What Makes Applicants Click "Apply Now?"

Employers are still facing one of the tightest labor markets in recent history. Amid labor shortages and the Great Resignation, one question remains key: How does a company attract high quality candidates? By looking into the number of applicants per job posting, we can gain insights into what drives applicants’ interest to apply.

Linking the number of applicants with companies’ employee review scores and controlling for company and occupation effects, we can rank drivers of applicants-per-posting. Company culture is the leading driver of more applications to job postings, we find via our HR database systems. This complements our previous finding that toxic corporate culture has been driving the Great Resignation, showing the great importance of culture in driving both retention and recruitment.

The coefficients above can be interpreted as the percent increase in job applicants resulting from a one percent increase in the sentiment score. For example, a 1% increase in the Senior Leadership Score is associated with a 0.9% increase in the number of job applicants.

Which companies were the most popular for job applicants during the Great Resignation? Perhaps unsurprisingly, Big Tech companies have received the most applicants per job posting, with Spotify, LinkedIn, and Lyft leading the way, Revelio Labs finds.

Next, looking into the occupations with the most demand, we see a clear pattern: Creative jobs like designers and writers had the most applicants per posting. On the other hand, many sales and custodial jobs have struggled to get applicants.

Key Takeaways:

• Company culture is the leading driver of applicants per job posting, Revelio Labs' HR database systems show.
• Big Tech companies receive the highest number of applications on their postings.
• Creative jobs received the highest concentration of applicants during this time.