The candidate-driven market is here to stay and the pace at which candidates are rejecting offers is quickening.
MRINetwork’s most recent Recruiter Sentiment Study says 83% of the 333 responding recruiters describe the current employment market as candidate-driven. In three years, the percentage of recruiters who say candidates are in the driver’s seat has risen 29 points.
“It is definitely and without a doubt a candidate-driven market, however many employers are still laboring under the same processes as they did when it was an employer-driven market,” the twice yearly survey report notes, quoting one of the participating recruiters.
It takes the typical candidate more than three weeks to get an offer, with 41% of recruiters saying it takes even longer, up to nine or more weeks for an offer to be made. One in five candidates has to endure four or more interviews to get that offer.
Yet, as hiring managers take their time, candidates are moving on. Three-quarters of job offers that were rejected came after only the second or third interview. Most commonly, the time between the first interview a candidate has and an offer rejection falls between one and four weeks.
According to the survey, “Year-over-year data shows rejected offers after two weeks are on the rise, advancing four percentage points since the first half 2014 survey.”
As one survey respondent noted, “Many companies are too slow to pull the trigger which provides candidates with the time to investigate other opportunities.”
While compensation and benefits are important to candidates, almost half the recruiters in the survey said what candidates most want are greater opportunities for advancement. “Today’s talent,” noted on recruiter, “are driven by their ability to advance and be recognized for a higher level of expertise.”