Seriously, what happened to handing your CV over and that was it?
In the last few months, I've noticed that many companies think it's a good idea to have their own application form for submitting your job details (and some of them ask for your CV as well). This makes the process slow and actually has deterred me from applying for some jobs, and I'm not alone.
A very recent UK survey from CV-Library's 2026 Candidate Behaviour Barometer found that 71% of candidates have abandoned an application because it was too long or complicated. From this article:
- 45% are frustrated at having to repeat information that's already on their CV.
- 37% complain about lengthy application processes.
- 30% dislike having to move between different websites/accounts.
- Among IT and Technology candidates, 60% complain about having to repeat information already on their CV.
- And an enormous 81% of IT/Technology candidates have abandoned a long or complicated application.
As a former teacher, one of the worst things about it was the 4,000-character limit personal statement, but then also having to repeat your history and work experience, your PVG status, your criminal record stuff - all of which could really just come from a single PDF of my CV, which I have spent a lot of time tweaking to perfection.
One thread on r/UKJobs is titled "Employers asking you to re-enter your CV on their application." The poster states that companies ask for a CV and then make them manually enter their name, previous jobs, qualifications, etc. One of the most upvoted responses complains about uploading a CV, having the system autofill it badly, and then spending half an hour fixing it.
What I find particularly interesting is the disconnect between employers and applicants. In that 2026 CV-Library research, 96% of recruiters described their application process as streamlined or fairly efficient, while 71% of candidates said they'd abandoned a long/complicated application. Only 2% of employers/recruiters admitted their process was too long or complicated.
It's not great because it also means that some stuff will get left out, like my awards, for example; there's never anywhere to put them. And the awards on my CV are quite important to show off my successes - digital development specialist of the year, Watt Club Prize - the highest award in Heriot-Watt, merit awards and best student awards all the way through my time at uni.
So the thought I get of "I quite like this job, but I cannot be bothered going through this application system" is not unheard of, and apparently roughly 4 in 5 people applying for IT/technology jobs have reached that same point with at least one application.
It is an astonishing statistic when employers simultaneously complain that it's difficult to attract good technical candidates.
So why do companies do this?
Mostly because the application form is designed around the recruiter's systems and workflow, rather than around the candidate.
A CV is excellent for a human reader, but inconvenient for a database. Every CV has a different layout. One person writes "Software Engineer — 2018–2021"; another uses a table; another groups experience by project. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) would prefer neat fields such as employer, job_title, start_date, end_date, qualification, etc.
That lets recruiters search, filter, report on and compare applicants.
