15 Interesting Recruitment Facts

As an executive search company, we regularly read articles highlighting some of the stats linked to our sector. Generally, we are pretty horrified by what we read, both in terms of the way candidates are treated by recruitment firms who show a short-term, misguided arrogance towards candidates. But also by companies who are behind the times when it comes to attracting and investing in their most important asset – their people.

Here you can see what we mean:

1. Job openings increased to 6.0 million April 2016.
2. Approximately 80% of available jobs are never advertised.
3. On average, the number of people who apply for any given job is 118. Only 20% of these applicants get an interview.
4. The average cost of replacing a member of staff earning £25,000 a year or more is £30,614.
5. Many companies use talent-management software to screen resumes, ‘weeding out’ (their words not ours) up to 50% of applications before anyone ever looks at a resume or cover letter.
6. The average time spent looking at a CV is 5-7 seconds, 1 spelling or grammar mistake and your CV will be thrown away. 76% of CVs are ignored if your email address is unprofessional.
7. Only 38.2% of candidates receive any information prior to their actual interview, other than the date and location.
8. On average, interviews last 40 minutes (phone interviews 30 minutes), however in a survey of 2,000 hiring managers, 33% claimed to know whether or not they would hire someone within 90 seconds. After that, it usually takes 24 hours to two weeks to hear from the company with their decision.
9. What employees look for before making an offer: 36% look for multitasking skills; 31% look for initiative; 21% look for creative thinking; and 12% look for something else in the candidate.
10. We can’t stress enough the importance of feedback, but results from the candidate experience awards showed that a mere 5.5% of unsuccessful candidates were given feedback that they found even moderately useful from employers; of that, only 2.6% of candidates received “specific and valuable feedback.” Those were the lucky ones, as 55.9% reported not receiving any feedback at all in the first place. Another 20% of those that did were provided “general or limited feedback.”
11. More than half (56%) of all employers reported that a candidate rejected their job offer in 2012.
12. On average, new employees in SMEs take 24 weeks to reach optimum productivity, compared to 28 weeks for large firms with over 250 workers. However, as we point out in our blog business benefits of a career transition strategy, only 28% of organisations effectively prepare newly appointed leaders for the considerable change required to take on their new role.
13. In Mark Murphy's 'Hire for Attitude' report, he states that of the 20,000 new hires 46% of them failed within 18 months and of these, 89% left because their attitudes did not align to that of the company. Only 11% failed because of a lack of skills.
14. 56% of candidates who felt they had a positive hiring process experience said they would seek employment with the company again in the future, 37% would tell others to apply there, and 23% would be more likely to purchase products or services from that company.
15. In our article, employer branding – is candidate resentment affecting your profits, we highlight PepsiCo’s research which estimates that if 100 applicants apply for 1 role, and annually they hire 5000 people, then each year 495,000 candidates will be rejected. If each of the candidates had a negative experience, and most likely told 1 friend, then that makes 990,000 people with a negative view of PepsiCo.

What do candidates think of your brand? Our checklist guarantees a positive outcome.

Hopefully, you understand the importance of getting recruitment right. Here at Collingwood, we have been refining our processes for over 10 years to ensure we act with diplomacy, sensitivity and tenacity to identify and engage with candidates. Our headhunting approach allows us to gain rich employer brand insights, particularly if these are factors affecting the client’s ability to appoint the right candidate.

Contact us today on 01829 732374 or e-mail enquiries@collingwoodsearch.co.uk for further information on how we can help your organisation appoint senior-level appointments, pivotal to accelerating the performance of your organisation.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/17/7-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-your-job-search/
http://www.oxfordeconomics.com/publication/open/246524
http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/recruitment/it-costs-over-30k-to-replace-a-staff-member/50677
http://www.behiring.com/blogs/7
http://recruitingdaily.com/the-state-of-candidate-experience-in-10-statistics/
http://www.leadershipiq.com/pages/about-mark