4 strategic recruiting KPIs and talent acquisition metrics

2 mins, 24 secs read time

At a past Recruiting Optimization Roadshow, one of the panels that generated the most enthusiasm was centered on recruiting KPIs and metrics. When asked which metrics they’re currently measuring for best results, a few of them stood out. Here, we look at four of the most commonly measured recruiting metrics and why they’re crucial to a strong recruiting strategy.

1. Candidate pipeline

The top metric was – no surprise here – the overall number of candidates in the pipeline. It’s always important to know just how many candidates your efforts are bringing in and how that translates into hires over time. This metric is helpful for recruiting teams when forecasting hiring plans and reporting to senior leadership.

Taking it one step further, understanding which tactics impact your funnel (like new sources and different job titles) can help you refine your process even further.

2. Source quality

Our expert panel also noted how important it is to measure and track where the most candidates are coming from – as well as their quality, of course. Knowing which sources are bringing in the most candidates is essential to building a healthy pipeline, but being able to identify the source that brings in the highest quality candidates can measurably improve your recruiting efforts overall.

That way, high-quality candidates (those who make it furthest through the process or lead to a hire) can be tracked by source to help you identify which of your sourcing efforts are the most effective. Knowing which sources bring in the highest quality candidates can help you choose how to allocate time and resources the most efficiently.

3. Time to hire

Along with assessing your funnel, knowing your average time to hire can help with forecasting and inform your overall recruiting strategy. Understanding how your time to hire factors into your overall product roadmap or company strategy can help you make the right hires at the right time – and have a huge impact on your business.

4. Offer acceptance rates

Knowing how many of your extended offers are accepted is helpful, but taking that one step further to understand why offers aren’t accepted can drastically improve your recruiting process. Asking candidates for feedback on why they rejected offers and then analyzing that data will help your efforts to improve acceptance rates. Understanding which aspects of motivate candidates to reject – and accept! – your offers through constructive feedback and candidate surveys can help you create even stronger offers going forward.

If you’re not already measuring these KPIs, start now! By tracking these metrics, you’ll be able to make better, more data-driven decisions around your recruiting process. And if you’re already tracking them, take a look at optimizing your current reporting so you can easily iterate as you go.

Want more hiring insights? Learn the 5 KPIs we use to measure recruiting success at Greenhouse.