Methodology notes

A note on our data

The charts presented are based on proprietary Pinpoint data from over 10 million applications, 150,000 jobs, and 200,000 hires across a wide range of industries.

Each chart on this site is carefully cut, sliced, and grouped to ensure enough datapoints are available to be significant in decision-making and story-telling.

On each metric page, you will find guidance on how to interpret the data, including metric definitions and information on the date windows the charts draw from.

Industry grouping

We use a variation of the FTSE Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) for our industry filtering available in certain charts.

This includes the following, with examples of different sub-classifications within:

  • Technology (e.g. Software)
  • Health Care (e.g. Medical Practices)
  • Consumer Goods & Services (e.g. Retail)
  • Industrials & Manufacturing (e.g. Construction)
  • Financial Services (e.g. Insurance)
  • Energy & Utilities
  • Leisure, Transport & Tourism (e.g. Airlines & Aviation)
  • Professional Services (e.g. Legal Services)
  • Charity & Non-Profits


If you would like to contact us to discuss which category might be most suitable to benchmark against, just drop us an email here.

Channel grouping

The Pinpoint ATS natively tracks a host of different application sources from job postings in a wealth of different mediums. This means our users can effectively track application and success rates across these channels. We have produced a grouped version of this channel analysis to provide the most useful breakdown of application to hire rates, including;

  • Direct: The candidate applied directly via your site (without a HTTP referrer such as a jobs site). The source prior to landing on your careers site may be unknown.
  • Organic Search: The candidate used a search engine to find your job posting.
  • Job Board: The candidate clicked a link on a job board or applied via that job board (e.g. Indeed, LinkedIn & Monster).
  • Social: The candidate clicked a link on a social platform.
  • Employee Referral: The candidate was referred by an employee.
  • External Recruiter: The candidate applied via an external recruiter.
  • Sourced: The candidate was internally sourced via a talent team member or hiring manager. This includes use of the internal Pinpoint talent pipeline.
  • Physical Ad: The candidate applied using a physical advertisement, likely at an event or in a store window.

Seniority grouping

Taking data from 200,000 posted jobs we have created a simple seniority grouping for all roles. This is designed to allow for another layer of useful comparison when analyzing the vast array of different roles and seniorities across different industries.

These include:

  • Entry Level / Support (e.g. Assistant, Coordinator)
  • Specialist / Expert (e.g. Consultant, Strategist)
  • Technical / Skilled (e.g. Engineer, Doctor)
  • Middle Management (e.g. Manager, Team Leader)
  • Senior Management (e.g. VP, Director)
  • Executive Level (e.g. CEO, CRO)