In the past, recruiting was often a “spray and pray” approach—posting job openings everywhere and hoping the right candidate would find their way to us, even faxing over their resumes. Thankfully, recruiting today is far more strategic, thanks to the internet and advances in technology. To truly evaluate the success of your hiring efforts, you need to track key recruitment metrics. Let’s explore some of the most important ones.
Measuring Recruiting and Hiring
Time to Fill and Close
A straightforward yet vital metric, time to fill measures how long it takes to fill an open position from the moment it’s listed. To calculate this metric, simply add up the total number of days a job is vacant and then divide by the number of open positions. For example, if four open positions remained vacant for a total of 76 days, divide 76 by 4 to get an average of 19 days to fill.
In addition to time to fill, consider measuring time to close, which looks at how many days pass between the candidate’s first contact with your organization and when they sign the offer. This helps identify bottlenecks in your hiring process and improve efficiency.
Source of Hire
Tracking the source of hire helps you understand where your best candidates come from. If you have applicant tracking software (ATS), this is easy to track. Without it, you’ll need to manually ask candidates how they found your job opening. Once you know where your successful hires are coming from, you can focus your resources on those channels, maximizing your ROI.
It’s also important to examine the quality of hire from each source. For instance, you might get a higher volume of applicants from one job board but better quality candidates from another, such as LinkedIn. By focusing on sources that provide high-quality hires, you can further streamline your recruitment efforts.
Quality of Hire
Quality of hire measures how well a new employee performs and fits into your organization. This can be evaluated based on performance, productivity, cultural fit, and turnover rates. To reduce subjectivity, create a 30, 60, and 90-day evaluation system. Choose key performance indicators (KPIs) such as performance, ramp-up time, engagement, and cultural fit, and have managers provide objective feedback.
For example, managers might score new hires based on how quickly they perform key tasks, how engaged they are, and how well they integrate into the company culture. Average these scores to calculate an overall quality of hire score, which helps benchmark your hiring success over time.
Calculating Cost Per Hire
Cost per hire is a critical metric that breaks down the total costs associated with recruiting and hiring a new employee. This includes both external costs (such as job board fees, agency fees, and background checks) and internal costs (such as recruitment software and employee referral bonuses). By understanding where your recruitment budget goes, you can optimize your spending and explore new recruitment channels that may yield better results.
Measuring Candidate Satisfaction
A satisfied candidate, whether hired or not, contributes to a positive employer brand. One way to measure this is through candidate satisfaction surveys. These surveys offer valuable feedback on your recruitment process, helping you identify areas for improvement. A seamless candidate experience can boost your brand and make future recruitment efforts easier.
Why These Metrics Matter
Tracking recruitment metrics is not just about optimizing your processes; it’s about proving the value of your hiring efforts to leadership. For instance, if cost per hire is high, it could signal inefficiencies in your process, while low time to fill combined with a high quality of hire shows a successful recruitment strategy.
