How to Get More Fitness Job Applicants 

While fitness professionals know the importance of preparing well for a workout and developing a thorough conditioning plan, a health club’s HR professionals understand the same principles when trying to locate the right employees. Without the right exercises in place, the hiring process can be unnecessarily exhausting. Even more fatigue is associated with the recruiting process when there aren’t enough applicants for hiring managers to consider.

So, what can fitness clubs do to address their issues with applicant flow?

Make Applications Mobile Friendly

A lot of positions at fitness clubs are filled with employees between the ages of 18 and 30 and it’s no secret that this generation knows how to take advantage of their mobile phones. According to Indeed, 45% of job search traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets (Indeed). It’s easy to see then that making applications mobile-friendly is a must for fitness clubs.  Indeed conducted a survey on Mobile Job Search in 2014 and discovered that “62% of job seekers around the world find jobs on a mobile device, yet only a fraction of companies have a mobile-friendly apply process (Indeed Survey).”  Indeed’s survey also found that companies that do accept mobile applications are twice as likely to receive quality applicants as those that only offer desktop options (Indeed Survey). If your fitness club wants to hire the finest talent, you need to be able to let quality candidates apply when they are most receptive to the open positions.

Make Your Job Opportunities Easy to Find

To make your fitness club’s positions easy to find, start with creating  job titles that will be easy for candidates to discover online. Creating simple job titles such as “Personal Trainer” and job titles that broaden keyword searches such as “Certified Fitness Trainer,” will make your job opportunities easier to locate. A good rule of thumb is to create job titles that you think a candidate for a fitness club would be explicitly searching for.

Once you have created an acceptable job title and job description, a great place to start posting your job openings would be on job boards. It’s crucial that your job opportunities saturate the job boards, especially Indeed, which has 180 million unique visitors every month (Indeed). CareerPlug’s ATS can streamline your recruiting processes by automatically posting your job posts to nine job boards, including Indeed. Job postings should also be accessible through your fitness club’s company website. If your fitness club has a social media presence, share any job opportunities on those social media accounts to help spread the word about open positions. 

Make the Application Process Simple   

Many applicants will not be willing to spend an exorbitant amount of time filling out a job application.  If applicants need to create a login to begin your fitness club’s application process, it could break their momentum and discourage them from moving forward. The application process needs to be seamless.

Indeed, the #1 job site worldwide, offers the option to make the application process smoother for candidates by offering “Indeed Apply.” When you add Indeed Apply to jobs you’ve posted on their job site, candidates can apply directly from their iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows mobile device (Indeed).

The actual application should be a reasonable length and include pre-screen questions to help you identify who meets at least the minimum requirements for the open position. The most reasonable number of pre-screen questions to include in a an application is about 5-10 questions, while 20 or more pre-screen questions translates to a significant reduction in applicants – about 44% fewer applicants (Pre-Screen Questions). CareerPlug’s ATS offers customizable pre-screen question options for employers to include in their job postings. It’s important that no barriers are created  for a qualified applicant to be able to able to apply to your health club’s job opportunities, and simplifying the application process is definitely a step in the right direction.

How CareerPlug Can Help Drive More Qualified Candidates

Empowering approximately 4,000 fitness & health clubs to hire better, CareerPlug is the industry leader in fitness club recruiting softare. CareerPlug is here to help your fitness club put the right exercises in place to increase applicant flow. Our ATS can streamline your recruiting and hiring processes by automatically posting your job posts to nine job boards, including Indeed. Also, all job posts made through our ATS are mobile-friendly and once you begin to receive applicants, they will be easy to sort through with the pre-screen and filter options we offer.

Sources:

[1] Forman, Chris. Ere Media. The Impact of Mobile Recruiting on Click-To Apply Rates. May 7, 2015.

[2] Forman, Chris. Recruiter. Transform Your Recruiting Strategy By Taking a Look at the Numbers. November 19, 2015.

[3]  Indeed. Add Indeed Apply to your jobs.