Metrics That Will Improve Your Recruiting

Collecting and analyzing recruiting data can significantly improve your company’s recruiting.

This data, which is readily available for organizations of all types and sizes, will allow you to measure the performance of your recruiting team and procedures and provide a basis for setting reasonable recruiting goals. The following are the most important recruiting metrics. All of these metrics should be analyzed by business unit, position, communication channel, etc.

Communication Channel
Determine the number of candidates and qualified candidates by communication channel (source). This will allow you to achieve efficient resource allocation and best results. Many companies continue to use the wrong sources because they have not collected the data required to measure performance.

Pipeline
The number and status of candidates in your recruiting pipeline are measures of the effectiveness of your recruiting process, i.e. job descriptions, job ads, sources, screening and interviewing. It is important to record and analyze the impact of your recruiting tactics on your pipeline. For example, does revising the source or the job title increase the number of qualified candidates?

Qualified Candidates
The number of qualified candidates is a key metric that measures the number of candidates who meet the job requirements, and also is a measure of the requirements. Companies sometimes set the requirements bar too high, especially when using outside recruiting firms. Job requirements should be established based on research as to what is needed for success in a position, not anecdotal information or guesses. The ratio of qualified candidates to total number of candidates is also a key metric.

Accepted Candidates
Candidates recommended by HR and accepted by Hiring Managers and the related ratio are measures of HR performance and Hiring Managers’ understanding of what is required for employee success.

Interviews
The number and cost of phone and in person interviews are important contributors to hiring decisions and cost of hire. At a minimum, each candidate should participate in one screening phone interview, one in-depth phone interview and one in person interview.

Withdrawals
HR should determine the reason for every candidate withdrawal, i.e. attractiveness of the job, compensation, or reaction to hiring managers and take appropriate action.

Offers
HR should report on the total number of offers, the number accepted and the ratio of offers accepted to total offers. This ratio can be improved by staying in close contact with candidates before and after an offer is made and emphasizing your company’s advantages, discussing offers that other companies have extended (including counter offers by current employers), timely responses to candidate requests, etc. Analyzing why offers aren’t accepted is critical to improving your recruiting process. Ask candidates why they rejected your offers and what you could have done better.

Time To Hire
The average time to hire in the U.S. is 29 days and  is steadily increasing.  Of course, it is much longer for certain positions, i.e. Software Developers. Appropriate use of the other metrics discussed in this article can significantly reduce time to hire.

Cost Per Hire
Cost per hire is the total cost of filling a position, including HR time, advertising, hiring manager time, etc.

Opportunity Cost
Opportunity cost is the imputed cost of the unfilled position while you are attempting to fill it. For example, lost revenue related to unfilled sales or product development positions.

CNI can help to improve your recruiting process
CNI Recruiting places Sales, Marketing and Technical professionals for Business and Healthcare Clients throughout the U.S. Our referral fee is only 15% of candidate first year base salary including executive searches.  There are no other charges and no surprises.  We provide world class Client service, including a market leading guarantee.  Please contact us today. Just fill out the form below or call (908) 874-6148. We will exceed your expectations.

Fred Neufeld
President
CNI Recruiting
www.cnirecruiting.com