HireClix, a leading recruitment marketing services company, has announced the findings of its annual Candidate Experience (CX) Survey, revealing consumer preferences surrounding the job search process. The data highlights where and how candidates are looking for job opportunities and what factors are influencing their career decisions.
“The process of hiring employees should start with a candidate’s first contact with an employer,” says Neil Costa, founder and CEO at HireClix. “Whether job seekers are visiting a company’s career site, engaging on social media or working through their application process, every touch point matters. In today’s job market where employers are hyper-focused on attracting and eventually retaining top talent, it’s more important than ever to reevaluate the early stages of your candidate experience. This data further demonstates the opportunity for employers to focus on the basics by developing a clear employee value proposition, strengthening their employer brand presence, and creating a positive career site experience in the face of an evolving and competitive job market.”
Consumers are levering key sites for job searching including Indeed (58%), LinkedIn (48%), Google (39%), ZipRecruiter (31%), and also directly viewing company career sites (29%). This is on par with last year’s results wherein Indeed (58%) and Google (39%) saw the same utilization levels as 2023. LinkedIn saw a slight bump in utilization, going from 40% to 48% in the most recent survey.
Job seekers were equally likely to use mobile phones (65%) and computers (62%) when searching for a job, while tablet usage (22%) lagged. As expected, long job application processes are deterring 35% of job seekers, cutting an already slim talent pool by over a third.
While 58% of people believe their resume is essential for demonstrating their skills, there is a growing desire among the workforce to move away from prioritizing resumes. Nearly a quarter (23%) of people don’t think their resume accurately demonstrates their skills in the best way. Nearly half (48%) of consumers wish employers would focus on skills during the hiring process.
As recruiters start to explore ways to leverage dating apps, users are not welcoming them with open arms. Nearly half (46%) say dating apps aren’t for job seeking, and 21% say that if they saw a networking ad on a dating app, it would negatively impact their perception of the employer’s brand. Women are more likely than men to disapprove of job seeking on dating apps—as 34% of men are open to leveraging dating apps for job seeking compared to 22% of women. Overall, 28% of people think dating apps could double as job search platforms and would be open to receiving networking and job search opportunities.
When it comes to social media’s impact on the ability to get a job, 33% of consumers agree that their social media could negatively impact their job prospects, while 37% say it would not impact their job search because their channels are private. About 19% say they don’t think employers are looking at their social media profiles.
Half (51%) of people are planning to stay in their current positions, down from 57% last year, whereas 20% want to leave their current job for a new opportunity. Similar to last year, the biggest factors influencing whether an employee stays or leaves their current job are enjoyment of work, compensation, and work-life balance.
When thinking about their current job, the reasons people want to stay include:
- enjoying the work they do (70%);
- being paid competitively (40%); and
- having good work-life balance (45%).
At the same time, reasons to leave include no longer enjoying work (50%); being disappointed in an insufficient bonus or raise (42%); no opportunities for growth or development (38%); and negative change to work-life balance (36%).
