British job hunters and employers are frustrated with slow and inefficient hiring processes in the UK as survey data revealed that job applicants only get a response to 45 percent of their applications, meaning more than half their applications go unanswered.
This is despite the fact there are 916,000 job vacancies in the UK, ONS data shows.
More than half (51 percent) of British job applicants said they have given up on finding a role that’s right for them as the process has been too difficult, demoralising or time-consuming, research from recruitment platform Indeed found.
Frustrations run high among employers too as 61 percent said they had wasted time with inefficient or lengthy hiring processes.
The findings were revealed by an Indeed survey of 1,000 working people and 1,000 hiring professionals.
Candidate grievances
Not hearing back from employers is just one grievance job seekers have with the hiring process.
Nearly four-fifths (79 percent) said finding roles they want to apply for is “a job in itself”, while 63 percent of workers find UK hiring processes inefficient and slow.
Job seekers said the top three emotions the hiring process brought out were frustration (45 percent), being demoralised (27 percent) and feeling burned out (25 percent). Only 9 percent said it made them feel empowered to find new work.
Almost a quarter (23 percent) of job hunters said their last job search took six months or longer. As a result of this, survey respondents said they had lowered their standards, with 27 percent admitting to caring less about the jobs they applied for and 23 percent applying for jobs they knew they weren’t suited to. Another outcome of slow and inefficient hiring processes was that 63 percent of candidates said they had applied for multiple jobs because they didn’t expect to hear back from employers.
These behaviours are playing out for recruiters. They told the survey that 22 percent of candidates who apply for a role are a poor match.
Employers also said that they have wasted time with inefficient or lengthy hiring processes because 32 percent of candidates they’ve reached out to are unsuitable due to avoidable reasons such as location, qualifications, or lack of interest in new opportunities.
AI matching engine
In response to these frustrations, Indeed has introduced new AI-powered products and features intended to make recruitment faster, simpler and more accurate for employers and job seekers. For example, Smart Sourcing is its an AI-powered tool that enables employers to access an active talent pool of nearly 300 million workers, based on profiles and CVs they have shared on the recruitment platform. Indeed said the matching engine recommends the best candidates for a job based on a person’s skills, experience and qualifications.
The platform has also unveiled its Connect for Employers app in the UK, which is designed to enable employers to connect and respond to hiring process progress via their phone.
The candidate profile area on the platform has been revamped so registered people can receive personalised job recommendations and be contacted by employers for relevant jobs.
Danny Stacy, head of talent intelligence, UK, at Indeed, said: “The hiring process is broken for both job seekers and businesses. This is especially true when it comes to finding and sourcing the right people for the right jobs, as our research shows that while hiring managers are receiving an influx of applications that aren’t a match for the role, workers are similarly contacted for positions that simply aren’t right for them. With Indeed’s AI-powered technology, we continue to transform job matching and hiring and make the experience simpler and faster for employers and job seekers.
“Our latest tech innovations not only can instigate quality matches between employers and job seekers but also change real bugbears with the hiring process. Small things, like making responding to applicants a 10-second job, can have a gargantuan effect on what can be a demoralising process for many job seekers.“
