RESEARCH

2024-2025 Hiring Benchmark Report

Every year, we survey hiring professionals from across all industries  to learn more about how they attract, hire, and retain their teams.  

For our seventh annual report, we explore the state of hiring in 2024.  

2024 has been an odd year for hiring. With the Wall Street Journal declaring an end to the “talent-war era,” 2024 seems to mark a transition  from a candidate-driven market to an employer-driven one, where candidates no longer have the advantage. Does this shift automatically translate into an easier time for companies to hire? Our data suggests otherwise.  

Thanks to an uncertain economic climate, the picture is far more complex. Our report explores how major factors such as rapid advancements in AI, the skills gaps, and remote work continue to impact the world of hiring.  

The results in this report are based on a survey of 425+ hiring professionals across organizations large and small, and across a wide breadth of industries. Responses were collected in July 2024. The report surveyed a global audience, with the majority of respondents hailing from the United States, Australia, and Canada. 

Key Findings from the Report:

  1. Over half of hiring professionals plan to hire more next year. Small businesses are especially more likely to expect growth.  
     

  2. Only 1 in 5 hiring professionals admit to ghosting a candidate. Yet according to our candidate survey earlier this year, 38% of candidates say they’ve been ghosted just within the last year. 

    Only 1 in 5 hiring professionals admit to ghosting

     

  3. 70% of hiring professionals believe we’re facing a talent shortage. The hardest skills to find include industry-specific knowledge and soft skills.  
     

  4. Over half of companies are adopting skills-based hiring. To accomplish this, 74% of those companies have started to evaluate skills in new ways, while 68% are rewriting job descriptions to emphasize skills. Meanwhile, one in five have removed college degree requirements. 

    Over half of companies are adopting skills-based hiring

     

  5. A quarter of hiring professionals are now using AI for hiring and/or talent management. This doubled from last year. But AI still has ground to cover when gaining trust – only 9% of respondents trust AI more than traditional recruitment methods.  
     

  6. 3 in 4 hiring professionals say emotional intelligence is the most important skill to look for in job candidates. This was closely followed by analytical thinking, flexibility/agility, and resilience.

    3 in 4 hiring professionals say emotional intelligence is the most important skill to look for