Greenhouse benchmark: applications per job doubled while recruiting teams shrank by half

Recruiters are dealing with far more applications using far fewer people, according to Greenhouse's 2026 Benchmark Report. The findings were covered by RecTech Media in May, in a write-up of a podcast conversation with Greenhouse's Chief People Officer, Sharawn Tipton.

The numbers

As reported by RecTech, applications per job rose 111% between 2022 and 2025, from roughly 115 to 244. Over the same period recruiting teams shrank by 55%, and recruiters now handle 411% more applications a year than they did in 2022.

Output per recruiter has risen too. Monthly hires per recruiter were up 122% from 2022 to 2025, and the use of AI in interviews rose by 13 percentage points over the most recent six months.

Why volume has exploded

Much of the growth is put down to AI tools that let candidates apply for hundreds of roles with very little effort. The result is a cycle that suits nobody: candidates feel ignored by overloaded systems, and recruiters struggle to find genuinely strong applicants among the automated ones.

What Greenhouse recommends

Greenhouse's suggestions are practical. Use specialised AI that improves efficiency while reducing bias and supporting structured hiring. Test how well candidates use AI to check information and solve problems, rather than simply whether they use it. Keep interviews human, with technology in a supporting role. And be open with candidates about how AI is used and when they will hear back, which Greenhouse sees as a way to stand out.

"Business is personal" Sharawn Tipton, Chief People Officer, Greenhouse

The life sciences picture

The same imbalance shows up in biopharma. BioSpace's analysis found that applications outnumbered live job postings in every month of 2025, with the widest gaps in May, June and July at roughly 4.3, 4.7 and 4.6 times. IT roles had the highest ratio of the functions it studied, at about 6.8 applications per live job, while science and R&D ran at about 4.4.

For hiring teams, the problem is no longer finding applicants. It is finding the right ones quickly, without losing them to a slower process.