Top Recruiting Stats for 2019

December 20, 2018

 

ICIMS Staff

3 min read

It’s important for today’s talent acquisition professionals and HR leaders to keep a pulse on the constantly changing landscape of recruiting. Below are informative statistics on hot topics in talent acquisition that will continue to shape how employers find top talent and grow their organizations in 2019.

Entry-Level Employees Have High Expectations

• While new grads expect an average salary of $54,010, recruiters estimate they will pay entry-level employees $56,532, on average — a substantial jump of more than $10,000 since last year when their estimate was $45,361, on average.
• Even with salary expectations rising, 64 percent of college seniors said they are likely to get a job in the “gig economy” to supplement their main income.
• While only 24 percent of college seniors surveyed will be graduating with a degree in STEM, these students are in high demand – 52 percent of recruiters say they are most interested in hiring majors in these fields.
• More than half of surveyed companies have seen an increase in the number of applicants with a master’s degree for entry-level positions, but 72 percent feel applicants with a master’s degree are overqualified for an entry-level position.

Source: iCIMS, Class of 2018 Report, 2018

Improving Your Candidate Experience Should be a Top Priority

• More than two-thirds (67 percent) of employed American adults agree that the application, interview or offer process would make or break their decision on whether to take a job.
• Nearly 7-in-10 people use Google as part of their typical process to search for open jobs and research potential employers. More specifically, 83 percent of millennials use Google during their job search, and Gen-Xers (68 percent) are taking advantage of the popular search engine more readily than boomers (53 percent).
• Nearly three-in-five (59 percent) job candidates have abandoned an online application specifically because there were issues or bugs with the website.

Source: iCIMS, Candidate Experience Report, 2018

Tech Employers Are Hiring More but are Faced with Less Qualified Talent

• Just over three in five (61 percent) tech hiring professionals state a four-year college degree alone does not prepare job seekers to be successful in today’s workforce.
• Forty-five percent of tech hiring professionals state that in the next two years, a coding boot camp will be as meaningful a qualification for skilled technology jobs as a college degree.
• Seventy-four percent of tech hiring professionals have increased their hiring of freelance or contingent technology workers in the past two years due to lower costs and more access to specialized skills and flexibility.
• Sixty-one percent of tech hiring professionals agree that a four-year college degree in a technology-related field alone does not prepare job seekers to be successful in today’s workforce.
• Hiring candidates with non-traditional educational backgrounds has become increasingly common. Forty-four percent of tech hiring professionals said that in the past year, less than 25 percent of their technology hires had a college degree in a related field.

 Source: iCIMS, Shifts & Trends in Tech Talent Qualifications & Needs, 2018

The Gig Economy Could Help You Fill Roles in a Tight Labor Market

• Eighty-two percent of contingent workers said they have at least one current contract job that is knowledge-based, such as writing, photography, professional consulting, technology services, healthcare services or tutoring.
• Flexibility outweighs stability for the contingent workforce, as 76 percent of gig workers find contract work exciting and only 24 percent find it stressful.
• Sixty-five percent found contract jobs from referrals, such as friends or professional network contacts. Only 17 percent found work through mobile-based applications for on-demand jobs.
• According to gig workers, the biggest downside of the work, by far, is lack of employee benefits, including healthcare and retirement plans.

 Source: iCIMS, The Myths & Realities of the U.S. Gig Economy, 2018