The biggest recruitment trend for 2025 is once again recruitment teams doing more with less.

A huge part of this challenge is therefore reducing waste in time, effort and resources. This puts pressure on ensuring that we do more with what we have generated (think candidate pipelines) as budgets tighten.

This is where the impact of a well-orchestrated candidate experience strategy becomes evident and this starts with real-time analysis and measurement of what is happening.

Real-time Candidate Experience Benchmarking (comparing your CX versus other employers hiring the same skills/talent) ensures you minimise waste.

Here is why Benchmarking your candidate experience should be the cornerstone for efficient recruitment in 2025:

1. Find your competitive advantage – Identify Strengths to amplify and Weakness to fix.

Benchmarking your CX allows you to compare yourselves to your competitors for talent. This helps your recruiters and hiring managers understand where they need to be more “competitive” in CX and adapt in real-time. By understanding where you are outperforming your competitors or they are outperforming you, you can make targeted interventions to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

2. Reduce Drop-off rates.

Candidates will drop-off, psychologically, where they feel they are receiving a more favourable experience elsewhere – but you might not know. They may remain in your process, but you may have become their 2nd or 3rd choice. Then there are those who withdraw or decline offers. By Benchmarking CX you can pinpoint the stages and elements where candidates lose interest or feel frustrated and see how they feel about other employers at the same stages. Above the benchmark? That’s a competitive advantage to amplify. Below the Benchmark? Your competitors have an advantage over you so time for some intervention.

3. Streamline Processes

CX benchmarking provides data-driven insights that can help streamline things. By understanding where bottlenecks or inefficiencies occur (versus your competition), teams can implement more efficient approaches, saving time, reducing costs and improving the chances of hiring who you want, first time.

4. Drive Strategic Decisions

With real-time benchmarking data, recruitment leaders can make informed decisions that align with broader business objectives. For example, if data shows that a personalised approach significantly improves candidate experience at a particular stage for a particular role or skill, resources can be allocated more effectively to capitalise on this insight.

As we navigate the complexities of 2025, embracing innovative tools and strategies like candidate experience benchmarking will be key to efficiency and achieving recruitment success. By focusing on creating a seamless and engaging experience for candidates, recruitment teams can not only meet but exceed their objectives, doing more with less.