How to Measure Recruiting Success

In my last blog, I started to propose some alternative ways to measure recruiting which allows for continuous improvement. One of the fun data points is that over that last 30 years the time to fill number has remained the same! In this blog, let’s discuss two more employment metrics that may make a change in your operations, time to find and time to present. I had the true pleasure to meet with Gerry Crispin, who is one of the recruiting world’s major thought leaders - and I shared with him what I was doing at work (volumes of measurements, dashboards, etc.) - he kindly shared what he thought were the two metrics that are going to truly change recruiting. After spending some time studying this – I’ve concluded that he is absolutely right! I encourage you to consider the following key metrics. Calculate Time to Find Time to find is the metric that says how long it took to actually identify the person who was actually hired. For example, if you post a requisition, and the person applies on day three - then your time to find is three days. From a math perspective, take a sample of your hires, and identify what the average is - let’s assume the average time to find is three days. From a process improvement standpoint, look at time to find to identify if your posting period is too long. Let’s assume you have a normal posting time of 14 days, and your average time to find is three days, then you can consider reducing your posting time by at least seven days. If your time to start is 70 days, then this may reduce your time to start by 10 percent and with limited risk! This can reduce the cost of posting jobs online. Calculate Time to Present This metric is the next logical step that determines the average time to present the candidate to the hiring manager. This measurement is again based on studying the records of those who were hired, and look at how long it took for the recruiter to present them. Y= Date the Mgr received Candidate (date) – Date Candidate Applied (Date) Let’s say the candidate applies on the third day of the requisition, the requisition gets pulled on the fourteenth day, and the recruiter forwards the candidate on the seventeenth day. So the time to present is a total of 14 days. But think how this can change the conversation to making the recruiter realize that the right candidate is sitting there, and waiting to be forwarded. So if the number is high, it allows you to start studying the screening process. Is your ranking right?