Leading companies are leveraging external benchmarks and other HR data sources to find insights that can help them attract the right talent with the right skills at the right price. This form of recruiting analytics is particularly important during an ever-changing labor market like the one we’re experiencing today.
To build an optimized recruitment strategy, you’ll need to be armed with the most recent and relevant benchmarks.
For that, you’ll need these 60 recruitment benchmarks to help you better adjust and optimize your workforce strategies.
Table of Contents
Hiring Costs Benchmarks
Hiring costs refer to the expenses associated with finding, screening, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new hires. Being able to effectively manage hiring costs is a sign of a well-run recruitment team. The benchmarks below will help you understand how you’re doing relatively.
1. On average, the cost per hire for each recruit is $4,425. (Source: SHRM)
2. On average, the cost per hire for an executive position is $14,936. (Source: SHRM)
3. The average recruitment expenses to HR expenses ratio is 15%. (Source: SHRM)
4. The average recruiting agency fee is $20,283 per hire. (Source: Top Echelon)
5. On average, recruiting agency fee makes up 21.5% of the total recruitment budget. (Source: Top Echelon)
6. A relocation package costs companies between $21,327 and $24,913 for renters and between $61,622 and $79,429 for homeowners. (Source: Worldwide ERC)
7. Signing bonuses for managers and executives typically ranged from $10,000 to more than $50,000. (Source: The Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard University)
8. The average cost of a bad hire is up to 30% of the employee’s first year compensation. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)
9. Companies lost an average of $14,900 on every bad hire. (Source: CareerBuilder)
10. The average cost of losing a good hire is $29,600. (Source: CareerBuilder)
11. The average cost per hire for a small business is $1,872. (Source: Monster)
The average cost per hire for a recruit is $4,425 and $14,936 for an executive position. (Source: SHRM)
Hiring Process Benchmarks
Companies with a lean hiring process can find better talent faster and cheaper. In order to achieve this, HR teams need to perform well from the very beginning of the hiring process all the way to the job offer and onboarding stages. The benchmarks below will help you to evaluate the efficiency of your hiring process.
12. 62% of small business owners have reported making a wrong hire. (Source: Monster)
13. 74% of surveyed companies said they have hired the wrong person for a position. (Source: CareerBuilder)
14. In 2019, 49% of job searches were conducted on mobile, compared to 51% of job searches on desktops. (Source: Monster)
15. 42% of resumes companies receive are from candidates who do not meet skills requirements. (Source: Robert Half)
16. 40% of hiring managers say that the skills gap will be their top hurdle in 2021. (Source: Monster)
17. 8% of employers say they have difficulty filling openings due to skills gaps. (Source: Monster)
18. Job ads that have social media in their distribution receive 114% more views. (Source: Monster)
19. Companies receive 71% more applicants to jobs posted with social media strategy, compared to those without one. (Source: Monster)
20. 29 is the average number of applicants companies receive per open requisition. (Source: Jobvite)
21. 38 days is the average time to fill an open position. (Source: Jobvite)
22. The average percentage of applicants that move to the interview stage is 12%. (Source: Jobvite)
23. The average percentage of interviews that move to the offer stage is 28%. (Source: Jobvite)
24. The average percentage of offers that turn into new hires is 95%. (Source: Jobvite)
25. The average number of qualified candidates per hire is 23.1. (Source: Workable)
26. 50% of the jobs posted on job boards received the candidate that they’re looking for in the first week. (Source: Workable)
In 2017, the average time to fill an open position is 38 days (Source: Jobvite)
Hiring Sources Benchmarks
Today there are multiple avenues that recruiting teams can use to source candidates. Each hiring source has its advantages and disadvantages, but which ones are best for your hiring needs? Use the recruitment benchmarks below to determine how your team is doing and where your best hiring sources are.
27. 30% of all hires overall in 2016 are from employee referrals. (Source: SHRM)
28. Employee referral hires stay 70% longer than non-referral hires. (Source: ICISMS)
29. On average, 74% of open positions are filled externally. (Source: SHRM)
30. On average, 24% of open positions are filled internally. (Source: SHRM)
31. The average internal hiring rate has increased by 10% since 2015. (Source: LinkedIn)
32. Since the onset of COVID-19, the internal hiring rate has increased by nearly 20% compared to the same time last year. (Source: LinkedIn)
33. Employees stay 41% longer at companies with high internal hiring compared to those with low internal hiring. (Source: LinkedIn)
34. The average percentage of new hires to the total employee population is 30.2%. (Source: ADP)
35. The average percentage of managers promoted internally is 17.2%. (Source: ADP)
36. The average percentage of managers hired externally is 15.6%. (Source: ADP)
74% of open positions and 24% are filled internally. (Source: SHRM)
Diversity Hiring Benchmarks
Diversity hiring is one of the most highly discussed and debated topics in the HR and recruiting world. Companies are trying to figure out what their goals for diversity hiring should be and which path they should take to meet them. Below is a wide range of hiring benchmarks that will help your team better measure, track, and compare your diversity hiring progress.
37. 87% of surveyed companies indicate that their management team believes diversity hiring is important and should be a priority. (Source: Yello)
38. 81% of respondents say their companies have diversity recruiting strategies. (Source: Yello)
39. 68% of surveyed companies indicate it’s a challenge to increase workplace diversity. (Source: Yello)
40. Women's workforce participation has already dropped to 57% - the lowest since 1988. (Source: Barrons)
41. On average, men earn 21.4% more than women. But when you take into consideration age, education, experience, job characteristics, and other factors, the gap shrinks to 4.9%. (Source: Glassdoor)
42. Tracking of diversity and inclusion supplier spending increased from 22% to 43%. (Source: Internet Association)
43. Corporate diversity and inclusion representation goals increased from 41% to 52%. (Source: Internet Association)
68% of surveyed companies indicate it’s a challenge to increase workplace diversity. (Source: Yello)
Post Offer Benchmarks
Post offer activities play an important role in new hire engagement, turnover, and retention, but most recruiting teams don’t track how much resources they spent and what impact they’re receiving in return. The below benchmarks will help you evaluate the efficiency of your onboarding and post-offer activities.
44. The average new hire turnover rate within the first 90 days is 30%. (Source: Jobvite)
45. The average new hire turnover rate within 1 year is 23%. (Source: HBR)
46. The average time to full productivity for new hires is approximately 8 to 12 months. (Source: Allied Van Lines and TrainingIndustry)
47. The average annual training investment per employee is $1,296. (Source: ATD)
48. Midsize companies spent less money on training ($829) than large ($1,544) and small ($1,511) companies. (Source: The Industry Report)
49. On average, employees received 42.1 hours of training per year. (Source: the Industry Report)
50. The average annual promotion rate is 8.9%. (Source: ADP)
51. 25% of companies reported that their onboarding process takes a day or less while 26% spend a week and 21% of companies spend a month. (Source: CareerBuilder)
The average new hire turnover rate within the first 90 days is 30%. (Source: Jobvite)
2021 Hiring Trends
The coronavirus outbreak has altered how recruiting teams work. Changes that were expected to take years are instead happening in months. The below statistics will help you stay on top of 2021 recruiting trends:
52. 82% of surveyed companies plan to hire in 2021. (Source: Monster)
53. 93% of surveyed companies are confident they will find the right candidates. (Source: Monster)
54. 50% or more of open positions are being filled with remote workers. (Source: Jobvite)
55. The median projected percentage change for total salary budgets from 2020 to 2021 is an increase of 3.0%. (Source: Conference Board)
56. 81% of talent professionals agree virtual recruiting will continue during post-COVID-19. (Source: LinkedIn)
57. 20% of the U.S. labor force worked from home full-time BEFORE the coronavirus outbreak. (Source: Pew Research Center)
58. 71% of the U.S. labor force are working from home full-time DURING the coronavirus outbreak. (Source: Pew Research Center)
59. 51% of the survey respondents indicated that they are able to work from home at an efficiency rate of 80% or more. (Source: Stanford University)
60. 65% of Americans reported having internet capacity fast enough to support video conferencing calls. (Source: Stanford University)
82% of surveyed companies plan to hire in 2021. (Source: Monster)
Conclusion
Combining these benchmarks into your reports and analyses can provide valuable insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of your recruitment process. Have questions? Talk to us.
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