2025

YOUR YEAR IN HIRING

How big was this year, really?

Candidates who went from “You’re Invited” to “I’ll do it”

In 2025, John Lewis & Partners moved serious hiring volume through a fully digital funnel.

JLP candidates completed at least one Sova assessment.

That’s six figures of people who committed to the process.

1,435

Completions in that single hour (aggregated across the year)

102,516

Total annual JLP volume

1.40%

of JLP’s entire year is represented by that single hour

When the magic happened

JLP’s peak hiring moment

That’s the moment when:

TA teams were juggling dashboards, hiring managers, and Slack messages.

Your funnel comes to life, while everyone else is thinking about dinner.

Thousands of candidates were mid-assessment, wondering if they saw themselves more as a team player or as an independent worker.

Across all the Sova clients, the distribution is similar

Weekdays

~13–14k
completions

Higher peaks

Tues/Weds

The power days for candidate activity

Friday afternoon

Everyone mentally on annual leave already

Weekends

~10k
completions

Lower peaks but more evenly spread

Sunday 4pm

Steady ~10k completions

the “okay, I’ll be productive before Monday” crowd

What this means for you:

Start the Week Strong

If your campaigns open or reminders go out early in the week, you’re perfectly aligned with natural candidate behaviour.

Be Ready When Activity Peaks

Support and comms should be staffed and ready around mid-week daytime – that’s when the hiring machine is busiest.

Across Sova globally, Tuesdays and Wednesdaysare the busiest days, but JLP’s distinctive fingerprint is the early evening peak – a pattern that matches perfectly with retail-candidate behaviour.

Candidate experience:

did they finish

what they started?

Once candidates start the assessment process, they tend to see it through.

Completion rate

JLP completion rate once candidates start: 82%

This is in line with the Global Sova average.

Once JLP candidates start, the vast majority finish, proof that the experience is meaningful enough to keep them engaged.

Average JLP assessment time: 30.2 minutes

(Global average: 19.8 minutes.)

Time On Task: respecting candidates’ time

This is longer than most clients – and yet your completion rate stays above 80%.

What that tells us:

• JLP candidates are motivated.
• They are willing to invest meaningful time when the role feels real.
• Long does not equal painful when the experience feels fair.

Device habits

Once upon a time, applying for jobs was a desktop-only affair. Not anymore.

While desktop remains dominant, mobile usage has grown from under 2% in 2019 to nearly a third of all applications today.

Efficiency & time saved: recruiter hours saved

Assume a very conservative 15-minute manual screening call per candidate:

101,618 candidates × 15 minutes =

1,524,270

minutes saved

that’s

25,404

recruiter hours saved

or around

12.7

full-time recruiter years reclaimed

Twelve years of human effort removed from the top of your funnel and redirected to giving candidates a more thoughtful, bespoke hiring experience.

The takeaway

This was John Lewis & Partners’ year in hiring with Sova

Over 100,000 candidates engaged in a consistent, fair assessment experience.  They invested time and seriously engaged with the process.

More than 8 in 10 finished what they started.  Proof that even a longer experience works when it feels fair and relevant.

And your recruiters reclaimed nearly thirteen years of working time. Time taken out of early screening and reinvested in thoughtful conversations with candidates.

A strong year of hiring, and a solid foundation for what comes next.

Thanks to our customers, partners & investors for all your support. We couldn’t be more excited about 2026!

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