Back in the day rather than seeing a sign posted on a window stating that "only online applications accepted" you instead use to read on that window "applicants apply within". There is a very large difference between the ways applicants are often treated today, more or less quickly compartmentalized into a "go or no-go" scenario, as compared to way it waswhen the application as well as the person was dealt with face-to-face. While there are advantages to either way in recruitment procedures, limiting people to just online applications, without exception, is inherently prejudicial to certain people without it necessarily being seen as overt in its effect. That is to say, first off, that some people are people persons that want to engage another human being from across the table and that is their strength, and that strength does not lend itself successfully to an online application. There is also a more sinister side to online applications, which is that there are a large percentage of people in America that are functionally illiterate, which often means that they won't even attempt to make an online application, or if doing so, will not understand the rules of the road so that their application will be rejected forthwith, even though they may be properly skilled at the actual job at hand.
So too another complaint about the acceptance of online applications only is that those that understand well the process of how these applications are looked at and handled, will best be able to put together the key words and their work experience in such a manner so as to make their application more likely to be accepted as desirable by the algorithm which has been programmed to search for certain traits and thereby in effect to segregate the job applicants into "acceptable or rejected" bins. This means in effect, that a high percentage of people aren't even considered for the job, and by definition and implication, means too that the applicants making it to the next round, have been pre-molded into the type of "cookie-cutter" desirable background that the company is looking for which hardly bodes well for diversity.
While one can certainly understand that companies are well aware that time is money and that it follows that they often don't have the time or the resources to deal with applicant after applicant live and in-person, this does not mean that accepting applications only online is the fairest, best, or most efficient way to accept applications. In fact, as a matter of course, responsible companies should mix it up a bit, and at least during certain periods of time when looking for future employees, they should accept applications in person, as opposed to just doing so only online.
Life itself has proven again and again, that the best candidate does not necessarily have the best credentials on paper, but has those unseen substances and character that are the touchstones of success and advancement in life. An algorithm and an automated process that simply rates people on a certain pre-conceived scale probably does a commendable job of eliminating those that are clearly unqualified, those that are questionable, but also some of those that would be most excellent, because their skill-sets often range well outside of the company's preconceived little box.