So, you started tracking some key recruitment metrics a while back. Now, you see the value in KPIs like time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and the new-hire turnover rate. Collecting and analyzing data helped identify weak points in your hiring process. You’ve evaluated your recruiting team’s performance and optimized their workflows. But you may feel like there’s more to track, more to learn—and more opportunities for improvement.
These five advanced recruitment metrics are an excellent next step. These next-level KPIs offer insight into recruiting and employee retention details. With this extra knowledge, you’ll be better equipped to find and attract the best talent.
What Are the Common Recruiting KPIs?
Before proceeding with advanced recruitment metrics, ensure you’re already tracking some standard KPIs. Your applicant tracking system (ATS) or human capital management (HCM) application likely collects the data needed for these metrics. Your systems may even have analytics functions that present the metrics for you. This includes:
- Time-to-Fill: This is the average time to fill an open position, from job posting to offer acceptance.
- Cost-Per-Hire: Your cost-per-hire metric is the total costs associated with filling open positions divided by the number of hires in a given period.
- Offer Acceptance Rate: Expressed as a percentage, this is the number of accepted job offers divided by the total number of offers.
- New-Hire Turnover Rate: This measures how long, on average, new hires stay with your company.
- Quality-of-Hire: Using performance appraisal data and other statistics of your choice, quality-of-hire reflects the value new employees bring to your organization.
The Top 5 Advanced Recruitment Metrics
If you’re already tracking the common recruiting KPIs, here are the top five advanced recruitment metrics you can explore next.
1. Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The candidate net promoter score (NPS) utilizes survey data to measure how candidates perceive your recruiting process. It’s based on a popular sales metric that gauges customer loyalty and retention.
To compute candidate NPS, survey each candidate by asking them the question, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend a friend, colleague, or family member to apply here?”
Provide an optional field for candidates to explain their answers. You then place responses in one of three categories:
- Rankings between 1 and 5: Detractors
- Rankings between 6 and 7: Neutrals
- Rankings between 8 and 10: Promoters
A higher average candidate NPS score indicates a more positive applicant experience. For lower scores, evaluate the provided explanations to pinpoint weak points in the process.
2. Employee Referral Rate
Employee referrals help reduce traditional recruiting costs, like advertising and other job posting fees. Referrals can also be a shortcut to finding top talent. In addition, a high number of referrals indicates high employee satisfaction levels since happy workers are far more likely to recommend your company to others.
To calculate the employee referral rate, track the total number of referrals in a given period and compare it to a corresponding period in the past. You can also measure the number of referrals per job posting and benchmark your results against other companies in your industry or region.
3. Time-to-Hire
While time-to-hire may seem similar to the time-to-fill metric, there is a critical difference. While time-to-fill measures the duration from job posting to offer acceptance, time-to-hire has a narrower focus.
The formula for time-to-hire is the number of days from when a candidate applies to when they accept an offer. This metric better indicates performance when things are under your team’s control, as outside factors can distort time-to-fill numbers.
4. Time in Each Process Step
You can further break down time-to-fill or time-to-hire and measure the time spent in each step of the recruiting process. If you base it on your time-to-fill data, you’ll get a broader look, as this metric will cover time spent on the job requisition process, related approvals, and creating job postings.
Since each company’s recruitment process is unique, it can be difficult to benchmark your performance against industry competitors. However, even if the process steps don’t match exactly, they will be pretty similar. Deviation from industry norms with a long time spent on one step can indicate an opportunity for improvement.
5. Time-to-Productivity
The time-to-productivity metric is similar to quality-of-hire, as you use internal standards to measure a new hire’s effectiveness. However, whereas quality-of-hire is based on a new hire’s performance and job expectations, the purpose of time-to-productivity is to gauge how long it takes a new hire to become fully self-sufficient at their new job.
Since this metric can differ for each job role, it can be challenging to define and track. However, if you can set standardized productivity goals for each role, time-to-productivity can be a very effective metric, as it establishes a benchmark for ROI on a new hire.
Harnessing the Power of Recruitment Metrics
Recruiting and talent acquisition are increasingly competitive tasks. Every company hopes to attract and retain high-quality employees. If you can gain any advantage in the talent marketplace, it’s worth it. That’s why recruitment metrics are so valuable. Each one offers insight into how you can optimize your hiring workflow just a bit more while benchmarking your performance against competitors.
More advanced metrics are especially powerful, as they help you pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
Interested in more guides on recruiting trends and the latest news in a wide range of industries? Follow MRINetwork today.