If you’re looking to hire new staff members or are struggling to keep your current staff, it may be time to try a data-driven recruitment strategy. By tracking different aspects of the recruitment process, you’ll be able to determine where the process is succeeding, and, more importantly, where it isn’t. Some of the benefits of data-driven recruitment include:
- Reduced costs: Sifting through your data helps you figure out what recruitment tactics produce (or don’t produce) results, so you can devote your funds to methods that work best (and get rid of those that aren’t working).
- Create a better hiring experience: Data can show how to make your hiring process smoother. For example, candidates may be waiting too long for you to make a decision or are being asked to interview too many times (wasting your time and theirs).
- Hire better candidates: Determine the common skills, education and industry experiences that your best employees have in order to learn what to look for in candidates.
- Determine vacancy and hiring needs proactively: Discover hiring needs early on means you can proactively start your candidate search, shortening the amount of time you spend short-staffed.
Ready to find great candidates? Here’s how to build your strategy.
Determine critical data points
There are many metrics that can help you improve your hiring process including the cost of each hire, the number of qualified applicants you draw for each job posting, the time spent on the hiring process, the rate of employee turnover and the time it takes for a candidate to go from new hire to productive employee.
Start your research with the pain points. Check your website metrics to determine where people drop out of your application process—or if they aren’t applying at all. Send a survey to new hires and candidates that dropped out to determine if your application and interview processes need improvement. Contact department heads and ask what hiring challenges they’re experiencing. Show your gratitude to everyone who offers insights with company thank-you gifts like a whiskey stone set, insulated tote bag or a cheese board set.
Capture the necessary data
Once you decide on the metrics, you can start capturing data using a spreadsheet or recruitment software. Store, sort and compare data driven recruitment metrics to improve your hiring process.
Use your data to refine the hiring process
Once you have your data, use it to refine your hiring process. Common concerns and fixes might be:
- Time-to-hire takes too long: If the average hire time is taking too long, causing great candidates to drop out, remove unnecessary time-consuming steps to speed up the process.
- Low acceptance rates: If candidates are going to multiple interviews but turning you down, use your data to determine if you need to offer higher pay and better benefits or if there’s a culture concern that needs to be addressed.
- High turnover of new hires: Do you need to hire for different skill sets? Or does training and onboarding need improvement? Connect the data to your hiring process and make any necessary changes.
Continue data collection and iterate
Once you’ve started making data-driven changes to your recruiting process don’t stop! You will likely discover that there are other data points worth looking at. For example, if you find you’re only getting a small pool of qualified candidates for every position, investigate which sources are giving you the most candidates and reallocate resources there. If you discover that staff member recommendations are bringing in the best hires, offer a company thank-you gift like a grill or pair of high-end earbuds to referring staff.
Let data handle it
The mystery of how to attract and hire a great candidate doesn’t have to be a mystery anymore. By using data driven recruitment tactics, you’ll be able to improve your hiring process. Best of luck!