As Employers Push Out Time From Interview to Offer, Student Response Time Holds Steady

August 26, 2024 | By Kevin Gray

Benchmarks

TAGS: benchmarks, cycle time, nace insights, offer rate, surveys, trends and predictions,

Recruiters are taking more time to extend an offer to a candidate following an interview, but the deadline for the student’s response remains around two weeks, according to NACE’s 2024 Recruiting Compensation Report.

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Advisory Opinion: Setting Reasonable Deadlines for Job Offers

The average amount of time from interview to offer has increased over the past several years, rising from just under 25 days in 2021 to nearly 27 days currently. (See Figure 1.) Meanwhile, the average number of days that students have to respond to a job offer has fluctuated close to 14 days since 2019. (See Figure 2.)

Employers extended offers to about 54% of their Class of 2023 candidates, and 75% of the offers were accepted. (See Figure 3.) Both rates are higher than the rates for 2022 candidates.

Overall, reneges aren’t a significant issue among responding employers. Respondents reported that approximately 7% of their accepted job offers ended with a renege on the part of the candidate. However, a higher percentage of respondents also reported that their offers to students for internships ended with reneges (10%).

The 2024 Recruiting Compensation Report is an analysis of data collected through a survey conducted April 10 through May 17, 2024. The survey was distributed to 878 employer organizations that hold membership in NACE; 194 provided responses, for a 22.1% response rate. In addition, 41 nonmember organizations took part. The 2024 Recruiting Compensation Report & Dashboard provide the latest salary and benefits information for five core recruiting-related positions. The report also features current benchmark data for the recruiting budget; entry-level hire cohort; cycle time; offer, acceptance, and renege rates; and college graduate retention. Participants can access the report and dashboard through MyNACE. The report and dashboard are also available through the NACE store.