Nearly 6 in 10 candidates have quit an application before finishing

When faced with an overly complicated or long application, 57% of job candidates have abandoned it in the middle of the process due to frustration, according to an Aug. 14 report from LiveCareer.

On top of that, 41% of job seekers said they think fewer than a quarter of their applications make it to a real person, which adds to their frustration during an increasingly tough labor market.

“The biggest job search frustrations stem from a lack of communication and confusing application processes, leading many candidates to give up on the job search,” Jasmine Escalera, a career expert for LiveCareer, wrote in the report.

The majority of U.S. workers believe the application process should take less than 30 minutes, according to a survey by Employ, Inc. A third also said they’d quit an application if it took too long.

In the LiveCareer survey of more than 500 U.S. job seekers, more than a third said not hearing back from employers was their top job search frustration. Others said they faced difficulties with writing a resume or CV, navigating online job applications, not finding job openings in their field and preparing for interviews.

On the other hand, 64% said they felt confident about their resume being optimized for applicant tracking systems or automated bots. Only 10% of applicants believe nearly all resumes are seen by humans, while a third believe up to half of resumes are reviewed by a recruiter.

Ultimately, job candidates make their choices based on good interviews, according to a Gallup survey. Employers can approach interviews with structure, treat candidates with respect and use interviews to highlight their culture and employee value proposition, Gallup said.