British employers are losing time, money and talent as recruitment inefficiencies pile up, with new research showing the heavy toll of manual admin on hiring teams.
According to a study by jobs site Totaljobs, recruiters spend an average of 17.7 hours on admin for every vacancy, the equivalent of more than two working days per hire. With a typical workload of four vacancies a month, it adds up to 8,450 hours per recruiter per year, costing around £17,000 in lost productivity based on average salaries.
“If we want a more productive Britain, the hiring gridlock is in serious need of fixing,” Nicola Weatherhead, vice president of people at Totaljobs, said. “Every hour recruiters spend on admin is time lost on strategic work, and risks putting off good quality candidates who won’t wait. Solving this is essential for growth.”
Hiring ‘held back by admin’
The study, based on responses from 748 HR leaders and 2,025 UK jobseekers, found that recruiters spend on average:
- 3.6 hours reviewing applications per vacancy
- 2.5 hours scheduling interviews
- 3 hours processing post-interview notes
Seventy-two per cent of recruiters cited screening high volumes of irrelevant applications as a top barrier to efficiency, closely followed by waiting for stakeholder feedback (71%) and carrying out manual tasks such as data entry (61%).
Candidate experience suffers
The inefficiency is also costing employers talent. More than a quarter (28%) of jobseekers said they had abandoned a hiring process due to poor communication, delays or excessive interview rounds.
When asked what would improve the recruitment experience, candidates identified the following:
- 77% want access to an application tracker
- 39% expect greater transparency about role requirements
- 34% want faster feedback
- 30% would like the overall process to be shorter
AI adoption rising but uneven
To tackle the problem, one in four recruiters are already using artificial intelligence tools for tasks such as CV screening, interview scheduling and feedback delivery. A large majority (77%) believe AI has the potential to improve efficiency, but concerns remain.
Thirty-seven per cent said they were unfamiliar with AI tools, 24% did not trust the fairness of AI decision-making, and 23% said their existing technology did not support integration.
“There’s untapped value in innovating the hiring process,” said Weatherhead. “With the right tools, recruiters can work faster, hire better, and deliver the kind of candidate experience that keeps top talent engaged.”
Five steps to faster hiring
Totaljobs recommends that employers:
- Write clear and transparent job ads to reduce irrelevant applications
- Use pre-screening questions to filter out unsuitable candidates
- Cut back on interview rounds to reduce fatigue
- Invest in self-scheduling tools to remove diary coordination issues
- Automate documentation, feedback and scheduling support after interviews
National productivity ‘at stake’
“The UK can’t afford to lose time or talent,” said Weatherhead. “Fixing recruitment isn’t just about HR; it’s about national productivity.”
He added that “recruitment setbacks are not only frustrating for candidates but also waste valuable time for employers – it’s a lose-lose situation. Technology, especially AI, offers a real opportunity to transform recruitment into a smarter, more human-centric experience for everyone involved.”
