PROCESS TO SPELL END OF THE ONLINE JOB FORM
London, 21st March 2024 – Socially Recruited, the AI-powered recruitment platform, has launched a simplified application process to enable candidates to apply instantly for jobs they see advertised on social media.
The technology, which allows candidates to apply for a job in under a minute, is a direct challenge to the typically clunky online job application experience.
Rather than being redirected to a lengthy, impersonal form which many will never complete, candidates will now be able to apply for a job as quickly and simply as they might buy something on Amazon.
CandidatePages, which works with job adverts placed on all social media including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube, draws its inspiration from eCommerce rather than traditional recruitment tech.
When a candidate clicks on a job advert, a streamlined application form automatically populates itself using data saved on their device and allows them to upload a CV or link to their LinkedIn profile, making everything effortlessly quick.
An AI assistant guides them through the process and asks questions based on the candidate’s experience. This includes identifying any anomalies in a CV, such as career gaps or changes, to give a fuller picture to recruiters and help them identify candidates whose skills best match the role’s requirements.
GaiaPages autosaves throughout the process, and in the event the candidate doesn’t finish the form, the AI assistant will later encourage them to do so by engaging directly with them via SMS and email.
The goal of making the application process so seamless is to encourage more qualified candidates to apply, while also avoiding the curse of abandoned applications suffered by conventional online job application forms. The result is to deliver maximum value for every job advert the employer places, and drastically reduce wasted job ad spend.
It’s already working. The first vacancies advertised using the system in early March recorded an average application rate of 9.7%, with one in 10 of those who saw a job advert applying immediately. By contrast, the industry average advert view-to-application rate - even among active candidates searching for a job, who expect friction in the process - ranges from 1% to 4.3%.
Founded in 2017, Socially Recruited uses machine learning to reach passive candidates - people already in work and not actively seeking a new job - by analysing almost four million individual data points to reveal people’s suitability for roles based on their social media presence and activity.
Reaching ‘needle in a haystack’ passive candidates like this has become increasingly important in a tight labour market where there are 908,000 vacancies across the UK and a fifth of adults are classed as economically inactive[1].
The Socially Recruited approach, which places laser-targeted job adverts into passive candidates’ social media feeds, works. Last year 3.3 million people responded to ads it placed on behalf of employers, ranging from Amazon to Lidl, a 700% year-on-year rise.
Ben Keighley, founder of Socially Recruited, said: “The old-fashioned online job application model is broken. It’s no longer fit for purpose for recruiters, employers or candidates.
“Candidates get understandably frustrated and put off by long-winded and complex forms, and often log off without even starting, let alone completing, them. All too often, the conventional application form is a barrier rather than a gateway to an application from even the best candidates.
“CandidatePages seeks to change all this by transforming the candidate experience. From clicking on a job advert you like the look of to submitting a completed application can take as little as 60 seconds - and the whole thing is as easy and frictionless as buying something on Amazon.
“Employers who keep a step ahead with faster and more targeted recruitment campaigns, that reach the right people at the right time, will give themselves a strategic advantage in 2024 as competition remains intense in the tight labour market.
“Our first CandidatePages campaign generated a conversion rate from passive candidates significantly higher than you’d expect even from active candidates, showing that applicants respond much more enthusiastically if they only need to fill in a few boxes on their phone, rather than a long and daunting application form.”