This is a list of Human Resources (HR) statistics that have changed the way HR professionals recruit and hire. These HR stats have resulted in innovative recruiting strategies and methods. Improvements in technology and HR analytics have enabled us to measure and get useful insights. We should use these HR stats to make better and more informed decisions.

Even more surprising than these HR stats, is that some companies haven't adjusted their recruiting and hiring strategies yet. They are refusing to follow the latest HR trends not realizing that the "War for talent" is getting more and more intense.

List of HR Statistics

HR Statistic #1: 73% of candidates are passive job seekers

In my opinion, this is the most important HR stat released by LinkedIn. Passive job seekers are people who are not actively looking for jobs, but would be willing to accept a better offer. Here, it is important to remember that a better job offer doesn't necessarily mean more money.

That can be flexible working time, education, opportunities to grow, benefits, cool projects, and many other.

But what does this stat mean for the world of Talent Acquisition?

Unlike passive job seekers, active ones constantly look for new opportunities.

Let’s take, for example, the simplest and one of the oldest ways of recruiting.  This method is called “Post & pray” method with which you post a job to job boards and wait for candidates to apply. Which group of candidates, do you think, you reach with these job ads? Passive or active job seekers? 

So the reason why this HR statistics is so important is because HR professionals need to understand that old recruiting methods mostly focus on active job seekers. Newer recruiting strategies such as Recruitment Marketing and Inbound Recruiting focus on attracting passive job seekers. 

Want to learn more about most productive Recruitment Marketing strategies? Here is our free guide!

HR Statistic #2: Top candidates are gone within 10 days!

According to research, top candidates stay available on the market for 10 days only. Because of this HT stat Candidate Experience and Candidate Engagement emerged as innovative talent attraction strategies. 

Take this statistic and think about what can you do to fasten your hiring and selection process and improve candidate experience:

• Do you use a sourcing tool to find candidates? 
• Do you use an ATS to streamline and fasten your recruiting process?
• Do you have an easy apply option on your career site?
• Do you use a Candidate Relationship Management tool to improve communication and build stronger relationships with candidates?
• Is your career site appealing and application form easy to fill out?
• Do you have a strategy for building your talent pools?
• Do you have a strategy for engaging with your talent pools?
• Do you have a separate pool of your silver medallist (previous highly-qualified job candidates)
• Do you have a structured Employee Referral Program?
• Do you use Inbound Recruiting strategies to keep candidates engaged?

These are just a few examples of how you can engage candidates, provide exceptional candidate experience, build great talent pools and fasten your recruiting process. 

HR Statistic #3: There are 50+ candidate-employer touchpoints throughout candidate journey

A touchpoint is any kind of interaction between the candidate and the organization. Touchpoints can be direct person-to-person interactions like emails, phone screenings and interviews to indirect interactions such as visiting a company website, career site, social media profiles or filling out application forms.

Touchpoints can also happen through third parties, such as reviews on Glassdoor, social media posts shared by employees, current employees words and many more. Remember that, every interaction, regardless how big or small, is a touchpoint.

Why is this stat on my list of HR statistic that have transformed recruiting?

Many HR professionals are not aware of the importance of consistency when communicating Employer Brand and EVP throughout all the touchpoints and channels. 

Have you heard a saying "Candidates should be treated as customers?" This HR statistic is the proof that recruiting and marketing methods are becoming more and more alike. Candidates search for jobs like they search for products, and companies attract talent like they attract customers. 

So this is my list of top HR statistics that have changed the way we recruit... What is your favorite HR stat?