The interviewing stage can be a nerve-wracking experience for job seekers.
But by understanding a candidate’s expectations, the issues they face, recruiters can provide a better experience and streamline their hiring efforts.
To help you provide a better job interview experience, we researched and put together some compelling job interview statistics.
1. 47% of candidates fail job interviews because they did not receive enough information about the company. (Source: Legal jobs)
Helping candidates put their best foot forward benefits them and saves time and resources for recruiters. Providing adequate information also reflects positively on your candidate experience. Make sure you brief your candidates well before interviews to keep them engaged.
2. Only 2% of candidates who apply for a job opening are selected for a job interview. (Source: Job Description Library)
With the average job posting receiving hundreds of resumes and applications, only a small percentage will get an interview. Implement a more strategic screening process to gauge the most high-quality candidates from your pool of applicants.
3. Each job posting attracts an average of 250 applicants. (Source: Glassdoor)
With such a high volume of applicants, assessing every candidate can be challenging. As a result, the chances of making a bad hiring decision increases, or you may not receive quality applicants. Instead, pay attention to your job descriptions and assess candidates through online assessment tests or small assignments to prevent these issues. This way, you’ll rule out irrelevant applicants quickly.
Read more: 6 common mistakes to avoid while writing a job description.
4. 74% of HR professionals use structured interviews for interviewing candidates. This is followed by behavioral interviews (73%), phone screening (57%), and panel interviews (48%). (Source: LinkedIn)
Interviewing formats vary from in-person interviews to structured vs. unstructured questions. Traditional interviews have been the industry standard for decades. With so many different types of interviewing structures, traditional interviews continue to be a widely popular medium for assessing candidates.
5. Phone interviews usually last approximately 15 minutes. (Source: Zippia)
Phone interviews are commonly used as a screening tool before longer and structured job interviews. Therefore, keep your calls short and brief to gain the most from your phone interview.
6. It takes between one and three job interviews to get an offer. (Source: Indeed)
Most recruiters take up to three interviews per candidate before deciding to make an offer. Recruiters generally don’t take more than one interview for entry-level jobs but may have up to three separate meetings for a senior-level post.
Read more: How to write a job offer letter that candidates will appreciate?
7. An astonishing 85% of people lie on their resumes. (Source: Legal jobs)
There’s no surprise that most job seekers lie on their resumes. Most job seekers who lie on their resumes do so because they don’t have enough work experience or the required skills. As a recruiter, the best way to identify these candidates is to focus on skill assessment tests and background checks.
8. The average length of the hiring process in the U.S. is about 23.8 days. (Source: Glassdoor)
The time it takes to hire someone speaks volumes about what the company is like. A lengthy process could indicate an unorganized company. In contrast, a process that is too short might signal that a company isn’t prioritizing whether or not it’s a good fit for the candidate.
To keep your candidates interested, make sure your hiring process isn’t too long by following a structured timeline.
9. Referrals are 5x more effective than all other means of hiring. (Source: LinkedIn)
Research shows referrals are a much more cost-efficient and faster way to hire. Along with this, referred candidates are generally better quality hires and lower a company’s turnover rate. To effectively integrate this into your recruitment strategy, the first step to any hiring process should be asking your existing employees for a referral.
10. 60% of recruiters resort to video technology to interview candidates. (Source: Forbes)
Video interviewing has become a common interviewing method owing to its many benefits. Video interviewing is being replaced by traditional interviews as it shortens the hiring timeframe, cuts costs, and allows flexibility. If you haven’t adopted video interviewing yet, it’s high time to replace your traditional interviews with video interviews!
11. Female job applicants with children are 36% less likely to be called in for a job interview than male applicants. (Source: PwC)
Unfortunately, gender bias still exists in the recruitment industry. Because of gender biases in recruitment, there is a massive gender gap in the workforce. As diversity is becoming an important issue for many job seekers, employers must acknowledge this bias and implement strategies to prevent these biases.
Read more: 5 main challenges faced during diversity hiring: how can recruiters mitigate them?
12. The candidate application rate increases by 34% when a job post includes a video. (Source: Smallbizgenius)
Videos have proven to be a game-changer for marketing, and when you think about it, recruitment is marketing. A majority of people prefer watching a video to reading a post.
You can take advantage of this by incorporating short videos explaining your organization’s mission, work culture, and even employee testimonials.
Instead of sticking to the same old technique of a text-based job posting, employers can stand out to job seekers by incorporating a visual medium.
13. 94% of job seekers want to receive interview feedback, but only 41% have received interview feedback before. (Source: LinkedIn)
Providing feedback is a crucial part of providing a positive candidate experience. Not only does providing feedback reflect positively on the candidate, but it can also help streamline the hiring process in the long run.
If an organization follows a system of recording candidate feedback and maintaining it in a database, employers will have a solid idea of who they are looking for.
Read more: 8 free candidate experience survey questions and feedback for use in 2022.
14. Since 2016, there has been a 78% increase in LinkedIn job posts that highlight work flexibility. (Source: LinkedIn)
The Great Resignation has thrown light on the changing priorities of today’s workers. Flexibility seems to top that list of priorities for many job seekers. As a result, organizations that embrace flexibility have a competitive edge in the job market.
Flexible work options have almost become a standard expectation for many job seekers.
Read more: The Great Resignation: This is how your recruitment strategies must adapt to this change.
15. The average time from an interview to a job offer is between 20 and 40 days (Source: Algrim)
Making the right hiring decision requires recruiters to take their time. However, this can often lead to a loss of high-quality talent and uninterested candidates. It’s important to keep your candidates engaged in showing that they are valued throughout the hiring process.
16. High-quality candidates only have to wait ten days to find a new job. (Source: Workonic)
Unfortunately, a lot of recruiters assume that top talent will stick around until the final hiring decision, but the data shows otherwise. This means that if you do not act in time, you will lose high-quality candidates to competitors.
To streamline your efforts, assign a date to desirable candidates to meet their expectations on time.
17. 73% of job seekers say the process of looking for a job is one of the most stressful events in life. (Source: G2)
Without a doubt, most job seekers will agree that job searching and the hiring process can be pretty stressful. As an employer, you can ease candidates’ stress by providing the best candidate experience and helping your candidates stay prepared.
Make sure your candidates feel valued and keep them in the loop about what to expect. This leaves a positive impression on candidates who are otherwise stressed.
18. Lack of information about pay and benefits (50%) and interview schedule changes (50%) are the two main reasons job seekers view the search as stressful. (Source: Glassdoor)
As mentioned in the last point, the hiring process can be stressful for job seekers. However, some simple adjustments can provide a smooth experience to candidates. Providing adequate information and maintaining timely communication are small steps to bring positive change.
19. 92% of companies use social media platforms to look up candidates. (Source: Legal jobs)
In the age of social media, it’s not surprising to see a majority of employers and job seekers on social media platforms. This is an essential consideration as employers expect an updated social media profile (especially on LinkedIn) as a job seeker.
If you are not actively seeking candidates through social media, you’ll miss out on an excellent pool of talent, as social media is the best place for job seekers to display their skills!
20. 60% of recruiters say they regularly lose candidates before scheduling an interview. (Source: Yello)
There is a saying, “Time kills all deals.” The same applies to interviewing candidates. If you spend too much time between screening and interviewing, there’s a higher chance that high-quality candidates will lose interest and drop out of the hiring process.
Consequently, recruiters need to keep their candidates informed about when to expect an interview and keep the duration as short as possible.
21. 60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity. (Source: G2)
Long and complex job applications are a huge drawback. To attract the most candidates, go through your application form, make sure it does not seem too long and keep the questions brief and straightforward.
22. Nearly 50% of job seekers prefer video interviews over face-to-face interviews.
Video interviewing is not only a preferred method for many employers, but a majority of job seekers benefit from video interviews as well. Video interviewing expedites the interviewing process, allows more flexibility, cuts down on time, and eliminates commuting.
Video interviewing is also an excellent option for getting to know introverted and shy candidates as it reduces stress and anxiety for many job seekers.
23. 35% of applicants find job openings through social media.
As the number of Millennial and Gen Z workers is expected to grow, applicants finding jobs through social media will also surge. Unfortunately, if you still haven’t adapted to social recruiting, you’re missing out on a large pool of candidates.
Posting about a job opening online opens the doors to a much wider talent pool, making sourcing much more effortless.
24. 60% of recruiters resort to video technology to interview candidates. (Source: Forbes)
Video interviewing has taken over traditional face-to-face interviews. There’s no surprise that video interviewing is here to stay as it benefits both employers and candidates. Organizations that resort to video interviews have been shown to save massive costs and time.
So the next time you schedule an interview, consider the benefits of video interviewing over traditional interviews.
25. On average, recruiters spend two-thirds of their overall hiring time on the interview process. (Source: Yello)
There’s no doubt that interviewing is by far one of the most time-consuming and labor-intensive aspects of the hiring process. From canceled interviews to interview scheduling, many reasons contribute to the long duration of this process.
To simplify the interviewing stage, invest in an interview scheduling tool and recruitment software to keep track of all your interviews.
26. 51% of recruiters state that the best candidate is found after 3 interviews. (Source: MRI Network)
Multiple interview rounds are pretty common, especially for senior positions. However, multiple interview rounds can make the hiring process much more time-consuming, negatively affecting candidates.
To reduce your time spent on interviewing, opt for a collaborative hiring process or consider having one or two more interviewers for your interviews.
If you’re interested in optimizing your recruitment strategy, we hope these job interview statistics help you navigate your approach to hiring.
Read more: 50+ key recruiting statistics you need to consider while hiring in 2022.
