The Internet Job Application Trap

The digital world is best known for its simplicity and is often touted as efficient and effective. Need to look up information about Columbus Day? The internet will have it for you in a flash. But if you’re a job seeker, look out. You’ll be sent down a black hole known as the internet job application process, and you may never emerge from it with a job. It’s a maddening search method that yields little and, at least in part, is responsible for the high youth unemployment rate.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the unemployment rate for individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 stands at 9.3%. Meanwhile, the national average is only a bit above 4%. That’s quite a difference, and it's often attributed to lazy youngsters. But is that really fair?

Way back when – before the internet – high schoolers could stop by their local drugstore to see if it needed any help. The manager could get a look at the individual inquiring and make a personal assessment. If the pharmacy wasn’t hiring, they could head on down to the local McDonald’s and ask if it had any openings. It took a little shoe leather and effort, but it wasn’t nearly as tedious as applying online.

Contrast this with today’s premier hiring procedure. Pathrise, an online career program, surveyed the issue of internet job applications and found that the average job seeker “submits over 290 applications before landing a job.” It concluded, “The reality is that 80% of applicants don’t even make it past the initial screening process. That means only 20% of people applying online even get considered.”

The Internet Job Application: Process Is the Problem

Appcast, a recruitment industry analyst, found that candidate abandonment of the application process stands at 92%. This means that fewer than one in ten job seekers complete online applications. And why might this be? Another study, conducted by InFlight, found that “an average of 51 clicks are required to get through an application.” The industry average is that it takes between 45 minutes and one hour for each application.

Let’s say you want a part-time job as a cashier at CVS or Trader Joe’s: Be prepared to run the gauntlet. Applicants typically must upload their resume (and sometimes their driver’s license or other form of identification) and answer multiple pages of questions. If you are one of the few who complete the online application process, some retailers may ask applicants to repeat this process for each franchise that has an opening. In the case of CVS, if the internet gods have blessed you by making it through the screening process, you will then have to complete online assessment tests that include such topics as “money laundering” and “hazardous materials.” Entire organizations exist online to help you practice how to pass these exams. And if you dig hard and surf long, you will be able to find the answer key to these quizzes.

Medium.com noted, “[I]t’s ironic that online job applications often leave applicants frustrated and disillusioned.” To make matters worse, many find the online job application software glitchy and antiquated:

“In an age when user experience is paramount in the design of digital tools, many online job application systems lag. Cumbersome interfaces, lengthy forms, and unclear instructions confuse and frustrate job seekers. This is amplified by vague error messages, clunky navigation, and unwieldy data input forms that create unnecessary barriers.”

Standardizing job applications into a one-size-fits-all process does not take into account the young people who own a smartphone but not a computer, or those who might be good in sales but lack the ability to express themselves adequately in written form. Considering this onerous process, one wonders if those hiring are receiving more applications from parents than from young people seeking part-time, minimum-wage positions.

Still, the internet job application isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. Perhaps there is a way to streamline the process so that it could be filled out in five minutes on a cell phone. Hiring managers could then choose whom to interview based on the cover letter and resume, and then invite five to ten people to come in for a brief interview. This tried-and-true method has worked for decades, and there’s no reason to think it can’t work again. One thing is certain: Requiring young people to jump through lengthy, frustrating online hoops is not achieving the desired results for either party.