- Employer Resources
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- Last Updated: December 16, 2024
The State of Online Recruiting 2024
Welcome to iHire’s 2024 State of Online Recruiting Report
At long last, the supply and demand of workers is inching toward pre-pandemic levels as the labor market balances out. In July 2024, U.S. job openings hovered around 8.2 million, and the unemployment rate sat at 4.3%. And while hiring has slowed in some industries, like technology, it’s surged in others, like healthcare, where talent shortages persist.
Now that the market has “normalized” according to many economists, what does hiring look like? iHire’s 6th Annual State of Online Recruiting Report has the answers.
This year, we surveyed 1,637 job seekers and 586 employers from 57 industries across the U.S. Topics covered and detailed in this report include:
- Hiring and job search trends for 2024 and beyond
- Job board and recruitment platform usage rates
- AI adoption in talent acquisition
- Candidate habits and preferences when searching for work
- Hiring advice and recruiting best practices
- …And more fascinating job search and hiring statistics
Employer Survey Results
Who’s hiring right now? While we’ve seen pockets of layoffs in the past year, separations have remained low by historical standards and hiring hasn’t slowed dramatically. In fact, 75.6% of employers surveyed said they were currently hiring (Figure 1) – just slightly lower than 2023’s State of Online Recruiting Survey results (81.6%).
Of the 21.2% of organizations who weren’t actively hiring, only 8.1% were experiencing a hiring freeze and 3.2% were reducing or laying off staff (Figure 2). Moreover, 59.9% of employer respondents actually increased hiring in 2024.
Are you currently hiring? Figure 1
Why aren’t you hiring? (Select all that apply.) Figure 2
Employers’ Job Board & Recruiting Platform Usage
As hiring holds steady, employers’ reliance on online job boards and recruiting platforms remains strong year over year. In 2024, 68.1% of companies said they used these platforms for “all” or “most” of their hiring, compared to 70.2% who said the same in 2023 (Figure 3). Additionally, 34.3% of employers who use job boards said they expect their use to increase in the coming year and 51.1% anticipate it staying the same.
Approximately how much of your hiring is done through online job boards/recruiting platforms?
Companies’ Most-Desired Job Board Tools & Features
Now that we know employers still heavily use job boards, let’s look at what features of these platforms they deem most critical to meeting their talent acquisition goals. The ability to message candidates (46.2%), ask prescreening questions (46.1%), and conduct skills assessments (37.1%) were the top three responses (Figure 4). Notably, the interest in skills assessments rose 35.6% from 2023’s survey, as more employers embrace skills-based hiring.
What features on an online job board/recruiting platform are most important to you? (Select all that apply.) Figure 4
*Other responses included tools for pipelining candidates, the ability to mass email applicants, and a searchable resume database.
Other Popular Recruiting Resources
While job boards retain popularity, employers continue to lean on various recruiting solutions, HR technologies, and hiring tactics to reach the right talent (Figure 5). Referrals from current employees (71.8%) have been the top resource since we first asked this question in 2022’s State of Online Recruiting Survey, showing the power of networking and brand ambassadorship. Social media (51.4%) and company websites (45.9%) rounded out the top three in 2024.
Aside from job boards, which of the following resources do you use regularly for recruiting?
(Select all that apply.) Figure 5
Online Recruiting Challenges
Since this report’s inception in 2019, the top recruiting challenges cited by employers have revolved around one thing: candidate quality. 2024’s survey was no exception, as 63.3% of employers said they receive too many unqualified applicants when hiring through a job board or recruiting platform (Figure 6). Ghosting/not hearing back from applicants is haunting more than half of employers (51.0%), and 44.0% of respondents were frustrated by the cost of using a job board – a 10.3% increase in those who selected this option in 2023.
What are your biggest challenges right now when recruiting through a job board or recruiting platform? (Select all that apply.) Figure 6
*Other responses included candidates not providing all required documentation/following directions, shortage of candidates in certain locations, completely irrelevant candidates, and job hoppers.
AI in Recruiting
HR has historically been slower to adopt the latest and greatest technology than other departments, and that notion seems to hold true when it comes to AI. However, this year’s State of Online Recruiting Survey suggested a surge in AI usage among hiring professionals – 14.7% of employers said they are currently using AI in their recruitment efforts, up from 4.9% who said the same in 2023 (Figure 7). That’s a 200% year-over-year increase. Plus, 20.6% of hiring professionals surveyed said it was “extremely important” or “very important” for an online job board/recruiting platform to provide AI-powered tools and features.
Are you currently using AI in your recruitment efforts?
Of the 14.7% of employers using AI, a majority (70.9%) are using AI to develop job descriptions and postings, and 53.5% are using it to compose messages for candidates (for example, crafting emails to request interviews or disqualify applicants) (Figure 8).
How are you using AI? (Select all that apply.) Figure 8
Of the 79.9% of employers who aren’t using AI, over a quarter (25.4%) said they don’t know how to get started using the technology and 23.1% don’t have the time to use it or adopt it (Figure 9). More than 1 in 5 employers voiced apprehension around AI’s unreliability or trust issues (22.4%).
Why aren’t you currently using AI? (Select all that apply.) Figure 9
Top Hiring Trends Impacting Employers
To round out our survey of employers, we asked respondents to select which recruiting trends they expect to impact their hiring efforts in the next year (Figure 10). The top answer was a talent shortage and a lack of qualified candidates (63.1%), echoing employers’ chief recruiting challenge (Figure 6).
While just 15.9% anticipate cutting budgets and 4.6% foresee conducting layoffs, 34.0% worry about economic uncertainty. Other concerns included increased use of AI (13.7%) and political discourse in the workplace (8.7%) affecting the future of recruiting.
In the coming year, which trends do you expect to impact your hiring efforts? (Select all that apply.) Figure 10
Job Seeker Survey Results
To kick off our job seeker survey, we asked candidates about their job search statuses. 86.0% of respondents were searching for a new job (Figure 11). Of that group, 20.9% were searching because they were laid off, while unhappiness with their current role, unsatisfactory pay, and lack of advancement opportunities were other top responses (Figure 12).
Are you looking for a new job? Figure 11
Why are you searching for a job? (Select all that apply.) Figure 12
Candidates’ Job Board & Recruiting Platform Usage
As with their employer counterparts, candidates aren’t giving up on job boards any time soon. 76.2% of job seekers said they regularly use general job boards and 49.2% use industry-specific or niche job boards when searching for work (Figure 13).
In addition, 67.0% of candidates said they had applied for a job through a job board or recruitment platform in the past year, up from 46.5% who said the same in 2023’s survey.
Which of the following resources do you use regularly to search for job opportunities? (Select all that apply.) Figure 13
Tools & Features Candidates Want in a Job Board
As for which features are most important in a job board, 49.7% of candidates wanted job alert emails that notify them of the latest openings, and 43.1% valued the ability to read reviews about employers from current or former employees (Figure 14). Yet just 2.9% of employers said it was vital for job search sites to provide the ability to collect and publish reviews from employees (Figure 4).
Which of the following features and functions are most important to you in an online recruitment platform/job board? (Select all that apply.) Figure 14
*Other responses included ease of use, salary research tools, and the ability to see their application status.
What Candidates Do Before Applying for Jobs
Candidate respondents indicated which actions they typically take before applying for a role through a job board (Figure 15). A majority (69.7%) said they always visit the hiring company’s website and 64.5% check the salary range for the job.
However, just 31.2% customize their resume for the position, which is a best practice to make it past an applicant tracking system (ATS).
Before applying for a job on a job board or recruiting platform, I always ______________. (Select all that apply.) Figure 15
AI in the Job Search
Employers have been picking up steam in adopting AI (Figure 7), but what about candidates?
17.3% of job seekers surveyed said they’ve used AI tools in the past year to write their resume or cover letter – a major uptick from 2023’s survey, where only 2.8% of candidates said they had been using AI for those job search activities.
In addition, 12.0% of candidates said they use AI to improve or customize their resume or cover letter before applying for a job, and 11.5% said they value a job board that provides AI-powered cover letter and resume writing tools (Figure 14).
Online Job Search Challenges
When searching for work on a job board or recruitment platform, candidates find ghosting – applying and not hearing back from employers – to be their top challenge (54.7%) (Figure 16). In fact, they are more frustrated by ghosting than with finding jobs that meet their salary requirements (37.3%).
Other common challenges revolved around qualifications – 30.1% said they struggle to find jobs they’re qualified for, and 25.9% frequently find that they are overqualified for jobs.
However, candidates were not completely hampered by not meeting the requirements – 37.1% of job seekers admitted to applying for a job even the were unqualified, and 44.3% said they applied despite being overqualified.
When searching for work on an online job board/recruiting platform, what are your biggest challenges? (Select all that apply.) Figure 16
*Other responses included fake/scam jobs, competing with candidates, location of jobs, and finding part-time work.
Ageism in the Job Search
With multiple generations in the workforce, ageism is becoming more common in the job search process. Survey respondents agreed – 29.4% of job seekers said age discrimination was one of their biggest challenges when searching for work online (Figure 16). Previously conducted iHire surveys confirmed ongoing issues with ageism. For example, in September 2023, we found that 1 in 3 workers over 50 have experienced age discrimination in their job search.
What Job Candidates Want in an Online Job Ad
Employers struggling to attract applicants, take note: More than half of job seekers (56.6%) said they'd be more likely to apply for a job if the ad specifies the salary range for a position (Figure 17).
Along with salary details, job seekers want postings to indicate when the employer plans to reach out to schedule interviews (50.1%) and include contact information for the hiring manager or recruiter (42.0%) – two “wants” that underscore their top job search challenge of ghosting (Figure 16). Candidates also want to feel that employers value their time and effort, indicating their desire for shorter applications (34.9%) and optional cover letters (25.5%).
Which of the following could employers/recruiters do better to get you to apply for their online job postings? (Select all that apply.) Figure 17
*Other responses included be more specific about what the role entails, respond quicker, acknowledge receipt of applications, and specify the location of the job.
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Job Search Trends for 2024 and Beyond
When asked which trends they expect to impact their job search or career growth in the coming year, candidate respondents were most concerned with economic uncertainty (45.3%, which is up from 39.6% who said the same in 2023’s survey), followed by getting ghosted by employers (45.0%) (Figure 18).
42.8% worried about employers’ unrealistic requirements – a trend we saw in our 2024 Gen Z in the Workforce Report. Meanwhile, a greater proportion of candidates (17.1%) than employers (8.7%; Figure 10) were concerned with political discourse in the workplace, and 17.0% of job seekers were worried about AI replacing roles.
In the coming year, which of the following trends do you expect to impact your job search or career growth? (Select all that apply.) Figure 18
How to Recruit Top Talent More Effectively
What can employers learn from our survey to improve their hiring processes moving forward? Based on the data, the following are our top pieces of hiring advice and key takeaways.
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Address your candidate quality conundrum. The number one employer challenge when hiring through a job board or recruitment platform was receiving too many unqualified applicants (63.3%). If this sounds all too familiar, take a step back and figure out why you might be generating unqualified candidates and devise a solution to bring in more relevant talent.
For example, are your job postings unclear or contain inaccurate job descriptions? If so, rework your ads to include the right keywords and up-to-date information (and see tip #4). Are you using a general job board that attracts a high volume of the wrong types of candidates? If that’s the case, try using niche or industry-specific job boards. These types of platforms may produce fewer candidates, but those you do attract tend to be more qualified (think quality over quantity). In addition, take advantage of prescreening questions and skills assessments to weed out unqualified applicants as you use online job boards.
Also consider whether your job requirements are actually too strict or specific – is it time to redefine what you consider a “qualified” candidate? In fact, 42.8% of job seekers said employers’ unrealistic or overly stringent requirements will impact their job search and career growth. Therefore, look at your job postings and determine which requirements are must-haves and which are nice-to-haves, as well as which proficiencies can be learned on the job.
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Say goodbye to ghosting. The top job seeker challenge was loud and clear: Candidates are frustrated with employers ghosting them, as 54.7% of respondents struggled with applying for jobs or interviewing and not hearing back.
Ghosting is nothing new, but because it continues to arise as a job seeker challenge and iHire’s research shows that employers must do more when it comes to communicating with applicants. This includes, at the very least, acknowledging applications and keeping candidates informed of their status throughout the recruitment process.
However, employers should also provide details such as when they plan to reach out to schedule interviews and information on their company culture. It’s a courteous practice to offer feedback to candidates who are disqualified to close the loop and help them improve for next time. These interactions help afford a positive candidate experience and strengthen your reputation as an employer who treats candidates well and values their time.
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Nurture and promote an irresistible employer brand. Job seekers are doing their due diligence when searching for the right job – 69.7% always visit the hiring company’s website and 32.1% read testimonials from current or former employees before applying for a job. Therefore, honing and promoting your employer brand – your reputation as a good or bad place to work – is critical to attracting the right candidates.
Highlight aspects of your culture, benefits and perks, and, of course, testimonials on your website (including a dedicated careers page), social media sites, profiles on job boards, and anywhere else potential employees may look. Share videos, photos, “best workplace” award logos, company news, and more that would make top talent more apt to apply for your jobs and bite on referrals.
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Follow proven job ad best practices. Job seekers have spoken. And, 56.6% said they would be more likely to apply for a job if the salary range was specified in the posting. Along with a fair and competitive salary that meets the market, employers should include details about benefits (desired by 28.3% of candidates) and information about their company culture (20.5%).
In addition, 1 in 5 job seekers said they were frustrated by unclear or vague job postings, so take the time to proofread and optimize your job ads with accurate keywords and descriptions. AI can help you here, which leads us to our next tip…
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Don’t fear AI. AI adoption has been slow in the hiring realm but is finally growing. While some employer respondents expressed concerns with AI’s reliability and the effort required to adopt it, over a quarter (25.4%) said they aren’t using AI because they don’t know how to get started – they simply don’t know how to use AI in recruiting.
What many employers don’t realize is that using AI doesn’t necessarily require a large time and effort commitment – in fact, some may even be using it now and don’t realize it (for example, some of the best job boards and recruitment platforms use AI to recommend matching candidates to their job ads or screen resumes).
Some easy and low-cost avenues for using AI include using ChatGPT or the tools integrated within some job boards to write job descriptions and job postings, develop email templates to facilitate communicating with candidates, or research salary ranges.
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Overcome the talent shortage by investing in the workforce of tomorrow. 63.1% of employers expect a talent shortage to impact their ability to hire in the next year – that’s a higher percentage than those worried about economic uncertainty (34.0%) and employee turnover (33.6%). Should hiring stay steady and even increase, employers will need to find new ways to overcome talent shortages and fill skills gaps to keep their engines moving.
Some tactics to consider include hiring or promoting from within, cross-training current employees, and offering professional development and upskilling avenues such as internships and apprenticeships – and highlighting those opportunities in your job postings and recruitment marketing materials.
One of the most effective tactics for overcoming talent shortages is pipelining – keeping a shortlist of potential candidates that you can tap to fill future roles. Strong past applicants and job seekers who have expressed interest in working for you make excellent additions to your pipeline. Use a candidate CRM to track and nurture those candidates so they are ready and willing to apply for open positions when they arise.
Conclusion: The Future of Recruiting
No matter what the job market brings, employers and candidates alike will continue to lean on technology and online tools to find one another. We will likely see job boards and recruitment platforms retain popularity, especially as they introduce more AI-powered features and functionalities. Talent shortages and unqualified applicants will continue to challenge organizations, but those who embrace proven hiring tactics, test new technologies, prioritize the candidate experience, focus on growing their employer brand, and invest in their current and future workforce will remain competitive.
Related iHire Resources
- Reports & Research Library
- Employer Resource Center
- Hiring Solutions
- Employer Webinars & HR Training
- Masterclass: Build Better Job Ads
- eBook: The Art of the Job Ad
Research Methodology
iHire surveyed 1,637 job seekers and 586 employers across the U.S. from 57 industries in June 2024 via the Qualtrics XM platform. Respondents came from iHire’s job seeker and employer databases. All decimal points are rounded to the nearest tenth. For many questions, multiple answers could be selected, so percentages add up to a sum greater than 100%. In some instances, survey questions were skipped by an individual respondent.
About iHire
iHire is a leading employment platform that powers a family of 57 industry-focused talent networks, including WorkInSports, iHireVeterinary, iHireDental, iHireConstruction, and iHireChefs. For more than 20 years, iHire has combined advanced job matching technology with our expertise in the talent acquisition space to connect job seekers with employers in their desired sector. With an industry-specific, candidate-centric, and data-driven approach to recruitment, iHire helps candidates find meaningful work and employers find unique, high-quality talent – faster, easier, and more effectively than a general job board.
