Tech Recruiting

Benchmark Report
A data-driven pulse on the state of tech recruiting

- P.01
Introduction Table of Contents
Tech hiring growth isn’t slowing down any time soon. The Tech Recruiting Landscape ____________ P.03
And ever-changing company tech initiatives means talent
needs are always in flux. The Hiring Process ________________________ P.06

So how are best-in-class teams approaching tech hiring The Tech Talent Landscape ________________ P.13
in a dynamic, candidate-centric market? We surveyed 5,297
tech hiring leaders—including engineering managers, Key Takeaways ____________________________ P.16
tech recruiters, and interviewers—to better understand.
Methodology ______________________________ P.17
We’ve distilled our key findings into this report. You’ll find data
on trends driving tech hiring, hiring process benchmarks,
plus a look into the competitive landscape for tech talent.

Questions? Reach out to us at [email protected].

Introduction - P.02
01.
The Tech Recruiting
Landscape
- P.03
Where Tech Hiring Teams Work What industry do you work in?

Developer hiring happens where tech hiring teams work. 59.1% Technology
These are the industries driving tech hiring today.
7.1% Financial Services

4.4% Retail & eCommerce

59% of tech recruiting teams work at tech companies. 4.2% Recruiting & Staffing

3.2% Health Care

3.1% Media, Entertainment & Gaming

INSIGHTS 3.0% Education

2.6% Automotive & Transport

As technology evolves, every company is becoming a tech company. That doesn’t
mean every company is focused on creating technology products, like software— 2.0% Computer Hardware
but it does mean that their hiring needs are becoming increasingly technical.
1.9% Internet Security

Take, for example, the automotive industry. Twenty years ago, tech talent didn’t have
1.0% Aerospace & Defense
much influence in car production; it was a largely mechanical process. But with the
rising popularity of technologies like car assistant systems (e.g. Apple CarPlay) and 0.8% Government
self-driving vehicles, auto companies need more developer support than ever before.
0.8% Food & Beverage

And that same transformation is happening across industries: from financial services,
0.8% Insurance
to education, and healthcare. As companies across industries undergo digital
transformation, we can expect to see their technical recruiting teams grow. But for 0.7% Nonprofit
now, technology companies employ the majority of tech recruiting teams.
5.3% Other

Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

The Tech Recruiting Landscape - P.04

Initiatives Driving Tech Hiring Which of the following initiatives, if any,
are driving technical hiring at your company?
Company initiatives dictate the tech you need to build—and subsequently,
the talent you need to hire. These are the initiatives shaping tech hiring
across industries. 50.4% Big Data and Analytics

46.9% Cloud Computing

#1 driver of tech hiring is big data and analytics. 36.9% Artificial Intelligence

36.7% Process Automation

27.6% Customer Engagement

INSIGHTS
21.5% Cybersecurity

According to tech hiring teams, initiatives in big data and analytics are having the Internet of Things
21.5%
strongest impact on tech talent demand. It’s likely due in part to the growth of big
data and analytics solutions, which are slated to see a collective annual growth rate 11.7% Computer Vision
of 13% through 2022, according to IDC.
7.1% Other

Cloud computing has also become an increasingly strong driver in tech, driven by 12.0% None of the Above
growth in the cloud services industry. It’s also slated to see strong growth through
2022—”exponential growth,” according to Gartner.

Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

The Tech Recruiting Landscape - P.05

02.
The Hiring Process

- P.06
Average Requisition Load On average, how many open technical job requisitions
do recruiters handle at once at your company?
Finding the right number of requisitions per recruiter is a balance.
Too many at once could lead to increased time-to-hire or poor candidate Company Size: Company Size:
experience, and too few could cause missed hiring goals. Cross-reference 1-999 Employees Requisitions 1,000+ Employees
with your time-to-hire to find your team’s ideal balance.

35.2% 1-4 18.5%

Recruiters at large companies handle the most concurrent requisitions.
34.1% 5-9 28.1%

16.8% 10-14 18.5%

INSIGHTS
5.1% 15-19 10.3%
The bigger the company, the larger the average requisition load. That’s likely due
to the increased resources available at large companies. Access to more tools 8.8% 20+ 24.7%
(e.g. sourcing support), plus robust personnel support (e.g. recruiting coordiantors)
means they can spend more time on recruiting, and less on administrative details.

But when it comes to measuring average requisition load, more isn’t objectively
better. In fact, survey results showed that companies handling more requisitions Average: Average:
at once tend to have longer time to hire. Recruiters that handled 20+ concurrent 8 Requisitions 12 Requisitions
requisitions had an average time-to-hire of 45 days, whereas those handling
1-4 concurrent requisitions averaged 29 days. So those handling fewer concurrent
requisitions—most commonly, at smaller companies—have the upper hand when
Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey
it comes to agility.

The Hiring Process - P.07

Average Application Volume How many applications does your company receive
per open tech role (on average)?
Reviewing application volume is one way to gauge the impact of your tech
talent brand. Application volume varies widely by role, but lower than average Company Size: # of Company Size:
volumes could mean you need to revisit your recruitment marketing strategy. 1-999 Employees Applications 1,000+ Employees

On average, larger companies receive more than 4x applications per role. 54.8% 0-49 34.7%

22.2% 50-99 23.3%

INSIGHTS
13.0% 100-249 18.0%
Company size is a strong predictor of applications per role. In short: bigger companies
tend to get more applications per role, while smaller companies tend to get less 6.7% 250-499 10.0%
applications per role.
2.6% 500-999 6.0%
The added resources available at a larger companies—like robust recruitment marketing
teams—mean that teams can take a proactive approach to candidate attraction at scale.
1,000-
It also signals more resources for refining and marketing their tech talent brand. And a 0.7% 3.3%
4,999
positive, recognizable tech talent brand goes a long way in attracting applicants.

0% 5,000+ 4.7%

“Recruiters and engineering managers [have] to be ruthless about

Average: Average:
tracking metrics and figuring out exactly when you’re deviating
119 Applications 566 Applications
[from your plan]: is your rubric good, are you getting referrals,
are you bringing in the right candidates?”

— Michael Glukhovsky, Developer Relations, Stripe Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

The Hiring Process - P.08

Application Pass Through Rate On average, what percentage of applicants reach
the phone screen stage of your hiring process?
Application pass through rate is a key datapoint in visualizing your candidate
funnel. Too high a rate puts a burden on the hiring manager conducting Percentage
phone screens; too low a rate may not yield enough candidates. of Applicants Respondents

50%+ 15.6%

Most hiring teams pass 26% of applicants on to the phone screen stage 40-49% 6.8%
30-39% 10.9%
25-29% 5.9%

INSIGHTS 20-24% 11.1%

15-19% 10%
On the whole, application pass through rates vary across the industry; there’s no 10-14% 12.9%
one average pass rate. That’s because application pass through rate is inherently
5-9% 12.5%
tied to other candidate funnel metrics—like number of applications, phone screen
pass rate, and more. 1-4% 6.1%
Not Sure 8.2%
The best application pass through rate is a function of the metrics both upstream
and downstream application review. You can adjust it by making your review
Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey
process more rigorous, or by adding additional steps to the application process
(e.g. a skills assessment). You’ll know a change is due if you see signals like:

• Low phone screen pass through rate “Making sure that the process is efficient—how can
you [can] scale quicker if you are using technology to
• Hiring manager struggling to manage phone screen volume
help you with assessments, where humans need to be
• Shifts in application volume involved in the process, where technology [can] make
the process more efficient—really understanding that
is critical to being able to scale quickly.”
— Jennifer Shappley, Sr. Dir. of Talent Acquisition, Linkedin

The Hiring Process - P.09

Phone Screen Pass Through Rate Of the applicants that reach the phone screen stage,
what percentage reach the onsite interview stage?
This metric demonstrates the level of calibration between a tech recruiter and
a hiring manager. The higher the phone screen pass through rate, the more in Percentage
sync the two parties are. of Applicants Respondents

70%+ 0.8%
On average, hiring teams pass 34% of phone screened candidates
to the onsite stage 60-69% 6%

50-59% 4.1%

40-49% 6.8%
INSIGHTS
30-39% 14.9%
For the majority of teams, only 10-19% of phone screened candidates—less than 1
in 5—are passed to the onsite stage. A mere 17% of teams report a phone screen 20-29% 20.9%
pass through rate of 40% or more.
10-19% 24.2%

Assuming the phone screen is being conducted by a hiring manager, a high pass 1-9% 15.3%
through rate at this stage is ideal. It means the hiring manager feels most of the
candidates they screen are qualified for the role at hand. And that means good
alignment between the hiring manager and the recruiter. Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

To improve this metric, try:

• Adding more screening steps ahead of the call, or as a part

of the application process
• Strengthening hiring manager:recruiter calibration

The Hiring Process - P.10

Evaluation Time Investment How much time do you spend screening & interviewing
each candidate?
Monitoring the time you spend evaluating each candidate ensures you spend
your (and your team’s) time efficiently. Compare the candidate evaluation Company Size: Hours per Company Size:
time to the onsite-to-offer ratios to optimize for effective interviews in the 1-999 Employees Candidate 1,000+ Employees
smallest amount of time.
14.3% 0.5 13.4%

27.6% 1 30.5%
Individuals on the hiring panel spend 2.2 hours on average evaluating
23.5% 2 21.5%
a candidate—regardless of company size
11.6% 3 9.9%

8.5% 4 6.1%
4.4% 5 4.7%
INSIGHTS
6.4% 6+ 8.2%

Regardless of size, companies spend the same amount of time screening and
interviewing candidates. Each individual on the interviewing panel spends
roughly 2.2 hours evaluating per candidate—from screening, to code reviews, Average: Average:
to onsites, debriefs, and more—in order to make a decision. You can use this 2.2 Hours 2.2 Hours
to calculate total evaluation time for your last requisition:

Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

Total Evaluation Time Invested = Hrs of Evaluation per Candidate x # of Candidates
Interviewed x # of Interviewers on Panel

Unnecessarily long evaluation processes are a candidate turnoff, and waste “The better you can make [your metrics]—meaning the better
engineering teams’ time. For high volume roles, you can reduce it by either your processes—the more efficient and effective your company
shrinking your interview panel, or streamlining your evaluation process is going to be. And that’s going to drive the engine to be able
through automated pre-screening components. to actually accomplish your team goals and plans.”

— Michael Glukhovsky, Developer Relations, Stripe

The Hiring Process - P.11

Time-to-Hire On average, what is the time-to-hire (from job opening
to offer letter) for developer roles at your company?
Streamlined time-to-hire is key for providing a candidate-centric experience.
Aligning your time-to-hire with industry standards will ensure you’re meeting Company Size: Number Company Size:
candidate expectations, and will help you stay competitive against other 1-999 Employees of Days 1,000+ Employees

potential employers.
15.3% <10 6.8%

24.2% 10-19 11.8%

61% of smaller companies have a time-to-hire under 30 days,
20.9% 20-29 19.3%
compared to 38% of larger companies
14.9% 30-39 12.8%

6.8% 40-49 8.1%

4.1% 50-59 9.5%
INSIGHTS
6.0% 60-69 12.8%

Even though both smaller and larger companies spend the same amount of time 0.8% 70-79 3.7%
evaluating candidates, smaller companies hire faster. It makes sense: given their 1.2% 80-89 3.0%
scale, small companies generally have less hoops to jump through to process 1.2% 90-99 3.4%
and create an offer.
1.7% 100+ 3.7%

But that doesn’t mean larger companies can’t keep up. In fact, roughly 38% of large 2.7% Not Sure 5.1%

companies have a time-to-offer under 30 days (compared to 60% of smaller companies).

Approvals and administrative processes can’t often be sped up—but variables like
evaluation time investment can. Look for opportunities to streamline your evaluation Average: Average:
process to improve time-to-hire. 29 Days 43 Days

Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

The Hiring Process - P.12

03.
The Tech Talent
Landscape
- P.13
Highest Demand Candidate Levels What level of developers do you search for most often?
In-demand candidate levels are a key piece of the competitive talent landscape.
Company Size: 1-999 Employees

Mid-level developers are the most in-demand experience level.

22.2% 49.1% 28.1% 0.6%

INSIGHTS Intern Mid-level Senior Management
or Entry-level (2-5 yrs (>5 yrs
(<2 yrs experience) experience) experience)
Across the board, mid-level developers are in highest demand. Senior developers are the
second most in-demand group, followed by entry-level developers, and finally, management.

Within that prioritization, we see some slight differences between smaller companies Company Size: 1,000+ Employees
(<1,000 employees) and larger companies (1,000+ employees). Larger companies,
for example, are more likely to seek out senior developers than smaller companies.
Given their high demand, it’s worth paying special attention to their candidate experience.
As an especially high demand group, they’re likely to have a variety of options available
to them. 18.6% 46.0% 34.0% 1.4%
Intern Mid-level Senior Management
or Entry-level (2-5 yrs (>5 yrs
(<2 yrs experience) experience) experience)

“There are so many startups that are so sexy and pull a lot of
early-in-career engineers—and maybe mid-career engineers—that
are looking for the upside in the middle of their career by being part Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey
of a startup. [But] if you’ve got a solid value proposition and if you
can bring stories to life about why it’s truly great to be at your
company, I think that there are people out there that will listen.”

— Angela Miller, Director of Global Talent Ops, PureStorage

The Tech Talent Landscape - P.14

Hardest Roles to Hire What roles are the most difficult to find qualified candidates for?

Some technical roles are harder to hire for. Expect higher evaluation time Company Size: Company Size:
investment and a longer sourcing process for the toughest ones. 1-999 Employees Role 1,000+ Employees

36.9% Full-Stack Developer 33.9%

Full-stack developers are the hardest to find for companies

22.6% Machine Learning Engineer 26.4%
of all sizes
26.3% DevOps Engineer 19.8%

18.5% Systems Architect 22.1%

INSIGHTS
16.7% Data Scientist 19.5%

Teams struggle the most to find qualified full-stack developers, machine learning 18.5% Back-End Developer 13.3%
engineers, DevOps engineers, systems architects, and data scientists. The easiest
to find are data analysts. 14.2% Security Engineer 17.3%

14.7% Front-End Developer 10.1%

So why are full-stack developer roles the most difficult ones to find candidates for?
It’s likely tied to the ambiguity of their role; “full-stack developer” is a notoriously 11.5% Data Engineer 9.2%
challenging role to define. The difficulty of defining the role, combined with the unique
blend of required skills makes it an especially hard role to source for. 11.4% Mobile Developer 7.0%

8.7% Software Test Engineer 9.8%

7.6% Site Reliability Engineer 10.8%

5.7% Data Analyst 5.6%

Source: HackerRank’s Tech Recruiting Survey

The Tech Talent Landscape - P.15

Key Takeaways

The technology sector continues to be a major driver in

tech hiring—but across industries, company initiatives in
big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are
changing the way we hire.

As companies’ tech initiatives shift, so must the technical

teams that build them.
And that requires agile, adaptive hiring teams to keep
up with tech hiring demands. Keeping a close eye on key
benchmarks—like evaluation time investment, time-to-
hire, and more—ensures that your team manages the
transitions smoothly.

Key Takeaways - P.16

Methodology

The data in this benchmarking report is derived from the HackerRank

Tech Recruiting Survey.
The survey polled a total of 5,297 tech hiring stakeholders, including 347
hiring managers, 441 recruiters, and 935 other hiring stakeholders
(e.g. interviewers) in an online survey.

The survey was programmed in SurveyMonkey and HackerRank recruited

respondents via email (community members, customers, and prospects)
and through social media sites. Respondents came from 89 countries.
Results were analyzed using IBM-SPSS and Q Research.

Tests of significant differences were conducted at the .05 level (95% probability
that the difference is real, not by chance). Percentages may not always add
to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology - P.17
About HackerRank

HackerRank Developer Skills Platform is the standard for assessing developer skills
for 2,000+ companies across industries and 7M+ developers around the world.
Companies rely on HackerRank to objectively evaluate skills against millions of de-
velopers at every step of the hiring process, allowing teams to consistently hire the
best without wasting engineering cycles. Developers rely on HackerRank to turn
their skills into great jobs. Our mission: to accelerate the world’s innovation.

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customers developers challenges
worldwide on the platform completed

HackerRank is trusted by hiring teams at Atlassian, Stripe, LinkedIn,

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initiatives, reach out to our team:

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About HackerRank - P.18