Talent Acquisition 2018: 50+ Phenomenal Stats You Need to Know

2018 has been an exciting year for talent acquisition! We’re a little over halfway through the year, but it’s never been a better time to start reflecting on some of the trends happening in the industry now. That begins with stats.

We’ve done the legwork and compiled 50-plus stats around talent acquisition and human resources. Use these data points as a resource for building business cases for existing process changes and more.

Future of Work Stats

1. 88 percent of leaders believe building an organization for the future is an important issue. However, only 11 percent of those people believe they understand how to build an organization for the future. [Deloitte]

2. According to recruiters, employees, and candidates, 77 percent of job openings in 2017 were due to newly created positions. [MRI Network]

3. 43 percent of recruiters believe that AI will make their jobs better. 7 percent believe it will make their job worse. [Jobvite]

4. 54 percent of recruiters would like to have automated interview scheduling. [Jobvite]

5. The senior population is expected to double by 2050, increasing the shortage of paid caregivers. [Glassdoor]

6. 37 percent of recruiters ranked recruiting diverse candidates as a top trend in the near future. [LinkedIn]

Hiring Stats

7. 45 percent of employers globally report they can’t find the skills they need to fill open jobs. This number is up from the 40 percent of employers reporting the same in 2017. [ManpowerGroup]

8. 67 percent of large companies and 56 percent of medium sized companies are having talent shortage issues. [ManpowerGroup]

9. For the sixth consecutive year globally, skilled trade jobs have been the hardest to fill. [ManpowerGroup]

10. 26.8 percent of software developers discover their job due to a family or friend referral. [Stack Overflow]

11. 42 percent of millennials and 41 percent of Gen Z believe that businesses need to be more diverse in educational backgrounds. [Deloitte]

12. In 2017, the average time-to-hire was 38 days. [Jobvite]

13. The top three sources used to submit an application in 2017 were job boards (8.3M), career sites (5.8M), and referrals (450K). [Jobvite]

14. The percentage of accepted offers rose from 83 percent in 2016 to 90 percent in 2017. [Jobvite]

15. In 2017, the highest number of applications per job came from the transportation and warehousing industry. [Jobvite]

16. Industries with the shortest time-to-fill are Accommodation & Food Services, Real Estate Renting & Leasing, Finance, and Insurance. [Jobvite]

17. 69 percent of executives believe diversity and inclusion are high priorities. This is a significant increase from 2014 when it was only a high priority to 34 percent of executives. [Glassdoor]

18. 74 percent of job seekers expect to find salary on a job description. [CareerBuilder]

19. Candidates don’t want to complete an application that will take them longer than 20 minutes. [CareerBuilder]

20. 25 percent of employers believe that the amount of time to fill a position takes too long. [CareerBuilder]

Interviewing Stats

21. The average length of a job interview process (time-to-hire) across 25 countries is 23.8 days. [Glassdoor]

22. The longest job interview process (time-to-hire) globally across 25 countries is for professors (60.3 days) and business systems analysts (44.8 days). [Glassdoor]

23. The percentage of interviews that resulted in offers increased to 28 percent in 2017 from 19 percent in 2016. [Jobvite]

24. 41 percent of US employers plan to use text messages to schedule job interviews. [CareerBuilder]

Recruiting Stats

25. 73 percent of recruiters believe that social media is important during the hiring process. On the flip side, 79 percent of employers believe that social media is only sometimes important during the hiring process. [MRI Network]

26. 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to check candidates. [Jobvite]

27. 76 percent of hiring managers find that their top challenge is attracting quality candidates. [Glassdoor]

28. 75 percent of hiring managers say it’s easier to attract quality talent when the candidate is aware of your organization (company name, product, reputation). [Glassdoor]

29. 83 percent of job seekers are likely to research a company’s ratings to decide where to apply for a job. [Glassdoor]

30. Recruiters take an average of six seconds to scan a résumé. [The Ladders]

31. 63 percent of recruiters look for a résumé that is tailored to the open position. [CareerBuilder]

32. On average, a corporate job will attract 250 résumés. Out of those résumés, four to six people will be interviewed, and only one person will be offered the job. [Glassdoor]

33. 41 percent of employers say they may not interview a candidate if they can’t find them online. [CareerBuilder]

34. 46 percent of employers will disqualify candidates if they find provocative or inappropriate content on their social media profile. [CareerBuilder]

35. 60 percent of recruiters use social networking sites to research candidates. [CareerBuilder]

36. 51 percent of US employees say they are actively looking for a job or watching for openings. [Gallup]

37. The top three majors recruiters look for in new grads are business, computer information sciences, and engineering. [Zety]

Employer Brand Stats

38. 61 percent of applicants say the company’s career site is the best channel to build an employer brand. [LinkedIn]

39. 50 percent of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation, even if the pay is better. [Betterteam]

40. Companies with positive brands get twice as many applications as companies with negative brands. [Betterteam]

41. 69 percent of job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its brand (i.e. responds to reviews, updates profiles, shares information on culture & work environment). [Glassdoor]

42. 40 percent of millennials say market reputation has the biggest influence on their impression of an employer. [MRI Network]

43. 80 percent of recruiters believe employer branding has a significant impact on hiring talent. [LinkedIn]

44. Companies with a bad reputation pay 10 percent more per hire. [Harvard Business Review]

Perks & Benefits Stats

45. 55 percent of candidates believe it is important for employers to offer a work from home option. [MRI Network]

46. 93 percent of employees say it’s important that they are informed of all aspects of a company before they accept an offer (culture, values, mission, future plans). [Glassdoor]

47. 72 percent of employees believe if they are treated well, they will have more trust in the company. [Edelman]

48. Financial rewards and benefits and a positive work culture are the top two factors that are very important to millennials when they are choosing to work for an organization. [Deloitte]

49. At companies providing paid leave to new parents, mothers receive almost twice the amount of days as fathers (42 days versus 22 days). [Glassdoor]

50. Among women taking maternity leave, higher-income mothers take twice as much leave on average than lower income mothers. [Glassdoor]

51. 53 percent of employees who get paid vacation would leave for more at another company. [Gallup]

52. 82 percent of women believe that men are paid more for the same position. [Jobvite]

53. Only 22 percent of small employers are engaging employees with worksite wellness. [Bamboo HR]

54. 63 percent of employees believe their company should implement some sort of wellness program. [Gallagher]

55. 64 percent of employees believe they have an affordable healthcare plan for their families. [Gallagher]

Internal Mobility & Retention Stats

56. For every 10 months an employee stays stagnant in a role, they are 1 percent more likely to change companies. [Glassdoor]

57. On average, employees that change their job receive a 5.2 percent pay raise. [Glassdoor]

58. 80 percent of millennials look for a people and culture fit with employers, followed by career potential. [Collegefeed]

59. American millennials are now more likely to say they will stay over five years with a company than to leave within two years. [Deloitte]

60. The average annual turnover rate is 19 percent. The average voluntary turnover rate is 12 percent. [Glassdoor]

61. The national average salary increase is 2.7 percent. [Glassdoor]

62. A 10 percent higher base pay will increase the chance a worker will stay with a company by 1.5 percent. [Glassdoor]

63. 83 percent of millennials say they are more engaged at work when they believe the organization fosters an inclusive culture. [Glassdoor]

64. 74 percent of American adults say they plan to work past retirement. [Glassdoor]

The talent acquisition and human resources landscape is constantly changing. These 50-plus phenomenal stats are a great baseline of current priorities, trends, and insights in the space. It will be interesting to see how these change next year. We will update these stats as new ones come in, so check back in the future to see what’s happening.