The average time for interview process has increased globally from 3.3 to 3.7 days since 2010, according to Glassdoor Economic Research.
In the US the process now takes almost 23 days, up from 12.6 days in 2010. Only job candidates in Canada report shorter hiring times at 22.1 days on average.
By contrast, job candidates in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia all report significantly longer hiring processes. French job candidates report the longest duration at 31.9 days, followed by Germany at 28.8 days, the United Kingdom at 28.6 days, and Australia at 27.9 days.
"Right now hiring delays can represent money left on the table both for workers and employers. There has been surprisingly little research on 'interview durations' from the job seeker's perspective, and how company HR policies influence delays in job matching throughout the economy," notes Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor Chief Economist. "This Glassdoor Research report helps fill this gap by providing new insights about the time required for job matching from the individual job seeker's perspective."
The study, spanning six countries, presents a statistical analysis of trends in hiring times based on interview reviews from job candidates who shared their experiences on Glassdoor.
The report evaluated four key areas: average hiring process in the past year, changes over time, factors that have contributed to delays, and why changes occurred. In addition to differences by country, the study looked at these four areas by company size, job title, metro location and sector.
While there has been little change over the years in most interview techniques, job candidates report a rise in several types of employer screening techniques. For instance, in the US, candidate background checks increased from 25 per cent in 2010 to 42 per cent in 2014. Other hiring screening techniques that became more common include skills tests (16 per cent in 2010 to 23 per cent in 2014), drug tests (13 per cent in 2010 to 23 per cent in 2014) and personality tests (12 per cent in 2010 to 18 per cent in 2014).
Each of these additional employer ‘screens’ added a statistically significant amount to average time required for candidates to go through the hiring process, in some cases adding a full week.
The report titled ‘Why is Hiring Taking Longer?’ also revealed, the shortest process is typically found among more routine, lower-skilled job titles. The shortest hiring times were for entry level marketing jobs was 3.9 days, followed by entry level sales (5.4 days), servers and bartenders (5.7 days), entry level account managers (5.9 days), and dishwashers (6.9 days).