The labor market is tight right now: with unemployment at historic lows, it’s an employees’ market, which means employers have to work extra hard to attract new talent into their ranks.
That’s why employers can no longer afford to be disorganized, slow or uninspired when it comes to job interviews. The job interview is often a person’s first taste of what it might be like to work at a company, so it pays to make it count. More than 70% of people say the interview process gave them a good idea of culture at their company, according to data by Comparably.
Focusing in on the fast-growing tech sector, Comparably took an inside look at the interview experience. The results come from the insights of more than 25,000 employees across the tech sector. Full methodology below.
Here are the results:
If you’re white and male, you’re likely to have a better interviewing experience
— Men vs. women. Ninety percent of men say they had a positive overall experience interviewing at their current company. That compares to 82% of women.
— Hispanic/Latino employees are least likely to positively rate their experience. Just 73% of Hispanic/Latino respondents say they had a positive overall interviewing experience compared to 90% of Caucasians and 89% of Asians/Pacific Islanders.
— People in HR, admin have the best experience; product and design have the worst. From a department standpoint, the highest rating was among people in HR and admin while the lowest was among people in product and design.
— People in their 20s and 30s were least happy with their experience. Those who viewed the interviewing experience most positively were in the youngest and oldest age groups (90% of respondents in each group said they had a positive experience). The rate among workers 26 to 30 was the lowest, at 82%.
— No major differences from an experience perspective. Workers with 10+ years of experience had the highest rates of viewing the interview most positively, but only slightly.
People in design, engineering find interviews tougher than those in sales, marketing
— By department overall. Workers in executive roles have the highest likelihood of rating the interviewing process at their current company “difficult” or “very difficult” (45%), followed next by people in business development (46%). People in customer support were least likely to rate the interviewing process as “difficult” or “very difficult” (21%).
— Jobs where technical skills play outsized role. Among people in design, engineering, and product jobs, those in design found the interview process at their current company most difficult (36%). Engineering was next (35%), followed by product (31%).
— Jobs where soft skills matter more. Among communications, marketing, and sales people, the rates were lower overall. Twenty-six percent of people in communications said the interview process at their current company was “difficult” or “very difficult.” Twenty-three percent of people in marketing and 22% of people in sales said the same.
— Overall response. A combined 30% of people said the interview process at their current company was “difficult” or “very difficult.” Another 46% of people said it was “average,” while 24% said it was either “easy” or “very easy.”
— Men and women report similar results. Slightly more women said the process was “easy” or “very easy” (26%) compared to men (21%).
— Asian/Pacific Islanders rate the interview process most difficult. About 35% of Asians/Pacific Islanders said the interviewing process at their current job was either “very difficult” or “difficult.” That was the highest out of the group.
— Age counts. Workers 18 to 25 were most likely to rate their experience as either difficult or very difficult (36%). Workers 46 to 50 were least likely to rate their experience as either difficult or very difficult (26%).
— No drastic differences from an experience perspective. The rate of people who rated the interview for their current job as “difficult” or “very difficult” is relatively equal across the board.
If you’re in your 40s, being referred for a job is just as popular as applying online
— Overall, applying online is the most popular path to a first interview. About 1 in 3 people say they applied online to get an interview at their company. The next most popular response was “referral” (26%). Networking was the least popular response (9%).
— The only exception. Workers in their 40s were just as likely to get an interview via referral as they were by applying online.
— Men have more luck with recruiters. Twenty-one percent of men say they got a job interview through a recruiter. Just 16% of women say the same.
— Workers at the earliest stages of their careers are more likely to apply online. That changes as experience increases. Forty-five percent of entry-level workers applied for their current job online, compared to just 25% of workers with 10+ years of experience.
— There are no differences between workers of different ethnicities. The rates were roughly equal among workers in every ethnic group.
— By department. People in executive roles and business development were the only ones who were more likely to get an interview by referral than by applying online.
People in sales generally get hired after one interview. People in engineering? Two.
— The view overall. By and large, it takes one or two interviews (on the phone or in person) to get hired for a job. Anything more than that is less common, especially at the higher end of the spectrum – just 9% of people have 5 or more interviews.
— Sales, customer support and admin workers are most likely to get hired after one interview (40% +). Jobs in design, engineering, product, communications, business development and marketing tend to take two interview on average.
— 33% of women say they got the job after one interview compared to 26% of men. Women have higher rates of saying they got a job after one interview than men.
— It takes more interviews for executives to get hired. When asked how many interviews they had before they were hired at their current job, people in executive roles were most likely to choose “three” (35%).
Executives
— The most popular answer for Asians/Pacific Islanders or Hispanic/Latino people is “two”; for African Americans and Caucasians, it’s “one.” Thirty-four percent of African Americans and 32% of Caucasians say it took one interview before they got their current job. That’s higher than either the 19% of Asians/Pacific Islanders or 27% of Hispanic/Latino people who say the same.
— No major differences seen when analyzed by age.
— No major differences seen when analyzed by years of experience.
It’s standard for people to hear back from a job within a week of their last interview
— Wait times. On average, 44% of people hear back from an employer within a week of having interviewed. The next most popular wait time is 1 to 2 weeks (23%). The least popular wait time is 4 weeks or more.
— No major differences from when analyzed by age, ethnicity, or experience level.
— Men vs. women. Women and men showed very similar responses.
Methodology
— The data comes from 26,518 employees insights across the technology sector who responded to a series of survey questions.
— Employees hail from small, mid-size, and large tech companies (VC-funded, privately-held, and public) as well as household brands such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, etc.
— Questions were in Yes/No and multiple-choice format. A total of seven survey questions were included. Each survey was initiated sometime between March 2018 and June 2018. Results are as of July 9, 2018.
— How was your overall experience interviewing at your current company?
— How did you get your first interview at your current company?
— How difficult would you rate the interview process at your current company?
— Did your interview process give you a good representation of the culture at your company?
— How long did you have to wait before you heard a response after your last interview?
— How many phone/in person interviews did you have before you were hired at your current company?
— People of all ages, educational backgrounds, ethnicities and experience levels were included.
About Comparably
Comparably is one of the fastest growing compensation, culture, and career monitoring sites in the U.S. With the most comprehensive and uniquely structured data — segmented by gender, ethnicity, age, location, tenure, company size, equity, title/department, and education — the platform gives employees a more accurate picture of their worth and allows them to anonymously rate their workplace experiences and match with their dream jobs. Since its launch in 2016, Comparably has accumulated more than 5 million ratings from employees across 8,500 U.S. businesses and the more than 45,000 companies who use its employer branding and jobs tools. For more information on Comparably, go to www.comparably.com. For highly-cited workplace culture and compensation studies, including Comparably’s annual Best Places to Work and Best CEOs lists, log onto http://www.comparably.com/blog.
