Road to Recovery: How Tech Recruiting Can Rebuild After Layoffs

A tech recruiting team discussing how to hit their hiring goals.

Hold onto your hats, tech recruiting teams: it’s about to be a bumpy ride. Layoffs ricocheted across the sector in 2022, and this year has proved to be no different. A total of 161,411 employees in tech were laid off last year, and a staggering 125,677 found their roles on the chopping block in 2023 thus far.

The impact of layoffs has left tech hiring teams in disarray, uncertain of what their next moves should be amid the rocky economy and hectic hiring landscape. But don’t stress just yet; we’re here to help identify the way forward.

After surveying 531 talent acquisition leaders across sectors for our 2023 Hiring Insights Report, we’ve released the report’s technology edition. Based on responses from 103 talent leaders in tech, the report highlights how they’re attracting and retaining talent amid today’s obstacles.

Our report’s data shows that while layoffs hit the tech sector hard, hiring teams have uncovered keys to success. If you want to rebuild your operations and stand the greatest chance at thriving once hiring rebounds, read on.

Layoffs Hit Tech Hard

If you’ve spent time skimming the latest headlines (or scrolling through your LinkedIn feed), you’re likely all too familiar with the tech sector’s mass layoffs. The rapid growth of many tech companies, followed by plummeting stock prices, led tech companies to reevaluate their expenses—often resulting in workforce reductions.

In total, 57% of companies from our survey reported layoffs in the past 12 months, with 44% saying the cuts affected 15-19% of their headcount and 22% reporting cuts of over 20% of their company’s total workforce.

Charts showing the impact of layoffs on tech companies across sectors.

Challenges Bear Down on Hiring Teams

The far-reaching impacts of these layoffs on both an individual level and an organizational level cannot be overstated. Yet teams have contended with far more challenges than just workforce reductions.

The top challenge that dealt a blow to teams’ hiring efforts: mental health and wellness concerns (34%). This should come as no major surprise; the constant threat of layoffs and budget and resource cuts isn’t a recipe for health and prosperity. “Difficulty adapting to remote interview process” (30%) and “applicants whose skills do not match their resume” (28%) round out the top three responses. 

Tech might be known as a sector that quickly adapts to the latest trends, but evidently, not all tech recruiting teams have mastered the remote world. Embracing remote interviewing undoubtedly comes with growing pains, as recruiters learn how to uplift the candidate experience through a Zoom screen.

For tech companies that are still hiring in full force, having to sift through inflated resumes can be a major time-sink. The disconnect between real skills and resume content only further emphasizes the importance of rigorous screening.

Bar chart showing what challenges tech talent teams experienced in the past.

Personalization and Efficiency for Hiring Success

Amid the rocky economy and difficult hiring landscape, talent teams at tech companies are on the road to recovery with personalization and efficiency by their side. 

Our data shows that increasing personalization throughout the hiring process is a key focus area for talent leaders in tech (46%). Personalization helps to make candidates feel valued as unique individuals, effectively meeting their high expectations of the hiring process.

Coming in second place, talent leaders also intend to improve their hiring efficiency (44%). Streamlining the hiring process by zeroing in on efficiency helps fill the gaps following hiring team layoffs and turnover while providing some much-needed relief to reduced teams. 

No matter if your team is still looking to fill open roles or if you’re in the midst of a hiring freeze, the fact is that efficiency drives present and future hiring success, including improved time-to-hire and increased offer acceptance rates. When you combine efficiency with personalization, you get an engaging, high-quality hiring process that can withstand anything the landscape throws its way.

Bar chart showing what tech TA leaders plan on improving in the future.

Strategies for Winning Tech Candidates

Successfully hiring skilled tech talent in 2023 means catering to what candidates value the most. When asked what they convey to candidates to win them over, most talent leaders say that they communicate employee well-being (56%). Employee well-being was the top response for the second year in a row among our Hiring Insights Reports. 

To candidates, emphasizing employee well-being can be an indicator of a positive work environment. A company that prioritizes well-being is also likely to prioritize other values that are on candidates’ wishlists, such as a satisfying work-life balance and an attractive company culture.

Ranking in second place is flexibility (53%). However, there’s a major difference between conveying flexibility and actually practicing flexibility. One of the most impactful ways to put flexibility into action is by offering talent remote or hybrid work. Yet flexibility can take many forms. Tech companies could allow employees to work from anywhere within the office, take lunch when they’d like, or skip lunch to head home early.

Bar chart showing what hiring teams communicate to attract tech candidates.

Hey, Tech Recruiting Teams: Want More Insights?

2022 brought a rocky economy, sweeping reductions in force, and a difficult hiring landscape, creating a perfect storm for tech recruiting teams this year. The pressure is on to find and attract qualified candidates, deliver an efficient hiring process, and leverage hiring tools that drive teams toward success. Are you ready to conquer 2023? 

To dive deeper into these insights and much, much more, get the tech report today.

2023 Hiring Insights Report: What Tech Recruiters Must Know

A group of tech recruiters.

In recent years, the tech industry has seen soaring triumphs and significant setbacks. On the heels of mass layoffs, hiring freezes, and a looming recession, what lies ahead for the talent acquisition landscape in 2023? This year brings new hiring challenges and economic obstacles for tech recruiters, but we’re here to help make sense of it all. 

After surveying 531 talent acquisition leaders across sectors for our 2023 Hiring Insights Report, we’ve released the report’s technology edition. Based on responses from 103 talent leaders in tech, the report highlights how they’re attracting and retaining talent amid today’s obstacles.

For the TL;DR of the report, here’s a roundup of the six key takeaways your team must know to successfully weather 2023’s tech hiring storm.

1. Hiring Goal Attainment Lags Behind

Despite the best efforts of hiring teams in the tech industry, the unstable economy and hectic hiring landscape continue to pose challenges. As a testament to the sector’s ongoing struggles, in December 2022 tech companies fell short of their hiring goals, meeting just 52% of their targets.

This is an improvement from last year’s report, where they came in six points lower at 46% goal attainment. But still, 52% is far from satisfactory. Financial uncertainty remains a major concern for the sector in 2023, casting doubt on the prospects of achieving hiring goals this year.

Charts showing tech hiring teams' goal attainment.

2. Top Previous Changes: Growing Candidate Demands and Less Competition

In the last year, talent leaders in the tech industry have identified two significant shifts in the hiring landscape. For one, they have seen an increase in candidate demands, necessitating more touchpoints in the hiring process (45%). Talent leaders have also seen a decrease in competition due to the greater availability of remote talent (45%).

While the surge in remote candidates has slightly reduced the pressure on tech recruiters, the high expectations of candidates still require constant attention. In recent years, the market has favored candidates, making it essential for teams to consistently deliver a top-notch candidate experience.

Bar chart showing how the tech hiring landscape has changed.

3. Layoffs Hit Tech Recruiters Really Hard

If you’ve spent time scrolling through LinkedIn recently, you know that layoffs have not been kind to the tech industry. The sky-high pandemic growth of many tech companies, followed by a tumble in stock prices, made companies re-evaluate their spending—often resulting in workforce reductions

A staggering 57% of companies reported layoffs, with 44% saying the cuts affected 15-19% of their headcount, and 22% reporting cuts of over 20% of their company’s total workforce.

Charts showing the impact of layoffs on tech companies across sectors.

4. Top Expected Challenge: Candidates Withdrawing

The biggest challenge anticipated by talent leaders: candidates dropping out of the hiring process (30%). Candidates have high expectations about their experience during the hiring process and will readily pursue more attractive opportunities if those expectations are not met.

For tech talent leaders, these expectations can seem increasingly difficult to meet now that hiring teams have even fewer resources to leverage in streamlining their processes.

Bar chart showing what challenges tech talent teams expect in the future.

5. Competitive or Uncompetitive Landscape? You Decide

Looking to the future, talent leaders are split on the outlook of the hiring landscape; 50% say the landscape will become more competitive due to an increased demand for talent, and another 50% say that the landscape will become less competitive due to an increase in available talent who recently quit their jobs. 

The future of the sector remains shrouded in uncertainty, as economic headwinds continue to thrash against tech companies. Tech recruiters can rest assured that the economy will cool down, but once it does, what will be the fate of the hiring landscape? Only time will tell.

Bar chart showing how hiring teams expect hiring to change.

6. Getting Personal and Efficient

In the coming months, tech talent leaders plan on prioritizing personalization in the hiring process above all else (46%). A personalized hiring experience helps candidates feel valued, effectively meeting their high expectations.

Following behind in second and third place, talent leaders say they also intend to improve efficiency (44%) and hiring process automation (41%). Evidently, making the hiring process as smooth and streamlined as possible is top of mind for hiring teams.

Effectively prioritizing these three areas will require innovative solutions, such as upgrading the hiring tech stack. The proper tech allows even the most overburdened tech recruiters to set themselves up for success. Tech tools can also add personalization to the process without increasing the workload. This effectively addresses the top focus area for the year ahead. 

Bar chart showing what tech TA leaders plan on improving in the future.

Hey, Tech Recruiters: Want More Insights?

2022 brought a rocky economy, sweeping reductions in force, and a difficult hiring landscape. Now in 2023, tech recruiters are met with a perfect storm of challenges. The pressure is on to attract qualified candidates, deliver an efficient hiring process, and leverage hiring tools that drive success. Are you ready to conquer 2023? 

To dive deeper into these insights and much, much more, get the tech report today.

Recruiters in Tech Have a Time-to-Hire Problem. Here’s How To Fix It.

Recruiters in tech collaborating.

In the war for tech talent, no recruiting team wants to be left in the dust. Decreasing your time-to-hire is a reliable way to outpace the competition. Yet based on the data from our 2022 Hiring Insights Report: Technology Industry, few recruiters in tech have seen their time-to-hire decline.

If alarms aren’t going off in your head, they should be. A long, inefficient hiring process is a candidate-repellant (and recruiting tech talent is already hard enough). 

Recruiters in tech should take proactive steps to decrease their time-to-hire—and we’re here to help them do that.

What is Time-to-Hire?

First, let’s get back to the basics. Average time-to-hire refers to the time that passes from when a candidate submits their application to when the candidate accepts a job offer.

Note: this isn’t the same as time-to-fill, but they’re often confused with each other. The interval for time-to-fill begins before time-to-hire; it measures the time from when a job requisition is posted to when a candidate accepts an offer.

What’s a “good” time-to-hire for a tech company recruiter? It’s hard to say. Average time-to-hire ebbs and flows with economic and market conditions, the seasons, and requisition loads. 

Even company size matters. The average time-to-hire for smaller tech companies is 29 days, while larger tech companies see an average of 43 days. Smaller tech companies tend to have fewer hoops to jump through to bring on new hires, which decreases time-to-hire. 

The State of Tech Recruiting’s Time-to-Hire

How did tech companies stack up in 2021? We conducted our 2022 Hiring Insights Report: Technology Industry to find out. After surveying 409 talent leaders across the tech industry in the U.S., we saw that the industry’s time-to-hire isn’t a pretty picture.

The majority of talent teams in tech—58%—said that their time-to-hire increased. Only 9% saw it decrease. 

But not everything from our survey is doom and gloom. Talent leaders said that improving hiring efficiency is currently their biggest focus area for the future (41%). With the current condition of their time-to-hire, hiring efficiency needs all of the focus that it can get. 

Why Does This Matter?

There are innumerable benefits to keeping a firm pulse on your time-to-hire and taking active steps to decrease it. Here are a few reasons why time-to-hire matters:

  • Slow processes kill a candidate’s interest. A short time-to-hire keeps candidates engaged.
  • Hiring fast increases the chance that you’ll win the most qualified candidates before your competition.
  • Time-to-hire illuminates the bottlenecks in your hiring process, and your holistic ability to compete in the market.
  • Agile recruiting provides candidates with a smooth hiring experience and boosts your employer brand.
  • Lengthy hiring processes that leave positions unfilled negatively impact company revenue.

The tech industry’s increasing time-to-hire is concerning. Even as hiring slowdowns and fears of a tech recession ricochet across the industry, time-to-hire is still a critical KPI. 

Regardless of hiring volume, hiring with speed is of utmost importance. If your company is hiring at its normal volume, you’ll face the challenge of finding and winning enough qualified candidates. If your company is hiring to a lesser degree, you’ll need to hire fewer but higher quality people. 

No matter what group you reside in, establishing an efficient hiring process to decrease your time-to-hire is the key to securing the best talent. 

How to Fix Tech’s Time-to-Hire Problem

From implementing automation to keeping candidates engaged, recruiters in tech must institute the right processes to get talent in the door faster while still delivering the high-quality hiring experience that candidates expect.

1. Let Your Hiring Data Be Your Guide

There’s always something to learn from your data, especially when identifying and resolving efficiency gaps. Use the data on your hiring process to diagnose what’s helping and hurting your time-to-hire. Then, you can make adjustments accordingly. 

For example, what does your response rate look like? Are candidates more receptive to correspondence via email or text? And what about your time between stages? Are you keeping your talented candidates waiting days and days before moving them on to the next interview?

2. Get Real With Your Hiring Manager

We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again: the “perfect candidate” doesn’t exist. Your picky hiring manager with a laundry list of requirements, searching for their purple unicorn candidate, is in for a rude awakening once their role sits open for months. 

The importance of creating alignment between hiring managers and recruiters in tech early on cannot be overstated. Hold an intake meeting to discuss what a realistic ideal candidate looks like, and what touchpoints are necessary to hire this person. 

Here are several other topics to cover in your intake meetings:

  • Ideal candidate profile
  • Hiring process objectives
  • Job requirements
  • Title & salary
  • Hiring process stages
  • Sourcing strategies

When done correctly, the alignment from intake meetings ensures that the hiring process moves along at a steady pace and onboards the right person in a timely manner.

3. Say Goodbye to Manual Interview Scheduling

No matter the industry or company, all recruiting coordinators know the pain of sifting through calendars to find the perfect interview time. Manual scheduling invites hiring delays and bottlenecks—and nobody wants that. 

And what about when one of your interviewers cancels last minute? (Because yes, you know it’s going to happen.) Then suddenly you’re back to square one, up to your eyeballs in calendars, looking for an alternate interviewer with a free afternoon to speak to your candidate.

Automation is the solution to your interview scheduling headaches. By leveraging the right tech to automate your scheduling process, you’ll get a meeting on the books within seconds. Don’t believe us? Check out the difference that automation made for HubSpot’s talent team. 

4. Capture Your Candidate’s Attention

If you struggle to get talent to say “yes” to offers, or if candidates drop out left and right, then you have a candidate engagement problem—and this means bad news for your time-to-hire.

Every touchpoint in your hiring process should engage candidates and nurture your candidate relationships. If candidates don’t feel connected to your talent team, your company will quickly fade into the background amid competing opportunities (that’s right, your candidates are most certainly shopping around).

The secret sauce to cultivating impactful candidate relationships consists of four pillars:

  • Genuine Connection: Candidates want to have meaningful conversations about your company’s mission, culture, and DEIB beliefs. They want to uncover if they align with what your company stands for. 
  • Transparency: Candidates expect a transparent hiring process. Candidates want open communication from employers. Most recently, at the top of their wish list is pay transparency.
  • Adaptability: Your hiring process must adapt to the calendars of your candidates. They want to schedule interviews at times that best fit their everyday lives.
  • Candidate Well-being: Candidates want to understand how your company proactively supports employee mental health, and learn about any related benefits that are offered.  

Hey Recruiters in Tech: Want More Hiring Trends?

Don’t let a skyrocketing time-to-hire bring your hiring process down. To keep your time-to-hire in check, get into the habit of identifying bottlenecks and optimizing your process for speed and efficiency.

If you want to learn more about the latest trends in tech hiring, then read through our 2022 Hiring Insights Report: Technology Industry. It’s one of the best ways to keep pace with the evolving landscape.


Download the report today to see how tech companies are adapting their hiring.

What a Tech Recession Means for Your Recruiting Team

Hiring team strategizing for a tech recession.

As the U.S. prepares for a looming economic crash, layoffs and hiring freezes sweep through the tech industry. With a possible tech recession on the horizon (yes, we said the “R” word), Big Tech and startups alike are battening down the hatches. 

Now that tech companies are reeling in or freezing their hiring, the role of recruitment is in flux. How would a tech recession affect recruiting operations? And most importantly, how should talent acquisition professionals ride out the storm?

The State of the Tech Industry

What goes up must come down. After 2021’s rapid-fire hiring, soaring startup valuations, and wild rides on Wall Street, the tech industry’s growth is losing momentum. With evidence of declining sales and profit margins across the US, and worries that they might’ve hired too rapidly and expanded too much last year, tech companies are bracing for rough waters.

Companies have trimmed their budgets and their workforces to cope with the economic uncertainty. Each passing month brings more high-profile tech layoffs. Thus far in 2022, over 120,000 workers in the tech industry have been laid off. Twitter, Netflix, Snap, and Robinhood are among the organizations that have made cuts.

1 in 5 tech companies feels they are not prepared for a recession. There’s palpable stress and confusion in the air (“Is this a recession?” “What’s even going on?”). Yet talent teams should take comfort in knowing that the economy is constantly ebbing and flowing. The sooner that teams learn how to navigate the tides, the better off they’ll be.

So You’re Facing a Potential Tech Recession: Now What?

No matter if your company is hiring in full force or if you’ve slowed down your operations, now isn’t the time to sit around. Tech recruitment will inevitably rebound. And when it does, you’ll want to be in the best position possible to secure the top candidates.

The tech downturn offers a golden opportunity to optimize your hiring process to guarantee future success. Yet our 2022 Hiring Insights Report: Technology Industry data shows that tech companies have a pattern of too much talk and too little execution. (Recruiters outside of tech are guilty of this, too.)

They recognize what actions will help them hit their hiring goals, but they rarely actually take action. If tech companies want to make the most of this hiring downturn, inaction is not an option.

We recommend that you focus your tech recruitment efforts on these three areas:

1. DEIB

Female, Black, and Hispanic workers make up just a fraction of the tech workforce. Men hold 73% of tech jobs in the US, and white Americans hold 62% of tech jobs. Even though Black Americans make up 14% of the population, they occupy just 7% of tech jobs.

Today’s Distance Economy opens up talent pools to a wide range of candidates from underrepresented groups (URGs). Those candidates expect to see an emphasis on DEIB in the hiring process. 

The Data on DEIB

The tech industry at least sees the value in diverse candidates. Respondents from our report said that “diversity of candidates” is the second most important metric to their company, only after quality of hire. But is this all just…talk?

When asked which aspects of their hiring process they plan to improve in the next 12 months, prioritizing DEIB was the second lowest response at 34%. Respondents were also least likely to communicate DEIB to candidates during the hiring process (32%).

Where Tech Hiring Must Improve

We know what you’re thinking, and you’re right: creating effective DEIB initiatives is a heavy lift. Most companies spent last year rapidly hiring, which made uplifting DEIB seem impossible.

Yet for many tech companies right now, hiring has cooled down. With a tech downturn towering over the landscape, refining the hiring process is a growing priority. Now is the perfect time to give DEIB the attention that it deserves.

Here are several ways to do exactly that:

  • Train interviewers on acknowledging and reducing their own biases (we can help with that).
  • Diversity matters. Ensure that the employees in your interview panels are diverse, not homogenous. 
  • Audit away your job descriptions. Remove any exclusionary language.

2. Candidate Relationships

The quality of your hiring process can make or break a candidate’s hiring experience (yes, the pressure is on). One of the most telling signs of a high-quality process is its ability to create strong relationships between candidates and your hiring team.

Candidates expect to be seen as more than just a number; they want to feel that their time and talents are valued. 

The Data on Candidate Relationships

Thankfully, talent leaders in tech recognize that candidates want to be prioritized. Forty-seven percent of tech companies from our report agreed that in the past 12 months, meaningfully connecting with candidates has become crucial. 

Yet here’s where the problem arises: only 34% of tech talent teams built better candidate relationships. Only 35% plan on improving relationships with candidates in the months ahead. To make matters worse, the majority of respondents (67%) ignore a crucial pillar of healthy candidate relationships: candidate well-being.

Where Tech Hiring Must Improve

If all hiring teams had time to improve their candidate relationships, then everyone would do it. That’s the endless struggle for these teams: too many initiatives to implement, and not enough time. 

Luckily, today’s slower-paced tech hiring environment opens the door for teams to focus on this task (thanks, tech recession). 

Here are several ways to help your candidate relationships flourish: 

  • Train all interviewers on proper interviewing etiquette. They’re your brand ambassadors!
  • Collect feedback from candidates. How else will you know if your relationships are translating?
  • Be ready to get transparent; candidates don’t want to beat around the bush on salary expectations.

3. Hiring Efficiency

We can’t highlight hiring quality without giving attention to its gutsy sibling: hiring efficiency. Hiring efficiently and fast is a must-do, no matter the industry’s climate. 

Regardless of hiring volume, the competition for quality talent isn’t going anywhere. The best candidates get snatched up in as little as 10 days. You need to move fast on candidates, or else another hiring team will swoop in.

The Data on Hiring Efficiency

In the past year, improving overall hiring efficiency was the main focus area for tech companies (42%). Likewise, this is still their biggest priority for the next 12 months (41%). 

Greater efficiency reduces your time-to-hire. So, where did the tech industry’s focus on improving efficiency lead them? Here’s a hint: probably not where they’d like to be. The majority of talent teams in tech said that their time-to-hire increased. Less than 10% saw it decrease.

Meanwhile, talent leaders in tech possess different perspectives on hiring efficiency. Sixty-five percent of C-Suite executives rated their process as very efficient while only 33% of directors stated the same. Evidently, employees with closer proximity to the hiring process have a different perspective on business efficiencies.

Where Tech Hiring Must Improve

Whether economic conditions have shifted your attention from hiring fast to hiring with precision, or if hiring at the speed of light is still your goal, hiring efficiency shouldn’t sit on the back burner. 

Speed to hire should always be a critical KPI for tech companies. Here’s how to optimize your hiring efficiency: 

  • Automate, automate automate. Implement scheduling automation to reduce the time spent coordinating interviews (the right tech can help with that).
  • Use email templates to standardize your communications with top talent.
  • Make data your best friend; dig into your hiring analytics to identify efficiency gaps.

Want More Tech Recruiting Trends?

If you want to succeed amid this period of uncertainty—and for years to come—you need to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry’s latest hiring trends. Our 2022 Hiring Insights Report: Technology Edition is here to give you the inside scoop.


Download the report today to see how tech companies are adapting their hiring.

5 Ways Talent Acquisition Teams in Tech Can Do More With Less

Talent acquisition team in tech high-fiving.

Have you been asked to “do more with less” recently? If you’re a talent acquisition professional in tech, it’s incredibly likely. 

Amid these tumultuous times in the tech industry and the greater economic landscape, a myriad of tech talent teams must maximize what they have. Whether this means grappling with cutbacks in budget or team resources, the pressure is on.

But with many tech companies continuing hiring in some capacity, TA teams must still deliver the high-caliber hiring experience that candidates expect…just now with less budget and/or resources.

This isn’t an impossible feat. Talent teams just need to reevaluate their current hiring operations and strategies. (And we’re here to help.)

Here’s five ways talent acquisition teams in tech can effectively do more with less.

1. Amp up Your Internal Mobility Strategy

When asked to optimize what they have, the opportunity that too many teams overlook is considering their current employees. That’s right; we’re talking about boosting your internal mobility strategy. 

There’s a multitude of reasons you should consider current employees for new roles. For one, companies that prioritize internal hiring have a 41% longer employee tenure than those that don’t. 

Not to mention that it’s faster and cheaper to hire from within. In times of “doing more with less,” this advantage grows even more important. 

If you’re wondering exactly how to enhance your internal mobility strategy, we’ve created a handy internal mobility guide to get you started. (Hint: it starts by getting leadership on the same page, emphasizing good ole L&D, and providing managers with the support that they need.)

2. Emphasize Continuous Candidate Engagement

Typically, a candidate’s journey ends when you reject them or extend an offer. Following this talent acquisition model requires you to start from scratch every time you must fill a role. That wastes a lot of bandwidth and resources—which many talent acquisition teams in tech can’t afford to lose.

Practicing continuous candidate engagement means engaging and re-engaging candidates before, during, and after the hiring process. This creates a high-quality pool of engaged, pre-vetted candidates to consider for opportunities. 

With a loyal community of talent to pull from, you’ll be able to conserve time and money that would’ve been spent on sourcing new talent.

3. Make Hiring Analytics Your Best Friend

Do you find yourself wasting resources running in circles, trying yet failing to understand why there’s bottlenecks scattered throughout your hiring process? If so, let your hiring data guide you towards clarity.

By analyzing your hiring metrics, you can pinpoint problems and identify the appropriate solutions—and avoid investing money into a solution that you’re not even sure will be the real fix. 

If you need help getting started, our Co-founder and Head of Product recently sat down with some of our partners to discuss how to masterfully evaluate your hiring metrics.

All in all, data is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Keep a firm pulse on your analytics dashboard, and you’ll have all the answers that you need already at your fingertips.

 4. Don’t Forget About Employee Referrals

When you need to maximize your budget and resources, gathering employee referrals just makes sense. Similar to the benefits of internal hiring, employee referrals can reduce time-to-hire and costs.

Out of employers surveyed, 82% rated employee referrals above all other sources for generating the best ROI. As an added bonus, 88% of employers said that referrals generated the highest quality new hires.  

Needless to say, if you don’t have a formal employee referral program, it’s time to spin one up. An employee referral program turns every single employee at your company into a mini recruiter. What better way to make the most of what you currently have?

5. Establish the Right HR Technology

A robust HR tech stack ensures that there’s no need to hire extra recruiters. With the right technology in place, your team of five will operate like a team of 50. 

HR technology not only allows you to maximize your resources during this current industry-wide hiring downturn, but also allows you to scale later when the industry inevitably revs up again.

For starters, operating without an ATS is a major no-no. The ATS that you implement depends on the needs and size of your talent team and company. Can’t decide which one is right for you? We recommend the following: Greenhouse, iCIMS, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, Workday, and Lever. 

While an ATS is undoubtedly an essential, there’s some features that an ATS just can’t deliver. GoodTime Hire fills those gaps.

Hire offers a custom branded, seamless, fully automated interviewing experience that’s driven by those that matter most: the candidates. It automates coordination, builds genuine connections with talent, and gathers actionable data to optimize the entire process.


Schedule a demo to learn more about how Hire can transform your talent acquisition process.

Top 10 Recruiting Conferences You Need To Attend in 2022

Recruiter attending one of the recruiting conferences in 2022.

There’s no better way to upskill yourself as a recruiter and prepare for the future of work than by surrounding yourself with innovative individuals. That’s why we’re pumped for this year’s upcoming recruiting conferences. 

The second half of 2022 is so jam-packed with top-tier conferences that it can be hard to identify which recruiting events you absolutely need to attend. We’re here to point you in the right direction.

Here are the top 10 recruiting conferences (both virtual and in-person) you cannot miss in the latter half of this year. And yes, several are completely free of charge.

1. Talent Summit

Date: September 28-29, 2022

Location: Virtual

Price: Free

The Details: Hosted by our partner Gem, Talent Summit’s goal is to help attendees navigate the future of recruiting. You’ll hear from thought leaders on topics such as best practices, trends, and learnings in the talent space.

September 28 is for Gem customers only. Customers will deepen their understanding of the platform and collaborate with others to maximize Gem’s full potential.

September 29 is open to everyone, including non-customers. Attendees will learn new ways of tackling the current era of recruiting.

The Highlight: Matt Charney of HR.com shares his insights in a session titled, “Don’t Believe the Hype: What’s Actually Happening in Talent Acquisition.” Matt will help attendees gain a sense of what’s really going on amid anxiety-inducing headlines and countless layoffs.

2. Indeed FutureWorks

Date: October 12-13, 2022

Location: New York City, NY, and virtual

Price: $299 for in-person, free for virtual

The Details: Indeed FutureWorks’ theme is “the journey to better work—for job seekers and for you.” Among the recruiting conferences on our list, this event stands out for its collection of big-name speakers. Each speaker is eager to share their insights and guidance on the future of work and hiring. 

October 12 consists of a welcome reception party for in-person ticket holders. On October 13, both in-person and virtual attendees will enjoy a variety of future of work-centered sessions from speakers such as Issa Rae, writer and actor; Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work; and Nico Rosberg, Formula One champion and entrepreneur.

The Highlight: Keynote speaker Jason Sudeikis, the co-creator and star of “Ted Lasso,” will share his insights on the power of teams.

3. HR Technology Conference & Exposition

Date: September 13-16, 2022

Location: Las Vegas, NV

Price: $450-$2,245 depending on ticket

The Details: HR Tech is dedicated to helping HR teams leverage technology to smash their goals, discover new tools, and learn about the strategies and processes necessary for success.

Not sure which sessions to attend? All breakout sessions are organized into learning tracks that are focused on key HR issues. These include DE&I, employee experience, HR digital transformation, and people analytics, among others.

The Highlight: Get ready for a shameless self-promo. On September 13, check out our Co-founder and Head of Company Strategy, Ahryun Moon, in “Better, Faster, More: How Reify Scales Quality Talent Acquisition.” 

In this case study, Ahryun, joined by Reify’s Monika Warchol, will share how Reify increased their interview volume by 50%, all while creating candidate relationships and keeping turnaround time in check.

4. Talent Success Conference

Date: September 20-21, 2022

Location: Virtual

Price: Free

The Details: Talent Success Conference is here to help HR teams navigate the ever-evolving hiring landscape with new tools and strategies. 

Be prepared for expert-led sessions that deliver actionable insights that you can use to stand out from the talent competition and build a happy workplace.

The Highlight: Don’t miss September 21’s “Don’t Forget to Mention… New Data on 4 Things Candidates Crave,” a session hosted by Lighthouse Research & Advisory’s Chief Research Officer, Ben Eubanks. Hear the concrete data behind how candidates make decisions, why they ghost employers, and how leaders can reel in top talent.

5. Talent Connect

Date: October 25-27, 2022

Location: Virtual

Price: Free

The Details: LinkedIn’s Talent Connect aims to connect, inspire, and empower today’s talent leaders to shape the future of the landscape. 

This recruiting conference features three days of noteworthy sessions. The main themes include “leading with skills first,” “connecting people to opportunity,” “cultivating people-centric cultures,” and “exploring what’s possible with emerging tech,” among others.

The Highlight: You don’t want to miss the chance to hear from the minds of cutting-edge industry leaders. Speakers include LinkedIn’s Chief Economist, Karin Kimbrough; Ford Motor Company’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition, Melissa Thompson; and Global Industry Analyst and CEO, Josh Bersin.

6. Evry1 Conference & Retreat

Date: November 9-10, 2022

Location: Santa Fe, NM

Price: $450

The Details: Evry1 Conference & Retreat encourages recruiters to ditch the webcams and instead get to know each other in person. This part conference, part retreat combines networking and guest speakers for two days of equal parts fun and relaxation.

In between workshops and sessions, this event features time blocks dedicated to recharging, doing yoga, and breathing in the fresh air with recruiting peers.

The Highlight: GRAV’s Chief People Officer, Madison Butler, hosts an introspective keynote called “You Deserve to be Whole.” She will explore what it means to truly show up as your whole self.

7. Tech Recruitment Conference

Date: November 3, 2022

Location: Amsterdam, NL and virtual

Price: €120 for in-person early bird, €60 for virtual

The Details: If you’re having trouble sifting through all of the tech recruiting conferences out there, make sure to consider the aptly named Tech Recruitment Conference. This event is centered on sharing knowledge about leadership, technology, and culture in the tech recruitment space.

Can’t make the trip to Amsterdam? No worries. You can attend virtually and still be just as engaged, with access to the sessions, live polls, and online networking. 

The Highlight: Learn from the global perspectives of the conference’s diverse array of speakers. Attend sessions featuring Uber’s Global Head of Executive Talent Acquisition, Roopesh Panchasra; Remote’s CEO and Founder, Job van der Voort; and Mambu’s VP of Talent, Lee Andrews, among others.

8. Creating a Culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Date: September 21, 2022

Location: Virtual 

Price: $195-$1,895 depending on ticket

The Details: If recruiting conferences centered on DE&I are your thing, then don’t miss Creating a Culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, hosted by the Human Capital Institute. The main theme of this event: motivating and empowering a diverse workforce.

You’ll learn how to form a common understanding of DE&I, encourage your workforce to work together, and establish a vision for DE&I initiatives.

The Highlight: Join Udemy’s Chief Learning Officer, Melissa Daimler, in a session on mastering the art of building an inclusive workplace—not just for this current moment, but for long into the future.

9. Tech Rec

Date: November 23-25, 2022

Location: Berlin, DE

Price: €1,295-€3,249 depending on ticket

The Details: Tech Rec is another one of the can’t-miss tech recruiting conferences out there. The event brings together leaders in talent acquisition, candidate experience, and employer branding to learn about the latest trends in tech recruitment.

Key topics include finding tech talent, hiring management, and retaining tech talent.

The Highlight: In the keynote titled “Can 2023 be a turning point for tech recruiting?” Hung Lee, the founder and curator of the Recruiting Brainfood newsletter, dives into the current trends in tech recruiting. He’ll then offer some insights into what people can expect in the year ahead.

10. Workday Rising

Date: September 12-15, 2022

Location: Virtual (in-person has reached capacity)

Price: Free or $299 depending on ticket

The Details: Workday Rising welcomes its community of current Workday customers, prospective customers, and partners to come together and solve their toughest business challenges.

Learn how your industry peers are elevating digital transformation, gain new strategies for success, and become empowered to create change in your organization. This event caters to people across HR, finance, and IT.

The Highlight: In “The Trust Transformation: Why a Culture of Integrity Is Essential, Yet Elusive,” engage in a thoughtful session on cautionary tales and key learnings to elevate your agility and resilience.

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Tech Companies Hit Less Than 50% Of Their Hiring Goals. Here’s Why.

Hiring team at a tech company chatting.

For many job seekers, tech is where they want to be. Tech industry jobs commonly promise good pay, a decent work-life balance, and attractive career progression. Yet despite this allure, the majority of hiring teams in tech haven’t been doing too hot.

In fact, the tech companies surveyed in our 2022 Hiring Insights Report hit just 46% of their hiring goals in 2021. 

Why has tech taken a tumble? Is the industry losing its sparkle? Or are hiring teams tripping up?

We dug deeper into our report’s data and found the answers.

Dropping the Ball on Candidate Relationships

Today’s candidates expect to feel a mutual bond with your hiring team and your company. If they don’t feel a connection, then they won’t join. Neglecting to prioritize your relationships with candidates means bad news for your hiring goal attainment. In this sense, it’s no wonder that hiring teams in tech missed the mark on their goals. 

To start on a positive note, 47% of tech companies agree that in the past 12 months, meaningfully connecting with candidates has become crucial. Likewise, 45% agree that this will remain a priority in the coming months.

But here’s the catch: only 34% of respondents looked to build better candidate relationships in the past 12 months, and just 35% plan on improving these relationships in the coming months.

When it comes to connecting with candidates, tech companies have great intentions but struggle with the execution. And yet, it’s not just tech companies that are struggling; this problem remained evident across all companies that we surveyed. The importance of candidate relationships is increasingly widely known. Now, it’s time to take action.

Lack of Focus on DEIB

It’s no secret that tech hasn’t always been the most welcoming industry for underrepresented groups. Female, Black, and Hispanic workers have historically made up just a small fraction of the tech workforce. But with the increased buzz surrounding DEIB in hiring over the last couple of years, one would think that tech would’ve made great strides…right? Our data isn’t hopeful.

When asked which aspects of their hiring process they looked to improve over the past 12 months, making DEIB a measurable priority was the lowest response (33%). The next 12 months don’t look promising: prioritizing DEIB was the second lowest response at 34%.

Yet at the same time, tech companies say that the diversity of candidates is the second most important metric to measure in the hiring process. Is it just us, or is something not adding up?

To make matters worse, when asked, “Which of the following do you communicate to candidates during the hiring process to attract top talent?” only 32% of tech companies said that they convey a commitment to DEIB.

Today’s Distance Economy opens the talent pool to a wide range of diverse candidates. Those candidates don’t just want to see an emphasis on DEIB in the hiring process—they expect it. And if tech companies don’t deliver? Candidates will run the opposite way, and hiring goal attainment will falter.

Hiring Efficiency Needs Improvements

In today’s competitive job market, efficiency is everything and hiring fast is essential. While a streamlined interview process is sure to wow candidates, a clunky experience can prompt them to turn down an otherwise desirable offer.

The more efficient your hiring process is, the shorter your time-to-hire will be. Unfortunately for tech companies, 58% said that their time-to-hire increased over the past 12 months. On top of that, 52% of tech respondents rated their talent acquisition process as just “somewhat efficient.”

Meanwhile, HR leadership at tech companies possess skewed perceptions on efficiency. Sixty-five percent of C-suite execs said their hiring process is very efficient, and just 33% of directors said the same. Directors have closer connections to daily recruitment operations than the C-suite, so it’s no wonder that their views reflect the reality of tech’s increasing time-to-hire.

None of this bodes well for tech companies’ hiring goals. The best candidates disappear from the market in just 10 days. If you don’t hire swiftly and efficiently, you can bid top talent good-bye.

Interested in More HR Trends?

A short supply of recruiter-candidate relationships, sparse DEIB efforts, and inadequate levels of efficiency create a perfect storm for low hiring goal attainment. Needless to say, hiring teams in tech have some work to do if they want to stay ahead of the competition.

Want to dig into more HR trends? You’re in luck.

Download our 2022 Hiring Insights Report to get the data that your talent acquisition team needs to succeed.

4 Ways to Compete with Big Tech Recruiting for Top Talent

A big tech recruiter talking on the phone

The tech recruiting world is changing — and fast. 

Between the tumultuous years of 2019-2021, the tech recruiting landscape faced notable shifts. Tech hiring growth strongly recovered in 2021, with the overall advertisements for tech jobs in 2021 being nearly double the number for 2019 and 2020. Even though the world’s tech giants continue to expand their influence, non-Fortune 500 tech companies made up the bulk of recent hiring growth.

While tech hiring surges, applicant pools dwindle. Compared to the average candidate pool sizes from 2020, the sizes were 35% lower in 2021. Not only that, but amid the Great Resignation, candidates have had a change of heart. Candidates no longer want to waste time at organizations that don’t live up to their expectations of the ideal employer. In fact, three-quarters of candidates say they’re considering leaving their jobs.

It’s prime time for growing tech companies to stand out from Big Tech recruiting and snag the best candidates, but only if they can handle the shifting state of applicant pools and their expectations.

To keep pace with the ever-changing world of tech recruitment and to differentiate your company from the competition, take a good look at your recruitment strategies — they’re probably long overdue for a makeover. 

Here are four key ways you can compete with Big Tech recruitment teams and land top candidates.

1. Offer Remote Work Opportunities

The gravitational pull between candidates and remote work opportunities is undeniable. To stay competitive with the big tech recruiting teams, you need to consider making remote work a reality for your organization.

If you’re not offering remote opportunities, you’re missing out on candidates. 75% of tech industry workers say it’s important for their company to allow them to work remotely indefinitely. Despite the desire to work remotely, it seems that each day a top tech company discloses their plans for an eventual return to office.

The fact is that a growing majority of people don’t want to work unless it’s from home. Offering remote options is the way to go, but there’s one caveat: it’s common for tech industry candidates who seek remote work outside of Big Tech companies to expect Big Tech salaries. If your organization can’t meet these expectations, be prepared to upgrade other elements of your compensation and benefits.

2. Show Leniency in Degree Requirements

With a number of Big Tech companies no longer requiring degrees and 90% of employers reportedly open to accepting candidates without four-year college degrees, it’s time to change your expectations on a candidate’s education.

The idea that a college degree is the surest path to a career is now antiquated. Boot camps, digital badges, vocational programs, and self-taught skills demonstrate just as much, or more, competencies necessary to excel in a professional environment.

Removing your degree requirements isn’t just a way to keep pace with the tech talent competition — from a DEI standpoint, it’s also the right thing to do. A college degree is a pricey investment that a wide range of applicants cannot afford. By removing degree requirements, you’ll create an equitable playing field for candidates of all socioeconomic backgrounds, benefit from a diversity of educational experiences, and widen your talent pool all in one fell swoop.

3. Emphasize Your Company’s Continuous Growth

Working at a tech giant with a household name may sound alluring, but don’t discount how enticing it is to work for a company with much untapped potential. 

When carving out your employee value proposition, emphasize the immense learning opportunities that come with working at a company with a focus on growing and scaling. This may be just the thing that attracts the attention of Gen Z, the future leaders of the tech workforce.

Among Gen Z-ers  who plan on leaving their current roles, 76% of this cohort indicate that they’re looking for more opportunities to learn and gain new skills, which is more than any other age group before them.  To win the hearts of Gen Z, capitalize on the growth potential of your organization. Turn your growth potential into a selling point that speaks to the opportunities that you offer in thinking outside of the box and contributing to innovation.

4. Provide What Candidates Expect: Strong Candidate Relationships

If your tech recruitment team doesn’t instill energy into generating memorable candidate relationships, you’ve already lost in the competition for tech talent.

A great candidate experience might have won candidates over in the past, but not anymore. Today’s candidates expect something deeper. Candidates want to feel valued before, during, and after the hiring process, yet more and more companies find themselves losing out on desirable candidates due to their own impersonal processes.

Don’t make that the reality for your organization. GoodTime Hire leverages Candidate Relationship Intelligence to help you transcend temporary experiences and create the type of high-quality connections that win the best talent.

Request a demo to see how Hire provides the edge that talent teams need to need stand out from the competition.