Fewer recruiters, more tools

What's going on

Across more than 6,000 North American organisations, the number of recruiters per organisation fell by 55.6% between 2022 and 2025, while the number of applications each recruiter handles a year rose by 411.8% ^[1]. Put simply: half the people, five times the paperwork.

Those recruiters are also getting more done than ever. Monthly hires per recruiter rose by 122% over the same period ^[1]. That's not a team that has stopped trying. It's a team that has had to lean on tools to keep up.

Why it's happening

Companies cut recruiting teams when hiring slowed, then applications surged as AI made applying easier. Employers turned to software to cope, and candidates turned to AI to get noticed. Each side's shortcut makes the other side's job harder ^[1].

There's a trust problem on both sides too. In one 2025 survey, 91% of recruiters said they'd spotted candidate deception, from AI-written answers to fake credentials ^[2]. When a recruiter can't easily tell real from invented, everyone gets read with more suspicion.

What you can do

1. Make the recruiter's job easy. Put your most relevant experience in the top third of page one. Use the job title they advertised if it honestly fits your work.
2. Be precise and checkable. Specific numbers, dates and names of tools read as real. Vague claims read as padding.
3. Answer screening questions fully. They're often what a recruiter filters on first.
4. Be kind when you follow up. One short, polite message after a week or two is reasonable. Recruiters remember the people who were pleasant under pressure.
5. Treat agency recruiters as allies. A good agency recruiter is paid when you're hired, so they want you to succeed. Tell them clearly what you want and what you won't consider.
6. Signal genuine interest. Some platforms now let you flag a favourite application. Greenhouse's "Dream Job" applications were reviewed in 6 days on average, against 19 for others ^[3].