Recruiting data: Matching the right type of data with the right cadence of communication
3 mins, 9 secs read time
There are a lot of ways to think about recruiting data – many good, some … questionable. Here’s a way to think about it that may be helpful.
I bucket recruiting data into three categories:
- Expectation Setting
- Performance Metrics
- KPIs
Expectation Setting
What is it?
“Expectation setting” data is used to predict future behaviors. If you follow a structured recruiting process, you should be able to use your past experiences to anticipate future outcomes.
In addition to operational efficiencies and improvements, this data also helps build strong relationships. You can set up your stakeholders for success – candidates, hiring managers, hiring teams – by preparing them with anticipated timelines, time-to-hire, candidate volume, etc.
When to use it
Annually, for team bandwidth. In order to set hiring expectations with your leadership team and your recruiters, it’s great to pull past averages on volume of hires per recruiter. You can then use that data for capacity modeling to realistically see what volume of hiring your team can commit to for the next year.
When opening new roles. Every time we open a new role at Greenhouse, we pull past pipeline data for similar roles as a predictor of the pipeline ahead. In a standard case, you will be able to let your hiring managers know how many phone screens and onsite interviews to expect, so they can plan ahead. In more complex cases with multiple hires, you may find that the volume of work needed will require a change in the process. It’s always better to find that out ahead of time!
Performance Metrics
What are they?
Performance metrics are used for real-time check-ins on progress and performance. If you set expectations when you open a search, this is the data pulled to ensure your team is on track to hit those targets. Along with performance targets on specific roles, you can set specific performance targets with individual recruiters and coordinators on your team.
When to use them
Weekly performance check-ins. This information can be used to show the productivity of individuals. As a recruiter, you can do regular check-ins on your pipeline coverage (are there enough active candidates in the pipeline to match the expected pipeline needed to make a hire?) and top-of-funnel candidate quality (are you using the right sources to get qualified candidates into the pipeline?). As a coordinator, you can check in on average days-in-stage for candidates in your pipeline (are you moving candidates through the funnel quickly enough?).
Weekly pipeline check-ins. Recruiters can send weekly pipeline check-ins to hiring managers to let them know how a search is mapping to predictions. This is valuable information that recruiters can use to adjust their focus, hiring managers can use to plan for their teams, and talent acquisition leaders can use for understanding role allocation across their teams.
KPIs
What are they?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are designed to show the general health of your organization and should give you a sense of where team wins should be celebrated and what improvements to your overall process could be made.
When to use them
Quarterly reporting. As a talent aAcquisition leader, you should choose a set of KPIs to look at every quarter. Each of these metrics should answer a question that’s important for understanding the health of your organization. At Greenhouse, we’ve chosen 5 KPIs to measure the success of our team, all answering questions we feel are important indicators of team health.
- Do we put enough qualified candidates in the pipeline? QCs per Open Role
- Are we moving people through the process quickly? Days to Offer
- Do we have a positive candidate experience? Candidate Satisfaction
- Are we closing candidates we want to hire? Offer Acceptance Rate
- Are we hitting our hiring goals? Hires to Goal