- 244applications per job in 2025, up from 116
- 56%fewer recruiters per company than in 2022, while applications per recruiter more than tripled
- 37%longer to fill a role than in 2022, about two more weeks
- 41%of U.S. job seekers hide text to get past AI filters
- 48%of candidates accepted their latest offer, down from 85%
Five datasets published between November 2025 and September 2026 measure hiring from different sides: the job, the recruiter, the applicant and the offer. Here is what each one found, with the source under every number.
Each job draws twice the applications
Greenhouse counted 244 applications per job in 2025, up from 116 in 2022. That’s roughly double in three years.
Ashby lands in the same place from a different count: more than 300 applications per open role on average, and three times the applications per hire since 2021.
Source: HR Dive on Ashby research, May 13, 2026. Ashby research from more than 100 million applications and 200,000 jobs
LinkedIn sees it from the applicant’s side. Job seekers send about 30% more applications than before the pandemic, and CEO Dan Shapero described hiring teams as living in “a sea of applicants.”
Source: Fortune, September 30, 2026. By Emma Burleigh
Source: Greenhouse, The Hire Standard, March 2026. More than 6,000 companies, 640 million applications
Each recruiter reads more than three times as many
Applications per recruiter more than tripled between 2022 and 2025 in Greenhouse’s data. Over the same three years, companies ran with about 56% fewer recruiters.
Greenhouse names several causes: “AI-powered candidate tools, frictionless application processes and shifting candidate behavior in an unpredictable economy.” It adds: “There are also fewer jobs available.”
Applications per job doubled. Applications per recruiter more than tripled, and smaller recruiting teams read them.
Source: Greenhouse, The Hire Standard, North America report (PDF), March 2026
Source: Greenhouse, The Hire Standard, March 2026. Greenhouse’s web page and PDF report different applications-per-recruiter counts, so we show only the trends both agree on
Roles take longer to fill, and fewer candidates get a conversation
Time to fill rose about 37% between 2022 and 2025. That adds about two more weeks to fill each role.
Ashby adds the other half: candidates are about 50% less likely to reach an interview than five years ago. More people apply, and fewer of them talk to anyone.
Source: HR Dive on Ashby research, May 13, 2026. By Lara Ewen
Source: Greenhouse, The Hire Standard, March 2026. Shown as an index. Greenhouse’s web page and PDF report different day counts, and both put the increase at about 37%
Candidates use AI too, and they don’t trust it
74% of U.S. job seekers use AI, and 41% admit to hiding text in their applications to get past AI filters. Across the whole survey, which covered the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Germany, only 8% of job seekers believe AI makes hiring more fair.
The last number is the one we think about most. A process that can’t explain its decisions gives candidates no reason to trust it.
Source: Greenhouse, AI in Hiring Report, November 19, 2025. Survey of 4,136 people in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Germany; U.S. figure from 1,200 job seekers
Fewer candidates accept the offer
48% of candidates accepted their most recent job offer in Q4 2025, down from 54% a year earlier and 85% in Q4 2023. Gartner ties the drop partly to candidates being “more reluctant to switch jobs right now.”
Source: Gartner, June 18, 2026
What the numbers don’t say
The datasets measure different things. Greenhouse counts applications per job and per recruiter, Ashby counts applications per hire, and LinkedIn counts applications per job seeker. None of them puts the growth down to a single cause, and we don’t either. They agree on the direction, and on who carries it: recruiting teams that got smaller while the applications kept coming.
What I take from it
When applications per recruiter more than triple in three years, reading resumes stops working as a way to find people. Here is what I think the data asks of hiring teams.
- Stop asking your team to read faster.
Applications per recruiter more than tripled in three years, and no team reads three times faster. Move the first conversation earlier and give it to everyone who meets the bar.
- Judge people on what they say about the job.
A resume costs a candidate almost nothing to polish now, and 41% of them say they have hidden text in theirs. A live answer to a real question still tells you who has done the work.
- Explain every decision.
Only 8% of job seekers think AI makes hiring fairer. If your process can’t show a candidate why they moved forward or didn’t, they have no reason to trust it.
VeraHire runs the first round for teams that hire at volume. It scores every applicant against the job description, interviews the people who meet the bar, and ties each score to something the candidate said. Your team makes every hiring decision. See how it works.
Sources
- Greenhouse, March 2026: “The Hire Standard” and its North America report (PDF), from more than 6,000 companies and 640 million applications. The two versions report different applications-per-recruiter and days-to-fill counts, so we use only the figures both agree on.
- HR Dive, May 13, 2026: recruiters see job applications triple to more than 300 per role, by Lara Ewen, on Ashby research from more than 100 million applications and 200,000 jobs.
- Fortune, September 30, 2026: “LinkedIn CEO says that job seekers are sending out 30% more applications than pre-pandemic”, by Emma Burleigh.
- Greenhouse, November 19, 2025: AI in Hiring Report, a survey of 4,136 people in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Germany.
- Gartner, June 18, 2026: “Gartner HR Research Finds 48% of Candidates Accepted Job Offers in 4Q25; Down From 85% Two Years Earlier”.
Last updated November 2026. We add new datasets as they come out.