What Recruiting Metrics Do You Need to Track?

Recruiting is a mix of HR and sales—with a strong shot of marketing. Recruiters must simultaneously attract the right audience, size up a candidate, and sell them on the company. A company is only as good as its talent, so having a professional who can master this balance is fundamental for success.

But is this investment paying off?

To ensure the answer is a resounding YES, today’s talent acquisition leaders must accurately monitor and discuss the state of recruiting performance. HR departments are becoming more data-driven in order to justify larger budgets and make recruiting more effective. From recruiters in the USA to global recruiters such as recruitment agencies China, monitoring performance is critical. 

Going digital not only helps businesses automate and streamline the hiring process, but provides valuable data to recruiters and businesses. Hiring professionals can use this data to monitor the health of their recruiting efforts—if they know what to look for.

In-house recruiting metrics

When investigating which recruiting metrics your company should track, it’s important to note the differences between internal and external recruiting. Agency recruiters are commissioned based on how many candidates they place in a company, so their recruiting metrics will vary from that of an in-house recruiter. While the two may have overlapping analytics (which we’ll discuss later), it’s beneficial to examine the recruiting metrics primarily associated with each.

Agency recruiting metrics

At a recruiting agency, the product is people. The ability to set the right expectations and find qualified candidates efficiently, and at scale, is a must. External recruiters track a lot of numbers in addition to—or in place of—the internal recruiting metrics above.

According to Bullhorn’s 2018 North American Staffing and Recruiting Trends Report, agency recruiting professionals consider the following three core sales and delivery metrics most important.

Agency recruiting metrics

We already know the top efficiency metrics agencies track: fill rate, time to fill, and referrals per call. To ensure quality, you should track per requisition metrics, such as the number of candidates who:

• Applied
• Interviewed
• Got an offer extended
• Accepted an offer

You should also track applicant and hiring manager satisfaction. Depending on your agency’s goals, consider tracking more granular data.

For example, if you’re having trouble connecting with passive candidates, track emails sent versus response rate. If people aren’t responding to you, this metric can help improve your sourcing efforts. Which messages elicit a response? What kind of person is more likely to answer? Analyze the numbers and adjust accordingly.

Lastly, agencies should track new hire turnover rate. Though this is an internal metric, it helps determine the quality of candidates you refer to clients. Regardless of their performance, if your referral leaves after a few months, then it wasn’t a successful placement—which is something fill rates ignore.