Join/Renew
Employers made more offers to candidates this year, but they took longer to make decisions about these offers, according to NACE’s 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Report.
Although the offer rate rose to from 45% in NACE’s 2023 survey to 49% in the current survey, employers delayed extending more than one-third of those offers to spring and summer. suggesting some hesitancy on the part of employers, most likely due to the economy. (See Figure 1.)
NACE Dashboard: Access and Analyze the 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Data
The 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Report Dashboard provides detailed results by various parameters, including company size and region. Members at participating organizations and those who have purchased the report have access to the dashboard in MyNACE.Overall, lag time between the student’s first interview and getting an offer or rejection averaged 27.3 days, also an increase from the 2023 report. (See Figure 2.)
For their part, students accepted offers at a greater rate—and more quickly—than was the case in 2023, indicating they were also less certain about the job market and their ability to secure multiple offers than were their 2023 counterparts. (See Figures 1 and 3.)
Interestingly, reneges also rose for full-time positions, which may have been influenced by the delay in when offers were made. (See Figure 1.)
The 2025 Recruiting Benchmarks Report is an analysis of the data acquired through the 2025 NACE Recruiting Benchmarks Survey, conducted April 21 through May 23, 2025, and distributed to 790 organizations holding NACE membership; 197 NACE members participated, a 24.9% response rate. In addition, 15 nonmember companies responded to the survey. The majority of respondents recruit in the United States for U.S. positions only, and more than half represent organizations with more than 5,000 employees. Members at participating organizations and those who have purchased the report can access them in MyNACE.
