Measure the Success of Your Recruitment Strategy

While it might not seem like it in the current market, recruitment is a critical process for any organization. It's quite literally the foundation for building a successful and productive workforce, and it requires careful planning, execution, and evaluation. How many times have we heard of a role going unfilled because of low to no applicants? Or teams using the Post-N-Pray method? Way more than we would probably like to admit.

Recruiting top talent is a challenging task, and measuring the success of your recruitment strategy is just as crucial as executing it effectively. But how can you determine if your recruitment strategy is effective and delivering the desired results? In this op-ed, we'll explore some of the key ways to measure the success of your recruitment strategy and the pros and cons of each approach

The Candidate Experience

First and foremost, the one near and dear to my heart is the Candidate Experience. We have all lost great people to bad processes and the candidate experience critical to measure but often overlooked. You must ensure that your recruitment process is aligned with your employer brand and vice versa. Measuring candidate experience can be done through surveys and feedback from candidates, allowing you to identify areas for improvement in the hiring process. This can help you to improve your recruitment process and strengthen your brand, which can help to attract better candidates in the long run. 

This is arguably one of the areas you have the absolute most control over, right now. If you’re hearing the process is too long and you’re losing people? Shorten it. If the job descriptions aren’t enticing? Write new ones. Feedback taking too long? Add in SLAs or feedback forms!

Time is Money

Another way to measure the success of your recruitment strategy, and amount of money you’re spending, is by analyzing your time-to-fill metric. This metric tracks the amount of time it takes to fill a position from the moment it is posted to the moment a candidate is hired. A low time-to-fill metric is usually considered a good sign, as it indicates that you are able to attract, screen, and hire candidates quickly. If you have a high time-to-fill, generally there is a big gap in your hiring processes. Do you have a hiring manager that always wants, “3 more resumes,” or teams that take weeks to make a decision, costing you weeks of work? This is a great time to show the data and just how those decisions are affecting the pipeline and budget. 

In a similar fashion to Time-to-fill, Cost-per-hire is another common way to measure the success of a recruitment strategy. This metric tracks the amount of money spent on recruiting, including advertising, headhunting fees, and hiring bonuses. A low cost-per-hire is generally considered a positive, as it shows that you are able to bring in new hires at a low cost. 

Personally, I love a time-to-fill metric as you can set an expectation from the beginning and show the cost everyday that role is open. It also allows you to be dynamic within the budget for the role with you how attract and reach-out to candidates. 

Source to Sourcing

A great approach to measuring the success of your recruitment strategy is to look at the source of all your hires. This involves tracking where your candidates come from, such as employee referrals, job postings, or career fairs. For example, if 95 of your 100 recent Sales hires have came from employee referrals, you should probably ask your own employees for referrals before you drop thousands of dollars on a LinkedIn posting. 

It is important to use predictive analytics to identify the most effective recruitment channels and strategies. Predictive analytics can help you to identify patterns in your recruitment data, allowing you to make more informed decisions about your recruitment strategy. This can help you to optimize your recruitment process and improve the overall effectiveness of your strategy.

Wrap It Up

When it comes to measuring the success of your recruitment strategy, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each organization is different and has its own unique needs and objectives. However, by taking the time to evaluate the Candidate Experience, time-to-fill or cost-per-hire, and source of hires you'll be able to get a comprehensive understanding of your recruitment process and make data-driven decisions to improve it.

Measuring the success of your recruitment strategy is essential to building a successful workforce. By using a multi-faceted approach and considering various metrics, including candidate experience, diversity, business impact, and predictive analytics, you can gain a deep understanding of your recruitment process and make data-driven decisions to improve it. This will help you to attract and retain top talent, build a productive and engaged workforce, and achieve your business goals.