2 minute read
Posted by Chris Platts on 12 March 2025
There’s a reason why 55% of employees have quit a job due to a disconnect between the job’s portrayal in the recruitment process and the actual experience—a 15% increase since 2019, according to ThriveMap’s latest research. The hiring process is broken, and at the heart of it lies a simple truth: job descriptions are marketing materials, not reality.
Think about it. How often have you seen job listings that promise a “fast-paced, dynamic work environment” only to find out that means never-ending emails and back-to-back Zoom calls? Or companies advertising “growth opportunities” when there’s nowhere to move except out the door?
This isn’t just a minor frustration for candidates—it’s a critical hiring problem. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that mismatched expectations in job roles contribute significantly to early turnover, with employees leaving once they realize the day-to-day experience doesn’t match what they were promised.
Instead of selling dreams, companies should offer candidates a preview of the reality of the job before they accept the offer. ThriveMap’s research reveals that candidates who experience realistic job assessments are 3x more likely to stay compared to those who rely on job descriptions alone.
✅ Realistic job assessments give candidates an accurate, immersive preview of what the job entails, reducing expectation mismatches and increasing retention.
📥 Download the whitepaper to see how ThriveMap is helping companies tackle this hiring illusion and reduce costly turnover.
Subscribe for insights, debunks and what amounts to a free, up-to-date recruitment toolkit.
ThriveMap creates customised assessments for high volume roles, which take candidates through an online “day in the life” experience of work in your company. Our assessments have been proven to reduce staff turnover, reduce time to hire, and improve quality of hire.
Not sure what type of assessment is right for your business? Read our guide.
As the new UK National Hiring Strategy highlights, poor hiring decisions come at a significant cost. The strategy estimates that poor hiring decisions cost the UK economy £14.4 billion each year. Unemployment drains a further £61 billion, while inefficient recruitment processes and unfilled vacancies add nearly £150 million more. But the challenge facing employers isn’t […]
Continue reading
Most hiring teams optimise for speed. Time to hire.Application conversion.Assessment completion rates.Offer acceptance. These metrics are easy to measure and easy to improve. They also tell us very little about whether hiring actually worked. The real test of hiring success happens months later, when new employees decide whether to stay. Across early careers hiring, this […]
Continue reading
What 200,000+ candidate journeys reveal about how hiring performance changes across sectors Why do candidates complete nearly every assessment in some industries — but never even start them in others? At first glance, the explanation seems obvious. Different sectors have different candidates, different expectations, or different hiring challenges. But analysis of more than 200,000 pre-hire […]
Continue reading