5 key reports in your ATS (and what to do with them!)

1 - What are the 5 reports?
2 - Why these reports?
3 - What do we do with the reports?
4 - What about other reports like ED&I?

Making the most of your applicant tracking systems reports is key to data-driven recruitment. According to the CIPD,  just 46% of organisations collected data on recruitment and retention, and just 33% said it was regularly.

So here, we're going to look at the 5 key reports in your applicant tracking system, and what to do with them to make them more effective.

What are the 5 ATS reports?

1. Number of filled vacancies
2. Past candidate volumes at key stages of the process for filled vacancies
3. Average Time-to-Hire
4. Number of live vacancies
5. Live candidate volumes at key stages of the process for live vacancies

Why these 5 ATS reports?

• We recognise that there is a whole wealth of other insights required to be successful, which we will come on to. But with these 5 reports we are considering what is critical to the role of the recruiter and/or the recruitment function.
• In a simple nutshell the role of the recruiter is to fill vacancies in the timescale required by the business to avoid an ‘empty chair’.
• These 5 reports focus essentially on the volume of vacancies and candidates, and the timescales associated with hiring them.
• Combining the data from each will not only give understanding of progress in terms of ‘’where things are at’’ but also support the forecasting of hiring probability and timescales, which gets to the heart of the recruitment function’s purpose.

What do we do with the ATS reports?

There are uses for each of these individually as well as combining them together. In each case it would be possible to break it down by date periods, job type, organisation structure, or recruiter to highlight any patterns of under or overperformance.

For each report, ask the following questions:

Number of filled vacancies

What is the success rate for filling vacancies?

Past candidate volumes at key stages of the process for filled vacancies

What are the throughputs (% of candidates that progress) for each key stage of the process through to hired?

What is the application-to-hire ratio?

If too many or too few pass between stages, it could be indicative of a need to adjust selection benchmarks, or improve candidate engagement and management during the process.

Average time-to-hire

What is the average time-to-hire?

If this can be broken down into average times to pass through key stages of the process – even better. This can inform where changes to process or additional resources might be required to tackle bottlenecks in the timeline.

Number of live vacancies

Informs current demand and accordingly where resources need to be deployed.

Ideally it will be possible to see when vacancies were raised and or the required fulfilment (start) date is, to understand what time is left to fil the vacancy, and how long has elapsed.

Live candidate volumes at key stages of the process for live vacancies

Does what it “says on the tin!"

Like the report above, it will inform where resources need to be deployed, and what activities need to be undertaken.

So, there are clear uses for each of these 5 reports pertinent to the core purpose of a recruiter or recruitment function, but we can gain further insight by combining the information from each of the reports.

Utilising reports 1-3 that show past activity, with reports 4 – 5 that show current activity it is possible to provide intelligent forecasts/predictions.

Forecast #1 – Will the vacancy be filled?

By looking at past fulfilment rates, app-to-hire ratios and throughputs between stages, and applying these to the current number of applications or candidates at each stage, it is possible to calculate the expected number of hires versus the number required.

Let's look at an example:

Past data informs us that

• For every 15 applications there is 1 hire
• For every 5 interviews there is 1 hire

Current activity reports that

• We require 2 hires
• There are 25 applications
• There 5 candidates at interview

So let's do the maths:

25 applications / 15 = 1.67 hires. This is slightly short of the target of 2!

5 interviews / 5 = 1 hire

It can be predicted that there will be 1 hire, but some additional applications – perhaps requiring more time or advertising – may be required to achieve the target of 2 hires.

Forecast #2 – Will the vacancy be filled in time?

• By looking at the average time to hire and combining this with the start date of currently live vacancies, it will be possible to forecast whether these vacancies will be filled by the required fulfilment date.
• This type of timescale forecasting will be more sophisticated and accurate if broken down to the key stages of the process and combined with the data showing the live flow of candidates through these stages.

Let's look at an example:

Past data informs us that

• Time to Hire = 30 days
• Time from interview to hire = 20 days

Current activity reports that

• A vacancy commenced on 1^st Jan with a required fulfilment date of 1^st Feb
• Interviews commenced 15^th Jan

Based on the time-to-hire figure alone, it would be expected to fill the vacancy by the required timescale. But based on the more granular time from interview to hire, it would more likely miss the target date by 4 days.

What about other data reporting and forecasting, like costs, sourcing, and ED&I?

Measurement is a fundamental component to success, ensuring lessons are learnt and continuous improvement, as well as providing case studies for external accreditation and awards.

We summarise this as "A.I.M to succeed!"

A - Analyse
I - Improve
M - Measure

Or as others have said "If you can measure it you can manage it.” Expanding your data measurement to these and other aspects will be beneficial.

Our Guide to Talent Data covers much more about what you should be measuring and how to go about achieving it. We suggest you have a read.