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Recruitment Metrics

Useful measures should be as easy to understand and as simple as they can possibly be. They should also answer a question that someone cares about and they need to be ones that you have influence or control over the outcome.

Unfortunately, many of the most common recruitment metrics do not meet these requirements. Most of us report metrics because they are expected or required or because our boss needs them.

Here are the 10 recruitment metrics that are frequently used or cited.

1. Time to accept

2. Time to source/Time to hire

3. Time to present a qualified candidate

4. Quality of hire (Attrition in 12 months)

5. Submittal to hire

6. Submittal to acceptance

7. Reqs per recruiter

8. Hires per recruiter

9. Source of hIre

10. Cost per hire

Many of these may be useful for improving the recruiting process but they do not provide information on the effectiveness of the recruitment team. It is doubtful that hiring managers or leaders care about how many requisitions a recruiter has or how many hires an individual recruiter makes. They are (or should be) looking at the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the team. Cost may be relevant in extreme cases, but generally is an insignificant issue.

The metrics I find most relevant to a leader are the time to present a qualified candidate, the accept ratio, and quality of hire based on performance over several months and linked to hiring criteria such as degree, experience, or source of hire.

Here are some articles that discuss metrics and present different approaches

Metrics & Measures for Recruiting

7 Metrics That the Most Data-Savvy Recruiting Teams Are Tracking - Dr John Sullivan

Dr. John Sullivan is a well-know commentator on corporate recruiting. In this article he talks about an entirely different set of measures than I hav mentioned. This underlines the wide range of of areas that can be measured.

Standard Set of Recruitment Metrics

Here is a PDF list of some standard measures used in recruiting with definitions.

17 Recruiting Metrics You Should Know About

A data-driven culture is a must-have for organizations. In this article, we’ll discuss the relevance of recruiting metrics.

I recommend the podcast below to get a very different perspective on recruitment metrics that really matter.

Ep 186: Data Driven Candidate Experience - The Recruiting Future Podcast

In this episode Matt Alder talks to Hayke Tjemmes from Wehkamp about building data models to measure and improve the candidate experience

Some Different Views

Here are two articles discussing metrics in general and how we may be mislead by overly relying on measurement, dashboards and the like.

I highly recommend you read these as they offer rare and different perspective that is valuable.

We Are Not A Dashboard: Contesting The Tyranny Of Metrics, Measurement, And Managerialism

Data sciences and technology could, and must, play a vital role. But they haven’t earned the right to be considered an end in themselves. They represent potentially valuable tools, ideally in the hands of experienced, inquisitive practitioners, who uniquely appreciate the subtleties of their domain.

Numbers (and the magic of measuring the right thing) | Seth's Blog

Seth Godin’s Blog on marketing, tribes and respect

About This Newsletter

Hand curated articles, videos, podcasts, and other media on the future of work, talent, recruitment, and learning. If you find this useful, please share on Twitter. You can always reach me at kwheeler@futureoftalent.org.