Why do employers tell me to go to their website to apply?

Employers at virtual and in-person career fairs often tell students and other candidates to go to the website (GTW) for answers to their questions. That’s a turnoff for the candidate and often a symptom of employer representatives being poorly trained. 

Why do employers tell you to GWT for answers to questions about their health insurance plans, 401k, vacation, onboarding, mentoring, career path, and other policies? I suspect that the representatives are typically unable rather than unwilling to answer the questions. In other words, if they know the answers, they’re happy to provide them. But when they don’t know the answers, they’ll tell the candidate to go to the website.

That said, there’s a big difference between telling a candidate to go to the website to get answers versus applying. Virtually every medium- and large-sized employer in the U.S. use an applicant tracking system (ATS) for compliance reasons. They’re trying to minimize the likelihood that they’ll be accused of discriminatory hiring practices. One way to do that is to have every candidate go through the same process, including applying online through the ATS. 

Recruiters and hiring managers who are communicating with candidates should be trained well enough to answer almost any question and also trained well enough to explain to candidates why they need to apply online. I firmly believe that the vast majority of candidates will agree with the GTW request when informed that applying online is one way that the employer improves its diversity, inclusion, and equity hiring practices.