Now is the perfect time for colleges looking to recruit high quality staff to take a fresh look at their recruitment process. Can you wholeheartedly say it is candidate-centred?
Every day we hear that we are in a buyer’s market; high-quality teachers are hard to come by (and hard to retain, but we’ll save that one for another day) and that recruitment and talent acquisition teams are struggling to fill essential roles – at the front of classrooms, in leadership and across business support.
Yet very regularly we come across colleges, schools and training providers that are still using antiquated methods at various stages of the hiring process. And the reality is, this is no longer an affordable luxury.
In a recent test, we worked with a provider over several months, comparing application conversion rates using a downloadable application form to conversion rates using our bespoke Fast Apply form. The percentage of job views that converted to a relevant application for the first period – using the downloadable form – was a little over 22%.
The percentage of job views that converted to a relevant application using Fast Apply was 55%.
That is more than a significant increase in conversion rates, but even more impressive when there was no drop off in the quality of the applications and, on average, the roles advertised were receiving more than 240 views per advert within a 4-month period.
Essential information
Often, FE colleges looking to attract high-quality professionals to the sector are competing with other industries. Therefore, it essential their application processes keep pace with other sectors. Look at some of the competition from outside of the education sector and you’ll see just how stark the differences can be.
Some tech roles are starting their application process with an initial application stage that takes less than two minutes and just a few clicks. On the other hand, some educational institutions are asking for multiple page documentation, often breaking the applicant’s journey up into multiple stages and across multiple devices. We know over 70% of job search traffic is mobile, so applicant journeys must be mobile first. As soon as you are nudging an applicant to pause their journey and return to it on a different device at a later date, you are very much on the back foot.
FEjobs Fast Apply is designed mobile-first. It is built to be completed rapidly, in just a few clicks. Utilising the rich information in our candidate database to ensure you have everything you need to make an informed decision between high-quality candidates.
Our partner colleges can include additional questions, moulding the form to their needs. Our guidance, backed up by our research, shows that for every additional field you are asking for you are likely to be decreasing your conversion rate.
Ask yourself, do you need to collect that piece of information at this exact moment? While there may be the occasional exception, if a question or data field doesn’t need to be answered at that stage of the hiring process, don’t ask it yet.
Exceptional schools and colleges pay as much attention to the application process for their staff as they do for prospective students. A mobile optimised, Fast Apply form is the first step in that journey. Make sure you aren’t missing out on increased conversion, better data and a stronger field of applicants that Fast Apply can bring.
Remove all the barriers for high-quality candidates. Improve conversion, without sacrificing quality, and build your talent pool.
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About the author
Dean Renphrey
After studying Journalism at University of Brighton, Dean has held a number of roles across 15+ years in marketing, PR and communications. Dean is passionate about the power of education and lifelong learning and recently completed his MBA after a decade in leadership roles in FE. Dean now works as Marketing Director at FEjobs, continuing to share his knowledge and help colleges use technology to drive change in their communities.