Furthermore, speed is an important criterion for a positive Candidate Experience. As customers in online shops, the applicants have learnt how quickly online ordering systems work. This has obviously also shaped their expectations of the application process. From the perspective of 63 per cent of participants, two weeks are sufficient from the response to the written application to the first interview. 37 per cent want to know where they stand one week after the first interview, while 54 per cent give companies two weeks. After the final selection stage, 55 per cent of participants expect the final decision within a week.

Online application forms: Most applicants want to be through in 20 minutes

Applicants also expect speed when entering their data into the online form. 43 per cent want to spend ten to 20 minutes filling in the form. 22 per cent are prepared to spend a maximum of ten minutes on the online application form. Only 29 per cent can imagine spending 20 to 30 minutes entering their data. Six per cent would even wait longer than 30 minutes.

Applicants lack transparency

In the opinion of applicants, companies are not yet fulfilling these wishes in practice. The survey participants believe that there is "considerable room for improvement" in terms of transparency and orientation towards their applicant needs in application processes that have already taken place. Overall, only 17 per cent rated the overall quality of the application process as "very good", but 47 per cent rated it as "good". A total of 36 per cent rated the overall process as "satisfactory", "sufficient" or "poor".

In practice: recruiters usually need longer than applicants expect

And what is the situation on the HR side? To what extent can companies' recruiting processes fulfil applicants' wishes in practice? And how do HR staff rate their processes? In other words: Are the demands of applicants realistic from an HR perspective in practice?

While 60 per cent of applicants consider a total process duration of no more than one month to be appropriate, the situation is very different in practice for recruiters: Only 28 per cent of the companies surveyed meet this expectation. There are also significant discrepancies between candidate expectations and recruitment practice when it comes to the time it takes to receive the first binding response to an application. Only 45 per cent of companies manage to communicate within one or two weeks whether the next selection stage will take place or whether the application has been unsuccessful. 17 per cent of companies need three weeks or longer for this. According to the recruiters, however, they are quicker with the next steps: 68 per cent manage to organise an interview within two weeks of the first positive message.

Almost half of companies without an online application form

An astonishing survey result: 47 per cent of companies state that they do not use an online application form. This high figure is surprising given the large proportion of survey participants from medium-sized and large companies (54 per cent). The number of companies that do not use an applicant management system is therefore likely to be quite high. In companies that rely on manual recruitment processes, experience has shown that the proportion of "forgotten applicants" is particularly high. Breaks in the process occur frequently and applicants are unsettled or even annoyed.

No active work on the candidate experience: Applicant feedback is rarely caught up with

However, only a few companies are planning to Actively improve the candidate experience. This is indicated by the fact that 69 per cent of the companies surveyed do not obtain applicant feedback on the process. 62 per cent do not collect any qualitative key figures on the application process. And only 59 per cent of the companies surveyed plan to shorten the application process.