Measuring the effectiveness of recruitment and recruiters is being widely discussed in HR circles. Different organizations apply different metrics, different approaches and different priorities. An interesting article on this topic was published by Lou Adler, American expert on recruiting top talent and columnist, on the LinkedIn network. Based on his extensive international experience, Adler describes six criteria which are the best indicators in predicting the quality of individual recruiters, quality of recruitment with regard to specific jobs and quality of recruitment as a department in a company.
1. Number of candidates per job offer
The number of candidates you meet before hiring one of them should not be too high and should not vary significantly. A hiring manager looking for a new team member should meet no more than two to four pre-selected candidates. Try to measure how many candidates you meet weekly.
2. Passive candidate conversion rate
If what you offer can't win the attention of the best experts in the field, you'll never hire the best. The first person to talk to these people should therefore be the most important person in the whole recruitment process. A good recruiter should manage to convince 75% of the people contacted to become seriously interested in the position.
3. Number of referrals per call
When a recruiter contacts a top expert, he may not always be able to get him interested. The call may also show that that particular expert is actually not the right person you are searching for. You should, however, always get at least two recommendations for other experts who may be best for the position.
4. E-mail conversion rate
First of all, you need a good list of recipients for your email job offer to succeed. Being able to catch the attention of these carefully pre-selected experts is equally important. Your offer is not good enough if less than half of the recipients react.
5. Passive candidate call back rate
Bet on aggressive networking and try to get as many recommendations as possible. Seventy-five percent of the passive candidates you contact should call you back. Otherwise, your strategy for recruiting passive candidates is poor.
6. Effectiveness of job ads
How many people have to see your ad before one of them applies for the job? Watching this metric is quite simple, especially on the web. Keep in mind that the more targeted and interesting ad you write, the more effective it will be. If it takes more than a week for an active job seeker to apply for the job, you are not doing your job right.
Read more Lou Adler's ideas about passive candidates recruiting in Are you wasting your time when recruiting passive candidates?. More tips on how to write job ads better are available in Can your ad attract the best talents?.
How do you measure the effectiveness of recruitment?
-kk-