10 steps to measure recruitment success

April is fast approaching and for most  organisations it’s the ending of one financial year and the beginning of the next. This might signal end of year appraisals and budget reviews, ready for the coming financial year’s strategy - and that should undoubtedly include recruitment.

Jobtrain (the company behind JTGO) often sees a steep rise in enquiries at this time of year from people looking for guidance around how to measure recruitment success.

We’ve outlined these 10 Measures of recruiting success in a simple to understand way - including why they matter!

Attracting and finding candidates

1. Number of applications a vacancy receives

Measuring periodically, the average number of applications you receive will show you how successful you've been at attracting and engaging candidates, as well as the sources they applied from.

But it isn’t just about high numbers. Too high and it might suggest the job adverts don't include enough descriptive information or essential criteria to meet the requirements of the role.

Check the success by calibrating your understanding of these figures. Compare the number of applications alongside the rejection rates further down the recruitment funnel, as well as with external sector/market data.

2. How many applications are completed

Yes, job boards will say your adverts had thousands of views, but those numbers are never reflected in the number of applications - and that’s not unusual.

What can be focussed on is how many applicants drop-out after starting to apply. A rate of over 30% and the application form/process is probably too difficult, and a streamlining exercise should be looked at.

3. Vacancies filled

It’s simplistic, but ultimately, this is the end goal. How did you do? We’re all well aware filling vacancies became a lot tougher from 2021 onwards.

Recruitment efficiency

4. Time to hire

Filling vacancies might be a roaring success, but is it taking a long time to attract volume and quality applicants?

There’s plenty of research about how costly an empty seat is, so how quick you fill it should be one the most important measures to scrutinise.

5. Cost per hire

When finding candidates is difficult, and short lead times for hiring is seen as critical – does it matter how much it costs? Isn’t quality more important? Quality applicants cost more, but realistically; you should be held to a budget.

Record what’s spent on advertising sources of good applicant and hone in on the most effective and cost efficient.

6. Throughputs and ratios - the recruitment funnel

The recruitment funnel is a chart, divided into segments representing the key stages of the recruitment journey.

The recruitment funnel in JTGO

Throughput: this is the % of applications that make it through from one stage to the next. Ratio: another way of expressing it, although it’s usually used for end-to-end analysis like application to hire or to offer.

Linking to Measure 1 can indicate if your selection processes are too strict or lenient, or if application quality is good or poor. By cross referencing with other data points, it will allow you to understand this.

7. Offer acceptance rates

Losing people at offer stage can be devastating. It’s also the most expensive point in the funnel in terms of cost and time spent. Surprisingly though, it often receives the least focus and measurement.

The offer acceptance rate will indicate if your organisation is matching the best offers to the best candidates. Whether that’s salary, benefits, delivery / experience of receiving the offer or being onboarded into the business, or how you compare to your competitors.

Quality candidates

8. Customer (candidate) satisfaction

For recruiters, hiring managers are their customers who go to them with their vacancies – and candidates should be thought of in a similar way. They need to buy into your organisation as much as you are buying into them.

Surveys to candidates and hiring managers will help you understand how you are doing. An example of Measure 2, is where a client of Jobtrain, Isle of Man Government, streamlined their application process by activating a two-stage application. The following month they hit 100% satisfied or very satisfied on their candidate satisfaction survey score.

9. Are new hires actually successful? First-year turnover rate

If you’re hiring people quickly and cost effectively already - that's great. But is it in vain if new hires flop or leave? Performance in role data can be hard to come by, and often too nuanced for meaningful conclusions. But first year turnover is a simple marker of hires not being a suitable fit for the role/organisation, or the role/organisation not being suitable for them.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I)

10. ED&I at key stages of the recruitment process

ED&I is high on the list of most organisations’ priorities, and in turn the priority to measure progress. It’s not a nice to have, but critical to sourcing (alienating sections of society shrinks your potential candidate pool) and business performance (studies have shown companies with strong ED&I out-perform those without).

It’s not unusual for organisations to report percentages of sex, gender, or ethnicity at key stages of the recruitment process. The problem though, particularly with ethnicity, is your data might simply reflect your demographic. Some ethnicities may be a high percentage at interview or hire, and others low.

Create a funnel for each then assess how each group progressed through the key stages. This will more likely give insights into not only how well you attract different groups, but how they fair through your selection process.

How do you fair?

These 10 Measures are invaluable indicators of performance as well as signposts on where to improve. They apply to recruitment in all sizes of organisations, sectors, or territories.

If you don’t have the resource or know-how to report on these measures, get in touch for a free, no-obligation consultation.