More than a third of job seekers drop out of recruitment procedure

According to research published by Sterling, the majority (78%) of job seekers are dropping out or considering dropping out of the recruitment procedure due to lengthy and complex processes, exacerbating the skills crisis.

The data, which comes from a global survey of more than 1,200 HR professionals and perspectives from more than 3,700 recent job seekers, revealed that a third of those that dropped out said the hiring process was too complicated and 22% expressed an issue with the background screening process.

There is clearly a disconnect between employers and candidates as the research found that just 9% of HR professionals believed that candidates would find their hiring process complicated, despite a third of candidates exiting the process for this very reason.

According to Sterling, these results should be cause for concern at a time when skills are in increasingly short supply, with almost half of HR professionals surveyed revealing that they are unable to find enough candidates to fill roles.

Steve Smith, President International at Sterling, commented: “With skills in short supply across most of Europe, ensuring applicants have the best possible experience with a brand is of significant importance. However, this latest data indicates that a significant proportion of the candidate community is dropping out of hiring processes due to the complexity of requirements, suggesting the experience for the end-user isn’t as positive as it could be. There’s been a wealth of speculation that individuals are getting counter-offers which is leading to them dropping out of the hiring process due to opportunities elsewhere. While this may be the case, the insight from applicants themselves suggests there’s more to this issue that needs to be addressed swiftly. In the current economy, it’s simply not a viable option to overlook how important it is to provide an efficient and engaging hiring process for candidates.”