Recruiting Metrics that Matter

In this new era of work — launched by the pandemic and reinforced by subsequent layoffs, two-plus years of remote work, and reevaluations of personal priorities — the job market has changed dramatically. In a recent TikTok video, popular career coach J.T. O’Donnell provided her insight into the fiercely competitive job marketing explaining, “There's a job shortage for the kind of jobs that you want, those really good jobs. And it's going to get more competitive."  

With fewer “good jobs,” fierce competition for talent, and increased candidate expectations, TA teams feel the heat from candidates to the C-suite. Of course, recruiting and hiring has changed. This article shares important stats from a variety of respected sources to provide insight into landscape of recruiting in 2022.  

As recruiters experience the challenges firsthand, they can tell you clearly what your company is up against. Because data drives effective decision making, current metrics matter. Here are 10 strategic metrics for CEOs to keep their pulse on. 

When it comes to the nuts and bolts of daily recruiting activities, we've talked before about How To Measure Recruiting Success and shared tips for talent leaders about recruiting metrics. Additionally, our friends at ERE have a Standards Recruiting Metrics list which includes definitions and formulas to calculate these recruiting performance metrics. 

Principal Consultant Mike Gonnella, one of our on-staff experts, highlights the importance of the following TA metrics to show the impact of your efforts. These can vary based on the industry and project. 

Low completion rates may signal those candidates are frustrated with the application process. Common reasons for this include length of the application, poorly structured questions, or sensitive or personal questions. 

The industry benchmark is three to four interviews per open position. It’s Important to stay in this range to ensure that the recruiter and hiring manager are aligned on what they are looking for. It also saves time interviewing. 

Fill Rate: total number of jobs filled divided by the total number of jobs assigned  

This metric provides talent acquisition managers with insight into the performance of each recruiter on the team and leads to req balancing. 

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness: Count the number of candidates generated from each sourcing channel during a given timeframe and compare which channel produces the most and best candidates.

By understanding sourcing channel effectiveness you can invest time and money in the highest-performing channels which could lead to a faster and more cost-conscious hire. This data helps inform the decision to invest less in poorly producing channels. 

Time to Hire/Time to Fill: Measure the time to hire from start to end of the recruiting to hire process. This usually begins the day a requisition has been approved. The end time is often calculated at one of the following points.

• When an offer is made 
• When an offer is accepted 
• The first day the new employee starts the job  

Note: Some use a metric which measures time to onboard which captures the period between when an offer is accepted until the first day. 

This helps measure the total spend associated with recruiting to fill an open position. It is based on the total recruiting costs invested in finding and hiring candidates. When this metric is calculated initially, it can be used as a benchmark for future hires. 

 Quality of Hire: Job performance score plus ramp-up time score plus engagement score + cultural fit score divided by number of factors defined by business.

Measuring quality of hire helps you assess the value employees bring to your company. Quality of hire includes many metrics that can vary for different businesses. Typically, this metric is not relevant until the new hire goes through a performance review. It’s important for the business to define the factors that constitute a quality hire at their company. 

Candidate Referrals: total number of referrals during a certain time period or per open job requisition.  

Research shows that getting a referral is a cheaper and faster way to hire, generally produces a better hire, and lowers the turnover rate at your company. 

This refers to the hiring manager’s satisfaction with the process as they complete their task to fill a role. The easiest way to do this is to create a short satisfaction survey which measures components such as satisfaction of candidates presented and interviewed as well as communication and responsiveness with the recruiter. 

A second short survey can be sent to candidates who were interviewed assessing how they felt about the candidate experience. Possible questions could address if they were well informed about the process, received timely feedback, felt they were a fit for the role, etc. 

Because your people are critical to your business’s success, having a solid grasp of metrics around your recruiting efforts will give you confidence in making strategic hiring decisions.  

Need support with your recruiting efforts or tracking TA metrics? We’re here to help.