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December 16, 2024 
5 min read
The year’s end is here, arriving alongside the traditional holiday slowdown, which is more dramatic than in years past. This month’s Workforce Report unpacks the December drop-off, plus:
Activity across all three iCIMS platform indicators dropped in November. While this kind of deceleration is normal for the holiday season, the hiring slowdown was more dramatic than usual. Hires decreased by 20% month over month and job openings fell 14%. Applications likewise dropped 10% from October, though they’re still up 8% from November 2023.
The only metrics that ticked upward this holiday season were quit rates and unemployment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, quits rose for the first time in 17 months this October. And in November, unemployment rose from 41.% to 4.2%.
Over in the EMEA region, the job market experienced similar slowdowns. Job activity dipped 8% month over month. Mysteriously, however, application volume remained robust, up 36% compared to this time last year.
Considering the low unemployment rates and tight labor markets in both the E.U. and the U.K., the influx of applications may forecast a strong start to the new year. Less optimistically, of course, it could just mean more work for recruiters before the holidays.
Next, we’ll take a look at the highs and lows of the job market in 2024.
For more insights like these, download the December Workforce Report.
Let’s take a look at 2024 and the trends that shaped it. From the power of the candidate experience to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the trends of 2024 emphasized the changes coming to the world of recruiting.
Candidate expectations are higher than ever, which means that recruiting teams can no longer function as relationship managers. Instead, they must view themselves as experience builders.
This shift is important in recruiters’ ability to capture candidate attention. It also impacts business outcomes. iCIMS 2024 Talent Experience Report revealed that when over half of job seekers encounter a negative application or interview experience with a potential employer, they are less likely to be a consumer of that brand.
This finding should motivate recruiters to provide a stellar candidate experience. A high-touch, fast-moving, on-brand hiring process will not only result in quality hires — it will also protect the company’s bottom line.
Flashy perks like nap pods and breakroom kegs may have wowed entry-level talent in the past. But these benefits no longer dominate the wish lists of recent grads.
Instead, graduates desire stability and opportunities for growth. They may appreciate an office decked out with scooters and slides, but what they’re really looking for is a workplace that offers them work-life balance and a chance to dig into the career they worked hard to attain.
In fact, according to iCIMS Class of 2024 report, 43% of respondents said they desire a long-term career path with a single employer.
Unfortunately for new grads, the competition for entry-level roles has quickly heated up. Applicants per opening for such jobs grew 13% between May 2023 and May 2024.
According to an iCIMS survey of CHROs in early 2024, 90% of HR leaders believe recruiters will morph into strategic talent advisors to the business. For this transformation to occur, however, talent teams will need more time in their day for strategic work.
Leveraging the right AI tools will make this shift possible. Proactive talent teams are already experiencing the benefits of AI. According to 500 TA pros, AI tools are saving them almost 2.5 hours a week on average and 64% would like even more AI in the TA process.
Despite these benefits, a third of TA pros fear AI will replace them or make their role obsolete, according to iCIMS 2024 Talent Experience Report. It’s not just internal AI use that has recruiters raising their eyebrows. Nearly 90% of recruiters say that candidates’ adoption of AI in the application and interview process has caused serious concerns.
Attitudes surrounding AI differ in the European region. European HR leaders are eager to adopt AI, according to iCIMS 2024 CHRO Report. In fact, 69% of U.K.-based CHROs plan to implement AI in their recruiting strategies.
This enthusiasm has caused concern among some HR leaders, however. AI integration is a top business concern for twenty-eight percent of French and 21% of U.K. CHROs.
When it comes to candidates, AI use is just as popular in Europe as it is in the U.S. Seventy-nine percent of U.K. grads and 85% of French grads have considered using AI in the application and interview process, according to iCIMS U.K. and French Class of 2024 Reports.
Download the full December Workforce Report.
Rhea Moss is director of customer experience and data insights at iCIMS. She oversees the iCIMS Insights program, which aggregates and anonymizes the billions of data points iCIMS’ software processes per year and transforms them into actionable insights to help drive business and hiring strategies. Previously, Rhea was head of products at prescriptive data, and served as product and program managers at MongoDB and Thomson Reuters.
