Monster’s survey: people share applicant experiences

Alma Media Corporation   Press release               11 June 2015 at 2 p.m. EEST

MONSTER’S SURVEY: PEOPLE SHARE APPLICANT EXPERIENCES
A total of 83% of the respondents to a survey conducted by job search service Monster reported they share their job search experiences with acquaintances.

Only 6% of the job applicants who responded to a survey conducted by Monster say they were informed of the end of the recruitment process in conjunction with every application process they have participated in. A total of 83% of the respondents said they share their job search experiences with friends and acquaintances. Word-of-mouth feedback can affect a company’s reputation, which is why employers should invest in the applicant experience.

Job search service Monster, which is a part of Alma Media, conducted the survey to examine job applicants’ experiences of recruitment processes and companies’ recruitment methods. A total of 64% of the respondents had applied for a job in the past month.

Women invest more in job applications

According to the survey, people invest a varying amount of time in preparing job applications. A quarter (25%) of the respondents used over 30 minutes to prepare their job applications and 24% filled in their applications in 16–30 minutes. Men complete their job applications faster than women: 22% of men completed their applications in less than 15 minutes, while 37% of women took over an hour to complete their job applications. Applicants aged 30–34 invested the most time in their job applications. Nearly half of them reported to have prepared their applications for over an hour. Young people under 29 years of age invested the least time – 36% of them completed their applications in less than fifteen minutes.

“Employers should bear in mind that employees always invest time and effort in preparing their applications. It only takes a few minutes for an employer to respond to an applicant who has submitted an application – but sending the message may significantly affect the applicant experience,” says Alma Career Ltd Managing Director Marja Pylkkänen who is in charge of the Monster.fi service.

Job hunting methods and channels change constantly. Even though the rise of social media has been high on the agenda for a long time, only 7% would prefer to apply for work using a social media profile. Surprisingly, the majority (63%) of job applicants in all age groups still consider a CV and an application the preferred way to apply for work.

Enterprises could stand to improve applicant experiences

Constant communication renders a recruitment process smooth. However, based on the Monster survey, employers’ recruitment communications could use many improvements: only 11% of the respondents had received interim information on the progress of the application process.

Applicants often receive an automatic or personal notice of receipt of their applications. Personal communication is particularly emphasized in small companies, which also use more innovative recruitment methods than big employers. Up to 30% of the applicants had participated in a video interview by a company employing less than 10 people.

Companies could also provide better information on the results of the application process. Only 6% of the respondents said they had been informed of the results of the application process in connection with each application process they had participated in and over half (52%) had only been informed in some cases.

Based on their most recent applicant experience, the job applicants who responded to the survey would give companies a disconcertingly poor grade: up to 34% would grade the experience as passable or poor (corresponding to school grades of 4–6). The respondents had not had particularly positive most recent applicant experiences. A bad job applicant experience may have a significantly negative impact on the applicant’s image of the employing company.

“The applicant experience plays a significant role in building a company’s reputation. The employer company cannot only focus on the person who is employed. The applicants who are not selected are equally important. If employers wish to manage their relationship with a job applicant well, they ensure their future desirability as an employer,” says Pylkkänen.

Experiences are shared

According to the survey, over a third (36%) of the applicants had had to wait for the results of the application process for over a month. Information on poor practices spreads quickly among applicants. The majority of the respondents (83%) reported to have shared their recruitment experiences with friends and acquaintances, even though only 10% had spoken of their experiences in social media. Surprisingly, the most active group to share their experiences in social media were the 35–39-year‑old applicants.

A successful application process gives an employer the opportunity to build a positive corporate image and gives applicants confidence even if they are not selected for a specific job.

“It was explained to me why I had placed second, which made me happy and gave me confidence for future application processes. The employer behaved responsibly and I would apply to work with them again because they left me with a positive image!” says one of the respondents.

*Monster conducted the job applicant survey in December 2014. A total of 415 people, aged 18 to 55, responded to the survey.

For more information, please contact:
Marja Pylkkänen, Alma Career Ltd, Managing Director
marja.pylkkanen@almamedia.fi tel. +358 40 746 9226

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is a media company focusing on digital services and publishing. In addition to news services, the company’s products provide useful information related to lifestyle, career and business development. The services of Alma Media have expanded from Finland to the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Central Europe. In 2014, the company employed an average of 1,830 professionals (excluding deliverers), of whom approximately one quarter worked outside Finland. Alma Media’s revenue in 2014 totalled approximately EUR 295 million. Alma Media’s share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.almamedia.com.

Monster.fi

Monster is the world’s largest job search service on the Internet and the industry market leader in Finland as well. On average, the Monster.fi website has over 120,000 weekly visitors from different browsers (TNS), and around 2,000 new job advertisements each day. Monster can be used to find jobs in over 50 countries. Monster.fi is a job search service owned by Alma Career Ltd. Alma Career Ltd is owned by Alma Media Corporation and Monster Worldwide. Get to know the service: http://www.monster.fi.

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