Overall recruitment slows in 2024 despite surge in applications: report

Applications per job ad surged by 81% during the year.

The overall 2024 recruitment market slowed resulting in a 10% year-on-year (YoY) decline in the number of job advertisements, a report found, despite an increase in the number of applications per job ad.

In its 2024 Jobsdb by Seek report, it was revealed that the average number of job applications per advertisement surged by 81% YoY last 2024.

Simultaneously, the frequency of job application submissions of over 100 has increased significantly by nearly twofold (+93%) YoY.

Also, employers seeking to hire fresh graduates have dropped by 37%.

Despite this trend, job seekers showed an increasing desire to change jobs. The sectors with the greatest growth included marketing and communications, banking and finance, information and communication technology, administration, and accounting.

Moreover, the three areas that experienced the strongest recruitment demand were community services and development (+63%), real estate and property (+21%), and healthcare and medical (+18%).

The report said job seekers favour positions that specify salary ranges in the advertisements as it attracts 19% more applications than those that do not.

Further, ‘relocation’ emerged as a highly sought-after search term on the platform, with search volume rebounding by 124% after an 18% decline in 2023.

Job seekers aged 21 to 25 exhibited the highest level of interest, followed by the 26 to 30 age range.

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