33 Key Recruiting Statistics for Hiring Managers in 2021

In a corporate setting where every edge counts in creating leverage over competitors, recruiting strategy plays a crucial role in the success of a company. In the midst of a global pandemic, hiring has changed dramatically and companies are adjusting on the fly.

To better understand recruiting trends and patterns, below is a list of recruiting statistics to help companies, hiring managers, and job seekers.

Table of Contents

Covid-19’s Impact on Recruiting
Pre-Pandemic Global Workforce Statistics
Recruitment Trends
Recruiting Process Statistics
Challenges for Recruiters
Cost of a Bad Hire
Onboarding Statistics
Work Culture Statistics

COVID-19’s Impact on Recruiting

The current unemployment rate in the United States in May was 13.3% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020)
It is estimated that around 42% of the recent pandemic-related lay-offs will result in permanent job losses (University of Chicago, 2020)
The pandemic has caused near-term layoffs to rise to 12.8%, while the new hires equal at 3.8%, or in other terms, three new hires per ten layoffs (University of Chicago, 2020)
Virtual recruitment has become the most used method in the hiring process (Yello, 2020)
60% of workers are confident they can be just as efficient working remotely (Yello, 2020)
60% of companies currently have hiring freezes (Meetfrank, 2020)
Due to the COVID-19, there has been a 135% rise in remote job offerings (Meetfrank, 2020)
Only 16% of HR professionals in the U.S. are prepared to adapt to a virtual recruiting and hiring process (Doodle, 2020)
78% of organizations have changed the volume of recruiting and hiring, the majority of them freezing hiring or slowing (TLNT, 2020)
Only 5% of organizations reported increasing the volume of new hires (TLNT, 2020)
Less than 2% of respondents said that COVID-19 has not disrupted their recruiting and hiring operations (TLNT, 2020)

Pre-Pandemic Global Workforce Statistics

There were 7.9 million job openings in the beginning of 2020 (Money, 2020)
More than one-third (35%) of the workforce in the U.S. is Millennials. (Pewresearch, 2018)
The global workforce consists of 70% passive job seekers and 30% active job seekers (Pewresearch, 2018)
By 2025 Millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce (Deloitte, 2019)
86% of companies will invest in intelligence sourcing software (Entelo, 2018)

Recruitment Trends

Structured interviews are the most frequent (74%) interview technique used by HR professionals (Linkedin, 2019)
82% of companies use some form of pre-employment test to assess candidates (SHRM, 2018)

Work samples and “ability to perform” assessments can give a company up to 55% evaluation of an employee’s performance (Furstperson)
The three most important trends to the future of recruiting and HR are soft skills (91%), work flexibility (72%), and pay transparency (53%) (Linkedin, 2019)
56% of companies offer signing bonuses to new business school hires, the median bonus is $10,500 (GMAC, 2018)
80% of respondent say soft skills like creativity, adaptability and collaboration are increasingly vital to company success (Linkedin, 2019)

Recruiting Process Statistics

The average length of the hiring process is 36 days (SHRM, 2017)
On average job postings will receive 250 resumes. Of those 4-6 candidates will get an interview (Glassdoor, 2015)

77% of recruiters use LinkedIn for recruitment, making it the most used channel (Jobvite, 2018)
Over 50% of recruiters reach out to candidates via email; the second most used channel is via LinkedIn InMail (Entelo, 2018)
77% of professionals want to hear good news by phone, while 66% want to hear bad news by email (Linkedin, 2015)
If rejected, 94% of professionals want to hear interview feedback (Linkedin, 2015)

Challenges for Recruiters

The biggest challenge for 76% of recruiters is attracting quality candidates (Cmdrecruitment, 2019)
41% of recruiters say entry-level positions are the hardest to fill (Indeed, 2017)

The average opening sat unfulfilled for 28.1 days (Glassdoor, 2017)
17% of recruiters do not know or do not track what their average cost per hire is (Yello, 2020)
Recruiters on average spend a third of their work week sourcing candidates (Entelo, 2018)

Cost of a Bad Hire

Nearly three-in-four employers are affected by a poor hire (Careerbuilder, 2017)
On average, companies lost $14,900 on every bad hire (HRexchangenetwork, 2020)
Bad hires can result in a 32% drop in employee morale, and a 36% drop in productivity (TheUndercoverRecruiter)
89% of recruiters say bad hires typically lack soft skill (Linkedin, 2019)

The main reason people change jobs is career opportunity (Linkedin, 2015)

Onboarding Statistics

Great onboarding process can improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%(Glassdoor, 2015)
Only about 1-in-10 employees strongly agree their organization does an excellent job of onboarding new employees (Gallup)
Negative onboarding experiences make new hires twice as likely to look for other opportunities (Digitate)

Work Culture Statistics

84% of recruiters have reported that culture fit has become a key factor when hiring (Cubiks, 2016)
For 25% of respondents better company culture is the top reason for a job change (Linkedin, 2017)
Two-thirds of job seekers said that a diverse workforce is important when choosing a company (Glassdoor, 2014)

Recruiting plays a key role in the success of a company. The tools recruiters use can aid or detract from that work. Learn more about the best recruitment software, applicant tracking system, recruiting CRM, video interviewing tool, or candidate sourcing tool.

Public vs. Private: How Shortlister Gets Paid

	Shortlister App Subscription/Login Required	Shortlister Public Site myshortlister.com
Who can Access Shortlister?	Versions of the Shortlister app are available for employers and benefits consultants to access detailed information on service providers and issue RFPs.	Anyone can access the basic vendor data listed on the Shortlister public site, free of charge.
Do employer & consultant users pay to access Shortlister?	Yes – There is a monthly subscription fee	No – Shortlister's public site has tens of thousands of visitors per month that are researching vendors. They do not pay to access this basic vendor data.
Do service providers pay to be listed?	No – Service providers can enroll on the Shortlister app for free.	No – Service Providers do not pay to be listed on the Shortlister public site.
Can service providers pay to improve their position?	No – The Shortlister app's matching algorithm is completely neutral & unbiased. It matches employer & consultant users with service providers based on how closely the buyers requirements match the service provider's capabilities.	Yes – ONLY on Shortlister's public site. Service providers can bid to show up higher on listing pages. This is how Shortlister is compensated for the substantial effort it takes to curate this pages and vet vendor data.
What if a service provider doesn't pay Shortlister?	Nothing – Service providers don't pay a fee to participate on the Shortlister app and are matched based on how well their capabilities align with a buyer's demographics and needs.	Service providers will still be listed on the pages for the services they provide, they will just be listed below those that have bid to list higher on that particular product page.
What about the Top Vendor lists at the top of the product listing pages? Is there a fee to be listed?	Not Applicable – The Shortlister app doesn't display Top Vendor lists because the algorithm generates a custom list based on the customer's needs.	Yes - There is a nominal fee of $50 per quarter that's charged if a service provider is approved for a Top Vendor list. Shortlister evaluates vendor capabilities & market performance data to determine who should be listed. Evaluating this data takes considerable time and effort, so the nominal $50 fee covers the cost of the work it takes to curate these lists. If a vendor applies for a Top Vendor list but doesn’t meet the criteria, they are not charged a fee.
Who provides reviews of service providers?	Reviews on Shortlister's app are collected from employers and consultants. Service providers are also able to collect reviews from their customers, once they are validated by Shortlister. When a user is logged into the Shortlister app, they can clearly see the source of the review.	Public site reviews are an aggregation of employer, consultant and provider-collected reviews. There is no way for public site visitors to differentiate the source of the review.
Do service providers see information and reviews put in the site by your users?	Service providers cannot see the information put in by Shortlister's consultant and employer users.	Service providers can see information that was collected from their own clients.