Business Job interview. HR and resume of applicant on table.

How Many Interviews Will Candidates Endure Before Calling it Quits?

Hiring

Candidates have largely driven the hiring market over the past few years.  However, in 2024, employers have lengthened the hiring process, ensuring that they are hiring the right person the first time around.

Employer expectations are high. Candidates are enduring multiple rounds of interviews from junior level programmers to senior engineers.  Yet, at what point are candidates hitting an interview fatigue wall during the process?

We polled our candidates to find out when they start considering abandoning an interview process for a job.  Largely, candidates are ready to call it quits after four rounds of interviews.  In fact, nearly 85% of respondents said that four interviews was more than enough to demonstrate their experience and capabilities.  12% of respondents felt that more than 5 interviews were too many.

Commenters recounted stories of enduring 10+ interviews for mid-level positions as well as interviewing with the same panel of managers over and over again.

Realistically, the number of candidates that do, in fact, abandon the hiring process after their polled threshold is unknown.  It can be difficult to pull oneself away from a process that has consumed so much time and energy.  Job seekers don’t want to be on the market any longer than they have to. Hundreds of hours go into curating resumes, finding open positions, filling out applications, and attending interviews.

However, this doesn’t mean that employers should negate the interviewing fatigue that candidates are feeling.  Companies are interviewing more candidates than ever while making fewer hiring decisions.  In the long run, this is incompatible with the very realistic talent shortage amongst technical talent.

Companies looking to fill their headcount by the end of the year will benefit from tightening up their hiring process. Plus, it allows job seekers to get a realistic picture of the amount of time they need to invest in every company’s interviewing process.

View our recent case studies and gain an even greater perspective.