From the ever-growing shortage of candidates on the Belgian labor market now and in the long-term future, to the potential Great Resignation coming to Belgium: the age of scarce talent has begun & applicants have never been in a more comfortable situation, marketwise. Companies who want to recruit new talent, will have to do their best to find and keep talent now more than ever – as well as have to be future-proof.
To support both employees and employers in this market situation, StepStone has conducted a survey with 1400 employees & jobseekers, and 240 managers & HR-professionals, in order to contextualize and unveil the future of the job market in Belgium.
No reply within the first five weeks for 48% of candidates in 2021 – compared to 76% in 2019
Half of the jobseekers and employees surveyed (48%) who applied for a job in 2021, stated that they did not receive a reply within the first five weeks or more. A similar StepStone study showed that in 2019 76% hadn’t received a reply within a similar time frame (within six weeks).
With less candidates per vacancy available on the market (especially since COVID, as job security presumably remains an impactful factor), as well as automated answer systems becoming more prevalent for recruiters, there are multiple potential reasons for this drop – and of course many reasons for the increasing importance of replying to every candidate.
Britt Winnepenninckx, HR expert at Acerta Consult: “Recruiters spend a lot of time looking for talent, because there are many vacancies and only a few candidates. It is important that recruiters keep their candidates informed through personal contact and transparent communication. Especially when those candidates are already far(advanced) in the application process. Suppose it wouldn’t lead to a hire after all, the recruiter can keep the lines of communication open for possible future opportunities.”
Additionally, StepStone asked 240 managers, recruiters and HR-professionals in Belgium when they typically reply to applications. Six in ten (59%) say they reply within the first week, and only 7% of this group says they did not respond within the first five weeks or more. It would seem there is a mismatch between what both HR-professionals and candidates state as their application experience.
3 in 4 of HR-professionals send out rejection letters – more than half say they personalize them with constructive feedback
When asked if recruiters and HR-professionals send out rejection letters, 73% confirmed that they do. The remainder said they do not typically do this.
For those who do send rejection letters, StepStone asked if they include personal feedback for the rejected candidates. More than half (54%) said that they send personalized, constructive feedback to rejected applicants. One in five (20%) however said they only change the name and the job title to the one the candidate applied for.
For the remainder of the HR-professionals who do not add feedback in their rejection letters, the main reasons were:
- A lack of time (for 38%)
- Only done when explicitly asked for (15%)
- Difficulty to give actual feedback (15%)
Methodology
StepStone completed this survey in January 2022. Our analysists have screened the data to ensure both the representation and the validity of respondents’ answers are accurate.
In total, there were 1732 filled in surveys submitted in Dutch, French and English. Among them were 1,395 employees & jobseekers, and 240 managers, recruiters and HR-professionals.