Key takeaways:
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Friction, not disinterest, drives losses: Long, complex applications and inefficient interview processes are causing candidates to drop off, despite high urgency from hiring managers to fill roles.
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Industry-specific breakdowns: Healthcare loses candidates at interviews due to lack of pay transparency, hospitality suffers from high abandonment and no-shows, manufacturing loses talent late in the funnel, and retail faces the lowest job-to-candidate match rates.
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Opportunity for staffing leaders: Streamlining applications, improving communication, showing transparency, and adopting AI/automation can dramatically improve candidate retention and give agencies a competitive edge.
Despite 91% of frontline hiring managers reporting an urgent need to fill roles, most candidates never make it from application to interview. New research from iCIMS highlights a fundamental breakdown in frontline hiring processes that’s preventing companies from securing the employees they desperately need.
Hiring friction loses candidates
According to iCIMS’s report, friction in the hiring process, not candidate disinterest, is to blame for the talent shortage in frontline roles. Application abandonment rates are particularly troubling — 60% of frontline workers have started but abandoned applications, with half citing lengthy, time-consuming forms as the primary barrier. Meanwhile, hiring managers report the highest candidate drop-off occurs at the interview stage — suggesting that even candidates who complete applications are being lost to process inefficiencies.
And while 62% of hiring managers cite candidate quality as their primary challenge, only 17% of workers say they consistently find jobs matching their needs. This mismatch points to systemic issues in how roles are presented and processes are structured.
Breakdown patterns by industry
The research identifies distinct patterns across sectors:
- Healthcare shows the highest urgency (96%) but struggles with interview-stage losses. With 70% of healthcare workers prioritizing pay transparency, agencies serving this sector must streamline applications and communicate compensation upfront.
- Hospitality experiences the leakiest funnel, with 68% application abandonment and significant interview no-shows. The disconnect between hiring managers focusing on candidate quality and workers seeking responsiveness suggests a communication gap that staffing agencies can address.
- Manufacturing faces late-stage losses at interviews and onboarding, despite candidates expressing clear priorities around pay, benefits, and advancement opportunities. This indicates a need for better expectation setting throughout the process.
- Retail workers report the lowest job match rates at just 9%, highlighting fundamental misalignment in how positions are marketed versus candidate expectations.
What this means for staffing leaders
The research suggests that success isn’t just about finding more candidates — it’s about fixing the processes that lose qualified talent along the way.
Agencies that can demonstrate streamlined application processes, transparent communication, and faster response times will have significant competitive advantages. The 69% of frontline workers who feel employers ignore their preferences in the hiring experience represents a massive opportunity for agencies that can deliver candidate-centric approaches.
In addition, technology adoption is a critical differentiator. The research highlights automation and AI as key accelerators for time-to-hire improvements, suggesting that agencies investing in these capabilities will be better positioned to serve clients facing urgent hiring needs.
