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The Hiring Signals Report

The 2026-27 Hiring Signals Report

What 1,056 HR professionals tell us about the hiring inputs they use versus the ones they trust, how AI has affected the selection process, and where skills-based hiring fits in.

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Volume up, signal down. 

Over half of respondents (57%) said applications for open roles have significantly or somewhat increased compared to twelve months ago, and 52% said the time they spend screening applications has also significantly or somewhat increased. 

More applications are not translating into a comparable improvement in the share of applicants qualified for the role. Compared with 12 months earlier, 27.4% reported an increase in that share, 31.6% a decrease, and 40.9% no change.

Compared with 12 months earlier, 56.6% report more applications per open role, and 52.2% say their teams spend more time screening.
Skills assessments and structured interviews lead on trust. Both were selected among respondents’ most-trusted hiring signals by 43.9%, ahead of resumes at 35.0%.
Work samples remain relatively underused. While 52.4% rate work samples or simulations as extremely or very predictive of job performance, only 19.1% say their organizations use them.

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