Long gone are the days of companies trying to evaluate their hiring processes through anecdotal evidence and general analysis. Today, recruiters and hiring managers have all kinds of data at their disposal, and this information can easily be used to improve hiring decisions.
Making the most of this data requires following a few best practices, which are described below.
Track the Right Data
Identifying the right metrics is essential to improving hiring decisions. Different companies should pay attention to different kinds of data, but every company can benefit from tracking the following:
- Quality of hire. This is a complicated metric that includes factors like average performance of new hires, percentage of new hires reaching an acceptable productivity level within a certain time frame, and average retention rate after the first year.
- Cost per hire. This metric tracks how much it costs to hire the average new employee.
- Time to hire. Taking too long to hire a new employee can be costly.
- Source of hire. This Information can reveal the most prolific channels for sourcing new employees.
- Offer acceptance rate. If your company is getting a lot of its acceptance offers rejected, your hiring team needs to take a hard look at your company’s value proposition to candidates.
These are the most essential data points to collect. Your company should determine which metrics are important for your industry, as well as the important metrics to track for each position.
Collect Good Data
After the appropriate types of data have been identified, it’s important to collect good data. Most business software platforms make it easy to collect data related to hiring decisions. For example, Applicant Tracking Software is used to collect hiring-specific information like time-to-hire and source of hire. This data should be supplemented with new hire surveys, manager interviews, and other types of feedback.
Make Improvements Based on the Data
After a significant amount of data is collected, patterns should start to emerge. These patterns can indicate where hiring decisions tend to go wrong. They can also suggest targeted improvements. Consider the following potential improvements.
- Reduce time-to-hire. Diversifying sourcing methods, using automation to eliminate process bottlenecks, and refining job offers can reduce the time it takes to get new employees in place.
- Increase offer acceptance rate. Candidate surveys are effective tools when it comes to developing more competitive job offers. Research can also reveal if your offers aren’t competitive.
- Reduce new hire turnover. Communicating expectations more clearly during the hiring process can help reduce new hire turnover. Improvements can also be made to the onboarding program.
These are just a few simple solutions to improving hiring decisions. Unfortunately, solutions can be complicated, and data doesn’t reveal every single issue. Furthermore, data may be subjective, so it’s important to eliminate as much bias as possible from data collection processes.
We Can Help Your Company Improve Its Hiring Decisions
At American StaffCorp, our recruiters have extensive experience with solving hiring process issues. We can also help your company meet its labor needs with targeted hiring and staffing solutions. Please contact us today to find out how we can be of assistance.
