74% of recruiters are very or extremely confident their candidate data is accurate and current. 61% believe at least a quarter of their ATS records are out of date.
Aptitude Research surveyed 318 talent acquisition leaders, recruiters, sourcers, and recruiting operations professionals to understand what they believe about their candidate data and what they actually experience. The gap between the two affects capacity, quality of hire, AI performance, and fraud risk.
This research gives TA leaders a clear path forward. Demand for verified data is strong. 69% of organizations plan to increase their investment in data quality and verification over the next year, and 54% would pay a significant premium for independently verified candidate data. The teams that get this right will get more from every recruiting tool they buy.
Inside the report:
- 62% say candidate information becomes unreliable within three months, and 32% say within 30 days.
- 61% of teams spend four or more hours every week manually validating and correcting candidate data. That adds up to more than six weeks per recruiter each year.
- 66% say at least 15% of their outreach never reaches the intended person.
- 90% say independently verified data is required before they would trust an AI agent to act on candidate data. It ranks ahead of every other condition, including recruiter approval of every action.
- 64% encountered a candidate misrepresenting their employment history in the past year, and 46% saw a different person show up to an interview.
- The report also includes a practical guide for buyers: how to define verified, six questions to ask any data provider, and a simple test to run on your own records before you buy.