2025
YOUR YEAR IN HIRING
How big was this year, really?
Candidates who went from “You’re Invited” to “I’ll do it”
Sky candidates completed at least one Sova assessment.
Why this matters:
Once candidates begin the assessment journey, they tend to commit, resulting in higher-quality data for downstream hiring decisions.
Where the work happened
What SKY candidates
actually did
on Sova
Out of the 21,174 completions, here’s what Sky candidates did on the Sova platform
Assessment
blended / personality / cognitive
21,491
~74% of all completions
Video Interview
strategic second lens
7,296
~25% of completions
VAC
final stage
399
~1% of completions
What this says about Sky's hiring strategy:
Assessments are the engine
They do the initial heavy lifting when candidate numbers are highest.
Video is used like a spotlight, not a floodlight.
It comes later, to add context where it is most useful.
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VAC is high-touch and high-stakes
For a small, shortlisted group where deeper evaluation is needed.
635
Completions in that single hour (aggregated across the year)
1.6%
of Sky’s total annual volume
When the magic happened
Peak Hour: when the internet was basically just your candidates
That’s the moment when:
TA teams were juggling dashboards, hiring managers, and Slack messages.
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
completions
Higher peaks
Tues/Weds
The power days for candidate activity
Friday afternoon
Everyone mentally off for the weekend already
Weekends
~10k
completions
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 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.
Candidate experience:
did they finish
what they started?
Once candidates start the assessment process, they tend to see it through.
Completion rate
Sky completion rate once candidates start: 76%
Global average across all Sova clients: 86%
What this means:
The biggest drop-off happens before candidates begin the experience, and that’s not a problem to solve.
It suggests early self-selection: people who are not interested or ready opt out quickly. Those who do start are engaged enough to continue, and the vast majority of them finish.
In practice, this means Sky is spending time on candidates who are already committed.
It suggests early self-selection: people who are not interested or ready opt out quickly. Those who do start are engaged enough to continue, and the vast majority of them finish.
In practice, this means Sky is spending time on candidates who are already committed.
Who finished an assessment
Who did not finish an assessment
Time On Task: respecting candidates’ time
Average Sky assessment time: 14.9 minutes
Global average: 19.8 minutes
Global average: 19.8 minutes
This puts Sky in the “short, sharp and meaningful” zone, long enough to gather quality data, short enough not to feel like a second job.
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: the recruiter-time reality check
Assuming a very conservative 15-minute manual screening call per candidate:
21,174 candidates × 15 minutes =
317,610
minutes of manual screening saved
that’s
5,293
recruiter hours saved
or around
2.6
full-time recruiter years no longer spent on early-stage screening.
It does not include interview time, VAC preparation, or scoring, only early screening.
Even with a deliberately conservative estimate, the time saved is substantial.
Even with a deliberately conservative estimate, the time saved is substantial.
Video: seeing the humans behind the data
Sky video responses recorded in 2025:
The takeaway
This was Sky’s year in hiring with Sova
Over 21,000 candidates didn’t just apply – they engaged.
They completed lean, focused assessments in under 15 minutes.
And your recruiters reclaimed the equivalent of nearly three years of human time.
This is what modern hiring looks like when it scales without burning people out.
Thank you!
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