Jobvite has released its 2021 Fortune 500 Candidate Conversion Audit, providing a look at how the job application process at the largest corporations in the country might be creating barriers to entry for candidates.

The number of job openings increased to a series high of 10.9 million on the last business day of July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of available positions far exceeds the number of people looking for work. Business leaders and talent acquisition experts alike are under pressure to fill open roles, but talent remains scarce. One way to address this shortage is to increase candidate conversions.

Candidate conversion is defined as the process of transitioning a career site visitor into a known candidate or applicant, which is key when it comes to filling job openings. And unfortunately, many of the Fortune 500 organizations are getting it wrong.

This led Jobvite to analyze the factors that impact candidate conversions within the apply process among Fortune 500 companies.

“Every organization I speak with is having a hard time attracting talent given the current labor market dynamics. Leading organizations that remove the barriers identified in our report will directly improve their overall candidate experience and receive a higher volume of applicants,” said Peter Clare, President of Jobvite. “Fortune 500 companies: Take the opportunity to delight candidates today by making it easier for them to apply.”

Audit analysis shows that 83.3% of the Fortune 500 are intensifying apply process challenges by requiring candidates to register on their career site before they are even able to apply to an open role. Required registration alone is the biggest reason why candidates are lost during the application process.

Additional factors analyzed within Fortune 500 apply processes include:

• Social apply
• Cloud apply
• Event registration
• Talent network registration
• Text-to-apply
• Career site chatbots
• Mobile apply

While industry average candidate conversion rates are typically in the 30% range, Jobvite customers achieve 50-70% conversion rates. This is the single fastest way for companies to meet hiring goals, which is especially difficult during this current hiring challenge.

You can find the full report here. To see their specific company results, Fortune 500 teams can visit this page.