9 practical strategies to generate more applicants

17.10.2023

In times of a war of talent and a shortage of skilled workers, companies are faced with the challenge of finding qualified applicants for their open positions. But there are some clever techniques to quickly attract and win over more potential applicants.

Lack of interest is often not the problem. One reason may be a low company presence or that the job offers are not easy to find.

We have summarised 9 practical tips that will help you to immediately generate more applications for your vacant positions without much effort or high costs.

1. Optimisation of the career site

The career site is your company's flagship for applicants. It forms an interface between potential applicants and the company. It is therefore essential that the career site is found by search engines and that vacancies can be found clearly. Your company should show itself from its best side and the corporate culture should become clear.

It is also best to optimise the "candidate journey" that candidates go through until they have sent the application. Many companies complain about a lack of applications but offer little support to interested job seekers in their search for vacancies. Often, career pages are hidden deep inside company websites, so the opportunity to apply is in vain. Therefore, place the link to your career page clearly visible in the main menu of the company website, so that a few clicks are enough to get to your vacancies.

2. Innovative approaches in job advertisements

Why should job ads always look the same? You have the opportunity to make your company stand out from the crowd by designing creative and innovative job advertisements. Show applicants what makes the job or working in the company particularly attractive. It is especially important to communicate in a way that is appropriate for your target group. Do you want to fill a management position or a traineeship? Both require different communication and design. We have summarised how you can get tips from an AI in in this blog article.

3. Refrain from the cover letter

Lean and fast processes are crucial for both applicants and HR departments today. For recruiters and applicants, cover letters often mean a considerable effort with relatively little added value. On the one hand, applicants are often deterred by the excessive effort involved in the application process and do not even apply. On the other hand, cover letters are usually not read thoroughly by recruiters, which is why the question should be asked: Is it still necessary to require a cover letter in the application process?

First and foremost, an application is about a candidate's skills. These become clear in the CV and tools (such as the case score) can be used to quickly and reliably classify this information. A short virtual meeting is also a good way to get a first personal impression on both sides.

4. Presence on social media

Every HR professional should be aware that the young generation is on social media. But the popularity of social networks goes even further: 87 % of all Germans now use social media regularly. It's high time to promote your company's social media presence. Many large companies are leading the way and often have their own employer branding accounts on Instagram, TikTok and the like, where exclusive career content is shared. But not every company has to go quite that far. It is sufficient if career topics receive a little more attention in the weekly content mix. This can include videos of employees talking about their jobs, question and answer sessions, challenges, mini-vlogs and much more. It is best to take a look at other companies with many followers to get some initial ideas.

5. Use rating portals

Rating platforms such as Kununu, Glassdoor and Indeed allow workers to rate companies and also read the reviews of others before applying. This plays an increasingly important role in the job search, as it provides authentic insights into the company and serves as a first "culture check" for applicants, after which they decide whether the company suits them. If your company has not yet received many or any reviews, you should ask employees to write something about their job. Make sure the reviews are authentic, because only five-star reviews where everything seems perfect are inauthentic. Encourage employees to give constructive criticism, this way you can also get valuable feedback that can be addressed.

6. Building and using a talent pool

A talent pool is first and foremost a valuable resource for future recruitment. It is a kind of database, similar to a newsletter, of talents who have interacted with your company in some way and have given their consent to be contacted by you. These contacts are very important as they have already expressed some interest in your company and are therefore more likely to apply (again) in the future. You should regularly search your talent pool for your vacancies and actively approach potential candidates.

In addition to in-house talent pools, there are also so-called external talent pools that are provided by service companies. The great advantage of external talent pools is that they are usually much larger and can also reach profiles that have not yet interacted with your company, but perhaps with a competing company, for example. So, you have the chance to present your company on a new stage and can potentially generate a lot of applications. You can find out more about advantages of an external talentpool here.

7. Use the "Easy Apply" function on LinkedIn

The "Easy Apply" function on LinkedIn allows candidates to apply easily. Activate this option for your job advertisements to increase the visibility of your offers and attract more applicants.

8. Offer attractive additional benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, special corporate benefits can convince applicants. Use platforms such as XING and LinkedIn to find out which benefits are attractive to applicants and highlight them in your job advertisements.

9. Advertise on Instagram and TikTok

Use the reach of platforms like Instagram and TikTok to promote your company and your vacancies. Creative advertising campaigns can generate awareness and attract potential applicants.

Overall, these nine strategies are designed to significantly increase your job application numbers. By innovatively improving your company's presence, offering attractive working conditions and using different channels, you can successfully attract qualified applicants. The current labour market requires a proactive approach to attract the best talent to your company.

Learn more about us and our products

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case was founded to objectively compare university degrees and to make application procedures fairer and more transparent. For this purpose, an algorithm was developed that compares the final grades of different degree programmes and universities and enriches them with findings from intelligence and personality tests. In addition, we have also built up an extensive talent network.

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