iCIMS May Insights Report: The Rise of the Picky Job Seeker

May 31, 2022

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

iCIMS May Insights Report: The Rise of the Picky Job Seeker

The job and talent market has been keeping us on our toes.  

Hiring at the start of Q2 is holding steady despite continued talent shortages and more selective job seekers. iCIMS data shows that talent is completing job applications and accepting job offers at lower rates than in years past.   

“Demand for workers remains white-hot,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told The Washington Post. “This is very broad, enormous growth. Even though we’ve almost recovered all of the jobs lost in the pandemic, the labor market just keeps getting tighter and tighter.” 

More than ever, employers need to rethink how they approach attracting and engaging talent to stay competitive and be successful. ​ 

iCIMS Insights provides a deep understanding of the talent market through data drawn from its platform, including employer and job seeker activity from more than 4,000 customers and hundreds of millions of data points across job openings, applications, and hires.   

Download the full May Insights report to help attract, engage, hire, and advance the talent you need now.   

Labor market activity

Hiring remained steady in April amid continued talent shortages. iCIMS’ data shows activity is up 45% since January 2021. Job openings are in near sync, up 46% since January 2021. Job applications continue to lag, up 6% since January 2021.  

A 40-point gap between job applications and job openings remains, and the job seekers that are out there are more selective – completing job applications and accepting offers at lower rates than in years past. ​ 

“Given that the labor market has made such tremendous progress back towards 2019 levels, I think what we’re going to see going forward is more of a normal pacing,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist for the payroll processing company ADP. 

According to iCIMS data, talent shortages persist for all job types, with full-time positions bearing the brunt. Employers looking for full-time workers and part-time workers are receiving fewer numbers of applicants per opening, down 36% and 27%, respectively.  

Entry-level hiring and the Class of 2022 job market

Entry-level candidates are applying with slightly more fervor than other workers, but positions aimed at this level of talent are also receiving fewer applicants per opening. Employers are receiving three less entry-level applicants per opening than in January 2021. iCIMS data shows that the average time to fill an entry-level position is seven weeks. 

 “For people who are out of work and looking, there are lots of job opportunities,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said. 

The odds of marching from college directly into a job have perhaps never been better. Hiring activity for new grads in April 2022 is 40 percent higher than pre-pandemic. “The world is their oyster right now,” Alicia Modestino, an assistant professor and labor economist at Northeastern University, told WBUR. “It’s more true than it’s ever been.” 

For more on more on what new grads are looking for (and how much they want to be paid), read iCIMS Class of COVID-19 report.  

Gen Z workers are in it for the long haul

They might be young, but Gen Z workers have a more old-fashioned mentality when it comes to employer loyalty. iCIMS data finds that 91% of new grads say they care how long they stay with an employer. According to our findings, older generations are less loyal, with 69% of Baby Boomers, 78% of Gen X, and 81% of Millennials in it for the long haul at their jobs.  

Want to know more? Download the full May Insights report to help attract, engage, hire, and advance the talent you need now.