Applications are an important part of recruitment. While some companies accept an emailed CV or resume, others use applications to gather relevant data, as applications give the company a better chance at looking at specific data individually and comparing it across individuals.

Recruiting is an art form. You have a limited amount of information about a candidate, and you need to find a way to draw conclusions from that information. Your entire investment, and sometimes even the future of your company, depends on your ability to learn as much as possible about a candidate from a resume/application, interviews, and references.