Recruitment Marketing Automation in 2025
Discover trends, opportunities and challenges
Recruitment never stands still
The recruitment roller coaster thunders on and on. Challenges, opportunities and trends follow each other in rapid succession. The impact of AI and automation grows and grows, and at the same time personalisation and the candidate experience is still a key priority for many employers. What challenges do these changes bring? And what opportunities? What are the trends you should not miss in 2025?
respondents
We asked more than 300 recruitment (marketing) specialists in the Netherlands and Belgium and compiled the results and insights in the RMA Trends Report 2025. Because sharing knowledge and experience is the key to success!
Key insights
With the ongoing tightness in the labour market, recruiting remains challenging and actually filling vacancies is the top priority for recruitment professionals. This includes improving the candidate experience (39% see this as the most important prio) and investing in the employer brand (38% put this at the top of the priority list).
Key challenges that need to be addressed to increase recruitment success are:
Challenge 1
Reaching the right target group (33%)
Challenge 2
(Too) little insight into data
(24%)
Challenge 3
Too small recruitment (marketing) team
(23%)
The main focus here is on technological solutions, such as AI and recruitment marketing automation. By deploying this software, organisations aim to drive more traffic to their work-at-home sites and increase conversion from visitor to applicant. It also offers opportunities to efficiently build and maintain talent pools. Only a quarter of recruitment teams can still draw on talent pools for vacancies, while talent pools with engaged candidates are the key to a shorter time to fill.
Many recruitment professionals are therefore following developments around AI, talent pools and (automated) contact with candidates. Despite all these technological advances and opportunities, recruitment professionals indicate that it remains important to seek the real connection with candidates and build a personal bond. They see technology as a means to better personalise and work more efficiently, not as an end in itself.
Investing in recruitment technology as key to success
Expectations for 2025
The expectation of recruitment professionals is clear: recruitment and everything that goes with it remains a key focus. Companies continue to grow, but continue to suffer from the tight labour market and look for innovative ways to attract and retain talent. Technology, such as recruitment marketing automation and AI, plays a major role in achieving recruitment goals in 2025 as well.
Top of the list: growth in turnover and jobs
After several years of peaks and troughs in the economy, job growth will stabilise in 2024 and 2025. The UWV expects a slight increase in both years. (<1%) Although the staffing sector will still struggle in 2024, growth is expected there again in 2025.
We also see this upward trend in our results: over 60% of organisations show revenue growth in 2024 compared to 2023. For more than one-fifth of all respondents, this is even double-digit percentage growth.
Compared to 2023, how will your organisation perform in 2024?
What is the average time to fill for vacancies in your organisation?
The average time to fill a vacancy
Our respondents manage to fill vacancies faster than average. The average time to fill is 22 days in our survey, while the 2024 benchmark is 45 days.
Corporates need the most time for the recruitment process. Their average is 24.5 days. Recruitment agencies and staffers are the fastest with an average time to fill of 18.4 days and SMEs are in between: 20.5 days.
The average time to fill is expected to drop as employers and intermediaries increasingly invest in AI (75%) and automation (61%) to optimise processes. In fact, research results show that implementing RMA, for example, has a positive effect on time to fill.
What other changes do you expect in 2025?
Despite productivity improvements, many employers have ambitions to hire more staff by 2025 (56%). The majority of organisations already use vacancy campaigns for this purpose and continue to do so, but are shifting focus. Indeed, 75% will commit to better centralising and/or analysing recruitment data so that smart choices are made based on key recruitment KPIs.
Other changes expected for 2025 are mainly in technology. The majority of respondents will invest more in AI applications and recruitment marketing automation in 2025 to increase the efficiency of their recruitment machine. Interestingly, this is more than average for recruitment agencies and staffers compared to the other segments (SME+ and corporate organisations). They are looking for innovative ways to continue recruitment success in the tough market, embracing the opportunities offered by technology.
What is at the top of your organisation's priority list in relation to recruitment for the next 12 months?
The recruitment priorities for 2025
Of course, recruiting is and will remain priority number 1, but how do you go about it? Many organisations focus on strengthening their employer brand and improving the candidate experience.
Recruiters' workload is also a concern at many organisations, as 25% put relieving recruiters with technology high on the agenda. In fact, for recruitment agencies and staffers - after recruiting - this is the top priority.
Finally, reducing time-to-hire is a key focus. Logical, because with vacancies, the workload for current staff is constantly increasing and employee retention is difficult. Which ultimately leaves you with more vacancies.
Zooming in on last year's successful companies (with revenue growth in 2024), we see that they put improving the recruiter experience and reducing time-to-hire at the top of the priority list for 2025.
The biggest recruitment challenges in 2025
Although the biggest storm has subsided in some sectors, the tight labour market continues to affect many organisations. This is seen as the biggest challenge for 2025 by 63% of recruitment professionals.
Other expected challenges include:
- Reaching the right target group (33%)
- Too little insight into data (24%)
- Too small recruitment (marketing) team (23%)
Teams that are too small seem to play a major role in the lack of recruitment success as well as organisational growth. In fact, 77% of organisations without revenue growth in 2024 struggle with recruitment teams that are too small.
Only a few indicate that internal focus on recruitment or support is a challenge, meaning that at many organisations, recruitment is still a topic of conversation in boardrooms. This is good news, because you need that support as a recruitment professional.
Are you struggling to gain support for recruitment marketing? Read our blog series on this topic!
What biggest challenges do you expect in relation to recruitment over the next 12 months?
What biggest challenges do you expect in relation to recruitment over the next 12 months?
Tip: click on 1 or more segments to exclude them in the chart!
The differences between organisational segments
Clear differences can be identified in terms of expected challenges for different types of organisations.
- For recruitment agencies and staffers , the bottleneck lies mainly in reaching the target audience (47%). Traditionally, agency recruiters deploy a lot of sourcing, but candidates are overloaded with messages and therefore dulled, which means that this recruitment channel does not always pay off nearly enough.
- In SMEs, they particularly struggle with small recruitment (marketing) teams.
- Among corporate organisations, it is a neck-and-neck race between reaching the target audience (29%) and data insights. (26%)
Our colleagues' expectations:
"I expect recruitment marketing in 2025 to revolve around a powerful mix: creative content that touches people and smart AI tools that automate processes. Together, they will make a big difference across all social media channels."
Britt van den Arend, Online Marketer
"Digitisation within recruitment marketing is in a great momentum and RMA is expected to be as 'normal' as an Applicant Tracking System anno 2025 in the foreseeable future."
Martin de Ruiter, CCO
Candidate remains king
A retrospect: recruitment challenges in 2024
The biggest challenge for recruiters in any organisation remains attracting candidates. Too little traffic comes to the job page and only a fraction of those visitors apply. Not surprisingly, with 106 vacancies for every 100 unemployed (by the end of 2024), candidates still have a choice. So the challenges are in reaching and converting candidates. Then it is a matter of following up applications quickly, so that you meet the high expectations of talent and do not lose candidates during the process.
Which of the following challenges did you recognise within your organisation in 2024?
Top 3 recruitment challenges in recruitment
Diving deeper into the data and looking at where in the process recruitment professionals experience the most challenges, a clear top 3 emerges.
- Not enough (relevant) traffic on the work-at-home site or job page (33%)
- Visitors do not convert enough to applicants (33%)
- Sourcing candidates (32%)
In addition, employers and recruitment agencies are looking for ways to optimise contact with candidates. More than a quarter feel that follow-up is now too slow and that they do not have a good way to build and maintain talent pools.
The differences between organisational segments
There are some nuance differences when looking at the organisation segments in the survey. Very strikingly, corporate organisations indicate that slow candidate follow-up is the biggest problem, while this is much less likely to be a pain point for SMEs and recruitment agencies and staffers.
This may be explained by the fact that corporates still receive quite a lot of responses from candidates and therefore struggle to filter these responses and respond quickly.
Which of the following challenges do you recognise within your organisation?
Tip: click on 1 or more segments to exclude them in the chart!
What are you up against to stay engaged with candidates?
You no longer get away with a standard e-mail, a long-winded application form or 5 rounds of interviews in a procedure. Candidates expect an equal and fast process. For instance, more than a quarter of candidates drop out if they have not been able to schedule an interview within a week of their application. Employers struggle to align their internal processes with these expectations. Technology can help. Think of an AI chatbot that helps candidates find information on the work-at-home site or automations where you link candidates directly to the right recruiter.
This is exactly where it gnaws, as not having new technology available is next on the list of challenges. A clear conclusion: a good recruiter tech stack is crucial!
What is your biggest challenge in staying engaged with candidates?
*This score is built on a scale where 1 represents least challenge and 5 represents greatest challenge.
Tech is the way to go
Recruitment opportunities in 2025
At a time when the momentum on candidates is ultra-short, vacancies still outnumber job seekers and employers are competing with each other for the best talent, recruitment professionals see challenges, but certainly also opportunities. In particular, there is much to be gained in terms of communicating with candidates and building and maintaining talent pools. Less than 20% of respondents actively stay in touch with candidates in a talent pool and have a strategy to stay engaged with alumni. And that while talent pools are very useful in reducing time to fill.
Making a difference with candidate contact and talent pools
Technology offers opportunities and possibilities for every type of organisation. Many organisations have their ATS and website well in place and are continuously optimising recruitment processes. However, the majority of organisations do not yet use recruitment marketing software.
There are also opportunities in candidate contact and talent pools. Less than 20% of respondents actively stay in touch with candidates in a talent pool and have a strategy to stay engaged with alumni. Only 26% can actually draw on a talent pool for new vacancies. That talent pools are the key to a shorter time to fill is clear from the data: respondents who say they do not have a good way to build and maintain talent pools have an average time to fill of almost 27 days, while respondents who do not see this as a challenge need only 21.2 days to get from job application to signed contract.
For the following statements, please indicate whether or not they apply within your organisation
However, there are big differences between organisational segments: among agencies and staffers, 49% can draw on a talent pool for job openings, while this is the case for only 15% of corporates.
Finally, it is notable that SMEs are more likely than the other segments to organise events and then automatically follow up interested candidates. (40%)
That growth goes hand in hand with the use of tech is shown by the following figures:
- 81% of growing organisations have implemented good tech.
- 55% of organisations with revenue growth work with RMA software.
Opportunity 1: KPIs on conversion and costs are often missing
The majority of organisations measure recruitment KPIs, such as the number of new vacancies, number of applicants per position, number of applications launched, website visits and the application-hire ratio. But conversion (from visitor to applicant) and cost (CPA or CPH) are often overlooked, while these KPIs say a lot about the effectiveness of your recruitment (marketing) strategy. A missed opportunity!
The limited measurement of KPIs is probably due to the fragmentation of data across all kinds of channels and systems. It takes a lot of time to bring all that data together and analyse it.
What KPIs do you measure in relation to recruitment marketing?
Have you implemented technology to automate the following?
Staffing & Recruiting
Have you implemented technology to automate the following?
SME+
Have you implemented technology to automate the following?
Corporate organisations
Opportunity 2: using automations
The big opportunity lies in automatically qualifying candidates and seeking interaction with talent. Only a quarter of respondents already use automations for this, while this is a part of the recruitment process for which automation lends itself very well. It also helps improve the candidate experience, as candidates with automations generally get a faster response and feel more involved with the organisation if there is regular contact. However, it is important that there is a good balance between personal and automated contact.
Many organisations already use automation for candidate communication and rejections. Corporates use automations mainly for rejecting candidates and even to a lesser extent for other communication with candidates. Across the board, then, recruitment agencies and staffers dominate: they most often use automations to organise their work more efficiently.
AI and automation, but with a personal touch
Recruitment Marketing Automation Trends 2025
The common threads in recruitment trends right now are about technology and personalisation. The rise of AI is being closely followed and more and more organisations are deploying automations to make their processes smarter. This is paying off: organisations that deploy RMA throughout the candidate journey need an average of 11 days less for their recruitment process than organisations for which it is still unclear what RMA entails. However, the deployment of software should not come at the expense of the personal approach and candidate experience, because at the end of the day, recruitment remains a human profession and it is all about mutual relationships.
Trend 1: More and more employers are deploying RMA
Recruitment marketing automation (RMA) is a hot topic and more and more employers (direct and indirect) are finding their way to smart software. One-third of organisations have already implemented RMA in parts of the candidate journey and another third want to get started with RMA. Among corporates, taking the step towards RMA seems to be more difficult than among SMEs and intermediaries. They indicate above average that they want to do something with RMA, but have not yet taken steps in this direction. Recruitment agencies and staffers seem to be the most decisive in this respect, as among them the percentage that wants to do something with it but has not yet implemented it is much lower. (17% vs 38%)
Only 8% of organisations have fully embraced RMA, but within this 8% we do see a mix of corporates, SMEs and agencies and staffers returning. The data shows that the addition of RMA to the recruitment strategy is paying off: the average time to fill among organisations that have fully embraced RMA is 15 days, while organisations that indicate that it is still unclear to them what RMA entails show an average time to fill of 26 days. Big difference!
Given the planned investments in technology and RMA(see expectations), these figures will look very different next year!
"This year we invested heavily in automation and recruitment marketing, which paid off: more than 80% of placements came through recruitment marketing channels." - survey respondent
Looking at recruitment marketing automation (RMA), which of the following statements fits your organisation?
Which trends and developments related to RMA are you keeping a close eye on?
Which RMA trends are you keeping an eye on?
All eyes on AI! 81% of respondents are keeping a close eye on this trend. Best practices when it comes to building talent pools also attract a lot of attention. (55%)
Different organisation segments agree that AI is the most important trend to follow. Corporates additionally focus on building talent pools and keeping latent candidates warm in their ATS, while recruitment agencies and staffers are particularly interested in automating candidate contact.
Trend 2: AI as a game-changer for 2025
Respondents from our survey agree: AI will be the big game-changer in recruitment in 2025. Other technological innovations such as RMA and automation are also mentioned. While doing so, many recruitment professionals make the comment that personal contact remains very important. It is still about finding the real connection and technology is a tool in this, not a goal in itself.
This major role of software will give the recruiter more of a directing role and leave time for giving candidates genuine attention. Technology will make attracting talent more efficient and effective, allowing the recruiter to focus on people work. Personalisation and automation!
What do you think will be the trend of the future in recruitment in 2025?
Some respondents' views on recruitment trends:
Recruitment loves tech
Conclusions
Technology is top priority
The tight labour market and high expectations of candidates make it important to make the most of data, optimise the candidate experience and build a strong employer brand. As this is far from being all done manually anymore, unburdening the recruiter with the right technology is one of the top priorities in recruitment teams for 2025.
Investing for greater recruitment success
Many organisations are therefore going to invest (more) in AI and recruitment marketing automation. In doing so, they tackle the biggest challenges, namely reaching the right target group, too little insight into data and too small a recruitment (marketing) team.
Interaction and talent pools are potential goldmine
There are great opportunities in building talent pools and interacting with candidates. Only 26% can actually draw on a talent pool for new vacancies, while on average this saves almost 6 days in time to fill. In addition, organisations want to speed up candidate follow-up and qualification by deploying automations.
Technology is changing the recruitment world
Almost all recruitment (marketing) professionals therefore follow developments around AI. Trends and best practices around talent pools, keeping latent candidates warm and automating candidate contact also receive a lot of attention. As a result, recruitment marketing automation is a topic that can no longer be ignored on the agenda of recruitment teams. One third of organisations have already implemented RMA in part of the candidate journey and another one third want to start working with RMA.
This is what the best-performing employers are doing
Technology is a booster for recruitment success and growth. For example, organisations that have fully implemented RMA show a significantly lower time to fill. In addition, 81% of organisations with revenue growth in the past year say they have their recruitment software in order and 55% of those with revenue growth are already working with RMA software. Next year, more employers will follow suit and deploy more software to optimise their recruitment results.
In-depth articles
The in-depth articles give you additional insights into recruitment marketing automation opportunities, challenges and trends. Click below to continue reading.
Accountability
This report was created through a questionnaire consisting of 19 questions. For many questions, respondents could give multiple answers, so the graphs do not always add up to exactly 100%. A total of 308 respondents working in recruitment (marketing) in Belgium or the Netherlands completed the questionnaire. We distinguish 3 organisational segments in this survey:
- Corporate companies - organisations with 500 employees or more (49.4%)
- SME(+) - organisations up to 500 employees (27.6%)
- Recruitment agencies and staffing organisations (23.1%)
Which team are you working in?
About the respondents
Respondents largely worked as recruitment professionals (54.2%), but we also saw respondents from HR, sales, marketing/communications, executive/MT or employer branding.
Many sectors are represented in the survey. From non-profit employers to construction and from education to ICT. The most common sectors are staffing & recruiting, construction, installation & infrastructure and business services.
Download the slides of this report
Incorporate the data from this report into your own presentations, business cases and more. Download the slides and share the insights with your colleagues and others!
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