#United States #job market #Appcast #Recruitment Marketing #Lebanon, N.H.

Appcast Releases the 2025 Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report

In a world where the labor market is constantly evolving, Appcast, a frontrunner in recruitment marketing driven by programmatic advertising, has just published its ninth annual Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report. This comprehensive report serves as a critical tool for talent acquisition leaders, offering an in-depth analysis of the latest trends and statistics in recruitment and hiring, tailored to help employers successfully navigate today's challenges.

Key Insights from the 2025 Report

The 2025 Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report analyzes data from over 1,300 U.S. employers and features an impressive 379 million job ad clicks alongside more than 30 million job applications. Among the major findings for 2024 are:

1. Labor Market Dynamics

The current labor market shows a near-equilibrium, with power shifting from job seekers to employers. This transition, often referred to in recent discussions as the Great Stay, follows the previous trend of the Great Resignation. Evidence of this shift is seen in decreasing rates of quits, hires, and layoffs, contributing to higher application rates, despite a rise in Cost-Per-Click (CPC).

2. Climbing Apply Rates

The report highlights a significant increase in overall job application rates which climbed to 6.1% by the end of 2024, marking a 35% rise from January to December. Despite this positive trend, sectors such as healthcare, construction, and skilled trades continue to face hiring challenges.

3. Cost-Per-Application (CPA) Trends

Cost-Per-Application rates remained mostly stable over the year, showing a modest increase of just 4.8%.

4. Cost-Per-Hire (CPH) Observations

When tracking Cost-Per-Hire metrics over a three-year period, the report indicates a generally flat trend throughout 2024, culminating with a small seasonal boost at year's end, reaching approximately $851 per hire.

5. Geographic Variability

An interesting finding uncovered in the report is the significant regional disparities in recruitment costs. Results suggest that lower application rates often correlate with lower unemployment rates, showcasing how location can greatly influence hiring dynamics.

6. Occupational Group Insights

The report broke down recruitment marketing costs further by occupational groups, revealing that those in sedentary jobs, or “sitting-down” occupations, reported higher application rates and CPAs than their counterparts in active jobs. Technology-related fields led the charge with an impressive 6.41% application rate, followed closely by marketing and advertising (6.31%) and business services (6.29%).

7. New Search and Social Benchmarks

For the first time, the 2025 Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report includes insights from recruitment marketing campaigns carried out on social media and search engines. This addition underscores the importance of a holistic recruitment marketing approach in the modern hiring landscape.

In sharing the report's findings, Matt Molinari, Appcast's CEO, stated, “The 2025 Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report reflects our ongoing mission to provide clients with the best data and tools available. These insights are critical for employers in driving successful hiring outcomes and shaping the future of recruitment marketing.”

Understanding the Methodology

This year's methodology encompasses a deep dive into performance-based recruitment advertisements across various job functions. Only those advertisements that were purchased based on CPC or CPA models were assessed to ensure accurate findings. Additionally, the report analyzed data from over 150 employers in the U.S., aggregating a whopping 1.7 billion impressions and 35 million clicks across both search and social advertising channels.

Conclusion

The 2025 Recruitment Marketing Benchmark Report not only showcases vital data but also aims to empower employers by providing the analytical tools necessary to make informed recruitment strategies. By taking a closer look at the current trends and key metrics, companies can refine their hiring approaches, ensuring they remain competitive in the ever-evolving labor market landscape.

For more information on the findings within the report or to access it, employers can visit Appcast's official website.