Recruiters: Make Measurement A Habit

Talent acquisition leaders are experts at moving fast when business demands speed. Still, slower times offer a moment for improvement if recruiters know where to look and what to measure, says Shannon Pritchett of HireEZ.

Measurement is the key to improving hiring quality when business is good; talent acquisition practices are often played fast and loose. Hiring speed becomes everything, usually at the cost of hiring quality or efficiency. But when things cool off (as they always do), the ability to move fast isn’t up to recruiters and hiring teams; it’s up to the market. Suddenly, what companies thought was working to draw in talent before isn’t holding up. And a lack of understanding as to what was truly moving the needle is holding employers back.

In other words, when business is slow, suddenly, every move matters, and hiring teams can’t afford to be unsure about which aspects of their recruitment strategy are helping or hurting. This is where proper measurement separates the winners from the losers. The challenge for recruiters? To get comfortable with looking at data.

Measurement Is Everything

It sounds simple, but I see too many hiring teams shrug off measurement activities because it can seem like a lot of work. In truth, doing the work upfront liberates recruiters from the grind and all of the bad habits and bad candidate experiences the grind mindset enables.

Marketing teams know how critical measurement is to creating efficiencies and driving better experiences for prospects and customers. There’s an entire industry underpinned by marketing measurement to generate great customers better; it works the same for recruiting to generate great talent.

Fortunately, unlike the norm in marketing, recruiters don’t need layers of technology to capture valuable insights from data. There is plenty of data at their fingertips. And when it comes to figuring out which data points to look at? The good news is that every data source can be a viable source of valuable insight and immediately affect success.

Once you start measuring, you’ll understand more clearly who your target should be and how to appeal to them. All you have to do is start. Because many recruiters don’t know where to begin, I wanted to share a few examples.

See More: Measuring Performance Using a Native CRM Tool

Increase Outreach Engagement

Surprisingly, many recruiters fail to optimize their outreach based on performance metrics. If there’s only one thing you measure, the quality of your candidate outreach should be it. If you don’t know how, here are some do’s and don’ts:

• Test outreach with A/B versions: Testing the success of recruiting messages is critical. You should test everything: Email or SMS cadences, copy, call-to-actions, subject lines, formats, images, etc. To set up tests, think like a marketer would. Try asking, “What happens if I use short subject lines instead of longer?” or, “Would I get more engagement if I offered to share more details on a job role instead of asking for a call to talk about it, or vice versa?”
• Don’t test everything simultaneously: Only test one thing at a time so you know which changes are truly making an impact. For example, you may want to measure how candidates from a single group (such as applicants for one specific role) engage differently when they are sent the same message but with altered subject lines. Then, with a new group, try testing different CTA’s. Afterward, get creative with message length or images. Track response rates or engagement for each and see what trends have surfaced and how you can update your approach for better engagement.
• Don’t forget about the end goal: Just because you’ve tuned your outreach to get better engagement doesn’t necessarily mean it’s helping you achieve your hiring strategy. Be sure to validate changes in your approach based on the impact downstream. Are you getting the desired results when it comes to conversion rate? Is the retention rate for new hires improving? Maybe it’s time to use measurement to identify blind spots in the candidate’s journey or qualifications.

See More: Are You Tracking These Employee Performance Metrics

Look Closely at Competitors

Qualitative measurement can be a useful way to keep tabs on the competition and inform your strategy. Have you ever wondered how your company’s candidate experience differs from your competitors?

Try role-playing as a job candidate at both your company and the competition. Look at their careers page, job descriptions, and the makeup and experience of their hiring team. How do they describe themselves and what they are looking for? Do they share salary ranges or detailed benefits packages in job descriptions? Do they use inclusive language or represent a diverse team? What about the hiring process do they reveal upfront?

Then, go through the application process. Is it simple and easy, or frustrating? How accessible is it on different devices? Is there a line of communication opened up between you and the employer, or does it feel closed off? How could the experience be made better?

Going through this exercise infrequently will give you valuable qualitative data on your competition that can be used to improve the experience you provide job candidates.

In addition, some tools can be used to monitor other aspects of the competition, such as recruiting platforms that can provide insights into company talent diversity or the length of time job postings typically stay open.

Define Your Target Audience

The best recruiters are interested in talking to fewer, higher-quality candidates versus marathoning through the masses. But it’s hard to know what signals can identify candidates that make the best fit for your organization. Fortunately, there are ways to measure it. 

In one of my favorite examples, Brendan Browne, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at LinkedIn, devised a framework that scores candidates based on “quality” and “affinity.” In the framework, quality was based on ideal qualifications, and affinity was based on three criteria: Does the candidate follow the company, share relevant content on their social media profile, and have a first-degree connection with someone at the company?

When measuring candidates against these criteria, 35% ranked highly for quality and affinity. They then tested the performance from this select group against the rest of the candidate pool. (One interesting fact: 100% of the select group had a first-degree connection at the company.)

When measuring response rates for candidates within this group, the recruiting team measured a 57% increase for initial outreach compared to their benchmark. The select group also got through their interview process faster and more successfully than any other candidate persona had before.

Data Is Where Competitive Advantage Hides

The more you can measure, the more insight you can capture about your strategies’ effectiveness, the perception your talent has of your company, how the competition is winning (or losing), and understanding what will appeal to the right job candidates.

All you have to do is make measurement a habit. 

Have you considered data-driven recruitment for improved quality, efficiency, and competitive edge? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , XOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

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