Figure AI Hiring Process: Over 170,000 Applications, Less Than 500 Accepted

The Silicon Valley-based humanoid robotics company, Figure AI, has seen an overwhelming influx of job applications since its establishment in 2022, highlighting its notably low acceptance rates compared to prestigious Ivy League schools. At the helm of this startup is CEO Brett Adcock, who shared insights into the hiring challenge via a recent social media post.

Adcock highlighted that out of 176,000 applications received in the past three years, the company has extended offers to only about 425 individuals. This reflects a minuscule acceptance rate of 0.24%. The bulk of the submitted applications were deemed unworthy of consideration, as Adcock candidly categorized many as 'slop.'

Despite the staggering number of résumés, Adcock expressed his frustration with the time-intensive review process. Even with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to streamline candidate sorting, each application requires at least 20 seconds of action, regardless of its quality. This ineffective system has added to the challenge of managing such a vast amount of submissions.

Adcock did not elaborate on how the 176,000 applications are distributed across the three years. Regardless of even distribution, the acceptance rate achieved by Figure AI over this period remains significantly lower than that of Caltech, which, as reported by US News & World Report, has the lowest acceptance rate among universities at 3%.

The company's position at the crossroads of two current job market trends is noteworthy. On one hand, job seekers are applying for numerous positions simultaneously, which is supported by data from Greenhouse, an ATS company, indicating that each job opportunity attracts around 242 applications. This abundance results in a difficult landscape for applicants, as described by Business Insider’s Aki Ito, comparing the application process to throwing a résumé into a metaphorical void.

On the industry front, Figure AI is entrenched in the high-demand fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, competing against tech juggernauts like Meta and OpenAI for talent. These companies are engaged in intense recruitment wars, offering exceedingly lucrative compensation to secure top-tier AI researchers.

Startups like Figure AI face their own challenges in attracting AI expertise, often relying on equity offers and unique incentives that large corporations might not provide, such as co-founding roles or greater research autonomy.

Financially, Figure AI is making waves, having attracted over $1 billion in its recent Series C funding round, which included investment from Parkway Venture Capital and Nvidia, propelling the company's valuation to $39 billion.

With the rising tide of applications showing no signs of abating, Adcock has suggested the need for a new solution to streamline the application review process, indicating a potential future endeavor to develop a model that can enhance efficiency.