New JobLeads analysis of 8,500 survey responses suggests jobseekers are increasingly experiencing unanswered applications, long searches and pressure to accept roles below their expectations.
Key takeaways
- Candidate communication remains a major point of friction in the job search.
- Long application processes are contributing to compromise on pay and role quality.
- JobLeads says AI is already affecting work prospects for a proportion of respondents.
While most job seekers brace for rejection, what they get most often is actually just silence. And at some point, a third of them stop counting how many times they applied and got ghosted.
A new JobLeads analysis of 8,500 survey responses, collected over three polls, shows how long the search has become and what people give up to end it.
What the data shows
What jobseekers need most is clarity. Silence turns a difficult search into an unnecessarily demoralising one.
Jobleads
- 44% had more than 50 applications go completely unanswered.
- 35% have lost count of how many jobs they have applied to, with another 27% already past 100.
- 78% have taken a job below what they were worth, and 45% said they had no choice.
- Nearly 38% needed 100 or more applications to land their last role, while just over 22% got there in fewer than 10.
- Over 22% say AI has already cost them work, including 15% laid off outright.
Read the original JobLeads study for the full findings, methodology and limitations.
