It used to be that you could just write a job ad, get applicants, and hire for a position. Recruitment process complete! However, in today’s world, recruiting KPIs and data analysis have become extremely important. Not just to show how well you’re doing, but for continuous process improvement as well.

What Are Recruiting KPIs?

Recruiting KPIs (key performance indicators) are what the HR world runs on these days, and for a good reason. These are the indicators of how well your recruiting team is doing. HR teams gather up data from all of their recruitment processes to analyze it and find out where they are doing well and where they can improve.

Over time, this helps human resource teams to make their recruitment process better and better. A smooth and effective hiring process results in better hires, higher productivity, and better organizational outcomes.

10 Examples of Recruiting KPIs for 2021

Let’s get into it – what are the recruiting KPIs your company should be focusing on for 2021?

Candidate Conversion

Candidate conversion refers to how many people are converted into candidates from your sourcing channels. These could include job posts, social media, or other recruitment channels. This data will tell you what the average number of conversions is from all of the different places.

Filtering by each source will show you which have the highest average conversion rate. This is useful information, as you can then choose between two options; focus on increasing conversions from other areas, or just put more effort into the method that works the best.

Number of Applications

Knowing how many people have applied for all of your different positions is another useful KPI. If some roles perform much better than others in terms of applications, there must be a reason for this. Measure and find out which do the best, and then you can seek to find commonalities between these. This can help to improve your job advertising process so that all of your roles posted do well.

Cost Per Hire

One of the most critical recruiting KPIs is the cost per hire. This cost shows you how much you spend on recruitment for each person that you hire. This metric helps you to gain an understanding of the full cost of a hire, which is useful when it comes time to plan your budgets. Plus, when you know how much each aspect of recruitment costs, you can consider which expenses you might be able to reduce. List every single cost encountered to attain this data. This includes recruitment software, time spent, advertising paid for, and more.

Candidate Experience

One of the most crucial factors in a candidate accepting a job offer and their impression of your company is the candidate experience. The candidate experience refers to how the applicants find the recruitment process. Was it easy to navigate? Did it take too long? Looking at KPIs in this area and measuring how candidates found the experience will highlight any bottlenecks or issues in the hiring process. You can send out a survey to job candidates after the position is filled to measure the candidate experience.

Time to Hire

Time to hire refers to how long it takes to get someone into a role right from the start of the process through to their first day on the job. A long time to hire can result in many candidates having a negative experience with your company. That’s because you’re not only leaving your preferred candidate hanging, but the unsuccessful applicants are often strung along to be declined at the last minute. Measuring time to hire as part of your recruiting KPIs in 2021 is an excellent choice because you should aim to keep this time down as much as possible.

Rate of Acceptance

What is your rate of acceptance when you offer a job to candidates? If every person accepts, this rate is 100%. However, a rate that high is pretty unusual. By measuring your rate of acceptance, you will understand if there are some flaws in the recruitment process. A low rate of acceptance suggests either a negative candidate experience or some other issue, such as low pay or a bad impression of your company. Simply look up how many people have accepted job offers vs jobs offered and declined and determine the percentage to figure out this rate.

Job Satisfaction

The job satisfaction of the candidate is often not considered part of the recruitment process. However, it is a key component of recruiting KPIs. If the candidate is unhappy in their job at the end of the hiring process, you’re likely to have to go through it all again. That’s a lot of wasted time and money! This metric indicates whether there was a close match between the job description and the position, and how well you outlined the role in the interview process.

Satisfaction of Hiring Manager

It’s not only all about candidate satisfaction but hiring managers’ satisfaction too. For a hire to be genuinely successful, the hiring manager must be happy with the recruit. Sending surveys to hiring managers to find out more about what they thought of the hiring process and their satisfaction with the outcome is a great way to measure this KPI.

Time in Role

Time in the role is an easy one to set up and measure. You should have all employees’ start dates. So, all you need to do is keep data on when they leave and how long new hires tend to stay for. Measuring how many leave within the first year is especially important. If many recruits leave within one year, this is extremely costly for you. Plus, it suggests an issue with company culture, management, or some other problem you might be unaware of.

Productivity

Finally, the last of the recruiting KPIs is the productivity of the new staff member. How efficient and effective are they in their role? That is the main outcome you are seeking whenever you hire someone, so it’s the ultimate indicator of success.

Set up your recruiting KPIs for 2021 well in advance. That way, when the year begins, and the inevitable hiring processes start, you are set to measure that data. This will help you to optimize and improve hiring processes, resulting in even better hiring decisions.