What’s behind this $200 billion industry?

We’ve had a quick look at trends in the recruitment and employment market in the US. Though some of these figures are just plain interesting for people that work in the recruitment and employment market, the purpose of posting these figures are to encourage companies to use external recruiters to:
(i) improve communication with the job market and attract better candidates
(ii)  increase efficiency and the time it takes to hire
(iii) reduce the cost of recruitment for every single position.

Here are some of the figures:

  • The worldwide employment market is valued at $200 billion. Here’s that figure with the zeroes: 20 000 000 000. Dollars.
  • From 20%-24% of US employees change jobs every year. This represents up to 41 million people changing job! Every year!
  • The average tenure of a salaried employee (time with the company since being recruited) is 4.2 years. This number is falling every year.
  • On average, companies spend $4000 per candidate during the recruitment process. This includes all the communicating, interviewing, scheduling, assessment, etc. It does not include recruitment fees. So many of these costs could be absorbed by using an external recruiter!
  • The average job opening attracts over 150 candidates.
  • The increase in employer’s exposure and communication over social media results in better-informed candidates. Good. This results in greater competition. Good. Which results in longer recruitment times (average increase from 48-52 days). Not so good.
  • Over 45% of candidates that have applied for a position, never hear from the employer again.
  • Between 20%-25% of employers say the candidates they hire do not fit the position in the long term.

Sources:
US Department of Labour, Bureau of Labour Statistics
Bersin by Deloitte
Glassdoor

If you find any of this information useful or surprising, let us know.