I usually don’t make predictions, but I’m making one now: candidate experience will be in a free fall in 2025.

Not to rock bottom, but definitely a free fall. Really? This coming from the CandE candidate experience evangelist research team? What does that mean? Well, to be fair, there are still many employers with recruiting teams that prioritize timely and consistent communication and feedback loops for their external and internal candidates. We’re grateful to have worked with many of those year after year in our CandE Benchmark Research Program.

But even these employers have a shorter tenure than what you’d think (see below). Candidate resentment – the percentage of candidates across job types and demographics who said they would never apply again, refer others, be a brand advocate, or a customer – hit the highest levels we’ve ever seen in the 13 years of our research in 2024. It’s true that the only happy candidates are those who get hired, but sadly, we predict the overall recruiting experience for the majority of candidates who don’t get hired will get worse.

Much worse. Here’s why:

Layoffs, Firings, Fewer Jobs, and More Applicants. Layoffs continue in the technology and will continue across industries if employers adhere to their return-to-office policies this year. When combined with the sheer volume of layoffs and firings from the United States Federal Government currently happening, the job market will be flooded with job candidates. Job growth is dimming in the U.S., unemployment will increase further, and the ratio of job candidates to open positions will tip over into fewer jobs per candidate territory. Job growth is dimming and/or dimmed in the UK, APAC, Latin America, and other regions and countries around the world. Employers will most likely see a continued increase in the number of applicants they receive frustrated with the recruiting process.

Too Many Applicants. Because of the continued influx of job applicants for too many employers across industries, those who may have potential and partially qualified for jobs will be buried under the rubble of too many unqualified candidates. Full stop. Even with matching, ranking, and filtering functionality available in today’s mainstream ATS’s, many companies are hesitant to utilize them, much less optimize them, due to compliance fears and the fact that it takes team members to work with the vendors to train and optimize the tech. Not to mention the thinning of recruiting teams everywhere the past few years that impacts the ability to screen job applicants efficiently and effectively.

Can’t Find Qualified Candidates. I wrote recently about the biggest lie in recruiting: The fact that we can’t find people we need to hire. You may have heard this before from peers, colleagues, even your executive leadership and CEO’s. You may have even felt this way when trying to fill hard-to-fill and/or highly competitive roles. But it’s not true. The challenge is recruiting and hiring the people that we can actually find. A big thank you to TA leader and friend Jim D’Amico who prompted this discussion and ensuing article.

In fact, I’ll go a step further in that the real challenge is recruiting and hiring people who have the skills and experience, and those who have potential for the roles you’re hiring for. Which may be the case depending on the role, the markets you’re in, whether it’s onsite or remote work, and more. Some reminders for us all as TA leaders and recruiting professionals on doing the harder work of recruiting and hiring include investing in: Employer Brand, Candidate Experience, Competitive Compensation and Benefits, Career Growth Opportunities, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

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