As data-driven hiring becomes more widely used in HR departments, more doesn’t always mean better. It’s easy to think that the more data you have available, the better you can track the candidate hiring experience, but that’s not always the case.
Instead, you should identify better data that you can use to make more strategic decisions and help identify what’s already working and what you need to change.
Find out which hiring metrics you should be tracking consistently to get the most accurate and complete insights about your hiring process.
(The metrics below are based on each hire)
Source of Hire
Where are you getting your best candidates from? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you could be wasting valuable time and money.
For example, if you’ve only had one placement in the past six months from sourcing candidates on Monster, then you know that Monster is not an effective recruiting channel. Instead, you could invest your time and resources on sites where you know you’re finding top candidates, or try new vendors to see if you have more luck there.
Also, you may find that a lot of top candidates are coming directly to your website and are submitting their resumes to your ATS. If that is the case, then you want to see how people are finding your site. You can figure this out by using Google Analytics and clicking on the ‘Acquisition’ tab.
You might see that a lot of traffic is coming to your site from company updates on social media or from a blog post that your company contributed to. Either way, you then know which channels are bringing you the most traffic and where you should invest more time and effort.
Amount of People Sourced
Rarely do you find the perfect fit for your position by looking at just one resume. There are many steps that happen in between posting a job opening and hiring a candidate and there is valuable information that can be tracked throughout this process.
The first would be the amount of people you had to source to find your ideal candidate. Next would be a number of candidates you passed on and then the candidates who moved forward in the hiring process.
These metrics are valuable because you can start to see, on average, how many candidates you need to source to move forward, receive an offer, and ultimately make a hire. While this number may vary depending on the position you’re looking to fill, it will give you a better idea of any holes in your process and the volume of candidates it takes to actually fill a new opening.
Offer Acceptance Ratio
Having a proven hiring process is essential to finding the right candidates for your team. There are two ways you can measure your success:
- Interview to Offer Ratio
- Offer to Acceptance Ratio
The first ratio is a measure of how many candidate interviews it takes before a candidate is extended an offer. For example, at Naviga, we have found that when we present the best four candidates on an assigned interview date, one candidate will get hired. If you’re finding that it takes many interviews before a candidate is hired then you need to review your process for vetting candidates. Remember that each interview means that someone is taking time out of their schedule to attend, and many failed interviews mean a lot of time and money wasted.
The offers to acceptance ratio is a number of offers extended before a candidate accepts the position. If you’re finding that you’re extending a lot of offers, but not many candidates are accepting, then you should evaluate where this mismatch is occurring. Did the candidate not fit in with your company culture? Did they accept a similar position at another company for a higher salary? It’s your job to figure out where the disconnect is and how you can work to fix it.
Time to Fill
How long is it taking for your to fill an open position?
Today, top candidates aren’t going to wait around for a hiring process that lasts months at a time. Candidates want to be engaged and informed throughout the process or else they will turn to other opportunities. If you’re seeing that it’s taking a long time to move candidates to the final interview phase, then this may be the reason for any candidate drop off.
Also, knowing how long on average it takes to fill an open position will help you budget your time and resources and forecast future placements. If you know how long it takes you to fill a position, then you know how many open position you can handle at a time, and when you need to add more resources.
Candidate Experience
How do you know if you’re doing a good job when working with candidates? One way is to send a survey to the final pool of candidates after each placement. You can see what they liked and disliked about the process and figure out where to make adjustments.
Whether or not the candidate was offered the position, how you handle the situation can have a lasting effect on how the candidate views your company. For example, if you let the candidate know in a timely and professional manner that they didn’t get the job, they will have a more positive experience than waiting weeks to share this information. In turn, they will view your company more favorably and may even pass on referrals or business in the future.
Understanding and tracking this information will help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses throughout the hiring process and where you can improve. Learn more about Naviga’s hiring process and how it’s the key to our success.
