Photo: Alicia Christin Gerald / Unsplash (illustrative)
The Israeli labor market has returned to routine following the summer and holiday breaks, and CVs are once again flowing to employers. Yet behind the revival in recruitment activity lies a more complex picture: Recruiters are more active, candidacies are multiplying, but the number of open positions remains almost unchanged. Is competition for every job becoming harder?
The Jobnet job board index, in partnership with the Civi AI recruitment system, for the month of October indicates a significant increase in recruitment activity following the Tishrei holidays. However, the comparison to June, before the holiday season, reveals the more interesting trend: The volume of activity has grown, while the supply of positions has remained virtually unchanged.
More candidacies, the same number of positions
Compared to September, which was characterized by vacations and holidays, recruiters’ activity in October surged by about 21%, while the volume of received CVs rose by about 27%. Part of the increase is explained by the return to routine, but the data indicates heightened activity even compared to the months preceding the holiday season.
Thus, compared to June, recruiter activity in October was about 11% higher, and the rate of CV intake rose by about 8%. Conversely, the number of open positions remained almost unchanged.
The potential implication for job seekers is greater competition for every position. However, it is important to distinguish between the number of candidacies and the actual number of job seekers: The same person may send CVs to a large number of positions, and therefore the rise in the volume of candidacies does not necessarily indicate an increase in the number of people looking for work.
And what happened on Election Day? On October 27, while many Israelis enjoyed the day off, the job search did not stop completely. Recruiter activity stood at just 25% of activity on a regular Tuesday, but the volume of received CVs reached 42% of normal. In other words, even when employers slowed down, candidates continued to look for their next position.
The good news: More candidates are hired
Alongside the potential competition for positions, the index also points to an encouraging figure: The number of candidates for whom an employment hiring decision was made rose by about 27% compared to June.
This figure is important because it shows that despite the stability in the number of open positions, recruitment processes continue to advance and conclude with hiring candidates for work. That is, the rise in the number of CVs does not reflect merely more attempts to find work, but is also accompanied by a rise in hiring decisions.
Gilad Elon, CEO of Jobnet: “The rise in the number of candidates who were hired is an encouraging sign that the labor market continues to move. For job seekers, the data highlights the importance of tailoring CVs to each position. When employers receive more candidacies, it is advisable to highlight relevant professional experience, appropriate skills, and past achievements, instead of settling for sending the same document to every role. For employers, the challenge is to manage an efficient and focused recruitment process so as not to miss suitable candidates amidst the abundance of CVs.”
Artificial intelligence is also gaining momentum
The growth in the volume of candidacies also poses a challenge for employers, who are required to locate suitable candidates out of a large quantity of CVs. Against this background, the use of artificial intelligence tools in recruitment processes continues to expand.
According to Civi AI data, the volume of operations performed using AI tools in the system in October was about 73% higher compared to June. However, the company notes that part of the increase may also stem from the addition of new capabilities to the system, and not solely from the expanded use of existing tools.
One of the new capabilities is AI MATCH, which makes it possible to rank the degree of fit between candidates and positions and perform searches in candidate pools using natural language. Thus, recruiters can locate relevant candidates even from within CVs already residing in the organization’s databases, rather than relying solely on new candidacies.
Shai Bechor, CEO of Civi AI, explains: “We see a more active recruitment market, but not necessarily a market where more positions are opening up. The implication is that the challenge for employers is not just to attract candidates, but to know how to identify the right people out of a growing quantity of CVs.”
The big question: When will more positions open up?
October marks a clear return to recruitment activity following months of vacations and holidays. Yet the data raises a question regarding the road ahead: Will the growth in recruiter activity also translate into an expansion of the supply of positions, or will employers continue to focus on filling existing slots?
In the meantime, the picture emerging from the index is complex: More CVs are reaching employers, more candidates are receiving positive hiring decisions, and artificial intelligence tools are playing a growing role in recruitment processes. What is still missing is a significant growth in the number of open positions.
The index is based on thousands of positions published on the Jobnet site from the Walla group by companies and organizations from a variety of fields in the economy, alongside data from the Civi AI system, in which tens of thousands of recruitment processes are managed each month. The index is expected to be published once a month, with the aim of presenting an up-to-date picture of the labor and recruitment market in Israel.
Originally published by The Jerusalem Post.
Jerusalem Post
