February 21, 2023

Why Your HR Team Needs to Use Recruiting Metrics

Recruiting Metrics

What are Recruiting Metrics?

Recruiting metrics are measurements that give companies insight into their recruitment process. These metrics capture everything from the time and money invested to the conversion rates throughout the process.  

Also known as Recruitment Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), recruiting metrics are often expressed as percentages, ratios, or absolute values. All recruitment data collected is funnelled into a quantitative data set for direct comparison.  

We could write a novel just listing the different metrics you can use for recruitment, but some of the most commonly observed metrics include:

  • Time to hire
  • Source of hire
  • Applicants per hire
  • Costs per hire
  • Retention rate
  • Offer acceptance per hire
  • Diversity
  • Application completion rate
  • Candidate call-back rate  

Why Do Recruiting Metrics Matter?

HR teams can analyze the collected data to identify which aspects of the recruitment process are working and which need more attention. Even if your HR Team members aren’t “numbers people,” this data can still help them straightforwardly answer questions!

Recruiting etrics

If you’ve ever wondered things like:

  • How quickly do we identify the right person for the job, and how long does it take for us to hire them?
  • How quickly do we move through the stages of our recruitment process, and how many applicants do we need to make an educated decision?
  • How effectively do we attract the right candidates?
  • How often do our offers lead to acceptance?
  • How much money do we spend to fill one position? How does our spending change depending on the position we’re hiring for?
  • Which stages of our recruitment process are most effective?

Then it’s time to start collecting Recruitment Metrics.

How Can You Use Recruiting Metrics to Improve Your Recruitment Process?

Once you have the numbers in front of you, you can begin making changes to the areas that need improvement. As you continue moving forward, you might have to put in a fair amount of trial and error until you get your process running like a well-oiled machine.

Looking for Candidates

Let’s explore some of the fundamental recruiting metrics you can use and how to apply them.

Time to Fill and Time to Hire

These two metrics are both extremely common and similar, so we’ve grouped them together.  

Time to fill analyzes how many days pass from when a job is posted to when a candidate accepts the offer; Time to hire tracks how many days pass from when a position is posted to the new hire’s first day on the job.

Average Time to Fill = Number of Days Positions are Open ÷ Total Number of Positions Open

Average Time to Hire = Number of Days Between Posting and Hiring ÷ Total Number of Positions Filled

Both of these metrics are useful for determining the effectiveness of your recruitment funnel. Ideally, it won’t take a prolonged time to find the right person for the job opening. If your time to fill or hire is large, then you can work on cutting it down by exploring new ways to source your talent.

Applicants Per Opening

Applicants per opening analyze how many people are taking the opportunity to apply for your job postings.

Average Applicants Per Opening = Number of Jobs Posted ÷ Number of Applicants

This metric helps you understand how well people respond to a job listing and the effectiveness of the hiring source.

Cost per Hire

Cost Per Hire

Also known as the “cost to fill”, cost per hire helps you understand how well you’re using your hiring budget. This metric accounts for both your internal recruiting costs (i.e., salaries, commissions, recruiting expenses, technology, and infrastructure) and your external recruiting costs (i.e., staffing agencies, advertising, recruiting events, and travel costs).

Cost Per Hire = Total Recruiting Cost (Internal + External) ÷ Number of Total Hires

Understanding your cost per hire will help you identify ways to lower your overall costs, demonstrate improved recruitment processes, and justify retention efforts.

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

When looking into whether the places you’re advertising your job listings are drawing in the kind of applicants you want, you need to use sourcing channel effectiveness metrics. The trickiest part of using a sourcing channel metric is identifying what counts as a “quality candidate”. A good starting place is to identify the candidates who made it through your initial screening process and were reviewed by the hiring manager.

Effectiveness of a Specific Sourcing Channel = Number of Qualified Candidates from One Sourcing Channel ÷ Number of Qualified Candidates Overall

Or

Effectiveness of a Specific Sourcing Channel = Number of Hires from One Sourcing Channel ÷ Number of Hires Overall

Recruiting Metrics

However you choose to measure the effectiveness of a source, this metric is important to help you understand where you’re finding your best candidates. Especially if you have to pay to post a job listing, if a channel has proven ineffective, you can explore other avenues.  

The only thing to be careful of with this metric is that you want to be cautious about removing your information from sourcing pools. If you only get one quality applicant for a position from a source, but that’s the person you end up hiring, then that source has been effective!

Read more about how you can transform your hiring process.

What’s the Best Way to Keep Track of My Recruiting Metrics?  

Gathering all of this data and compiling it manually takes up a lot of your team’s time. Plus, manual entry into spreadsheets can lead to human error, and you want your metrics to be as accurate as possible.  

The best thing you can do for your HR team is invested in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).  

Applicant Tracking Systems can play a crucial role in optimizing the administration of your recruiting metrics. Modern ATSs can significantly improve your team’s ability to effortlessly track and manage your recruiting metrics.

If you’re looking to completely revamp your recruitment process to create a seamless hiring funnel, then an Applicant Tracking System is the best thing you can do for your business! You’ll wonder how you ever hired anyone before.

Applicant Tracking System

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Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier

Hirecinch is one of the best applicant tracking system I have used ever, literally my my job easier