A new survey finds 44% of U.S. hiring managers now have positions they cannot fill, up sharply from 36% a year ago, even as job seekers say the automated systems built to speed up hiring are making them feel more like an application number than a candidate.
What happened: Express Employment Professionals and The Harris Poll surveyed 1,006 U.S. hiring decision-makers and 1,000 job seekers between May and June. Forty-four percent of hiring managers report open roles they cannot fill, the highest share since fall 2023, and 43% say timelines have stretched compared with two years ago; 26% say a hire now takes at least four weeks and 21% of open roles close without ever being filled. On the candidate side, 31% say automated hiring processes make it harder to feel heard, and 31% believe some companies collect resumes without genuine intent to hire. “Hiring has become more complex, and employers are working to balance speed, quality and the right fit,” said Bob Funk Jr., CEO, president and chairman of Express Employment International. “Technology can help streamline the process, but it delivers the greatest value when paired with thoughtful, human interaction.”
Why it matters: The gap between “jobs exist” and “jobs get filled” is now a process problem as much as a labor-supply one, and it lands squarely on the tools HR teams use to screen and route candidates.
The original insight: The 44% unfilled-role figure lines up with what manufacturers have already reported about openings outpacing hires, but this survey adds the missing half of the story: candidates are naming automation, not just skills shortages, as a reason they disengage. That should worry any HR team that added AI screening tools to cut recruiter workload without also testing what those tools feel like from the applicant’s side, a gap that shows up differently but just as sharply in hiring data from the UK market, where the slowdown has just started to ease.
Source: Express Employment Professionals
