It’s a numbers game… Here’s How the Top Midsized Businesses Play it.

Measure Both Activity and Results of this Important Business Growth Driver

Sales and marketing measure their funnel and conversion rates. That tells them how well they’re doing. They also have tools to track prospects. Recruiting should do the same. Many human resources information systems or HR management suites have recruiting applications, including systems for tracking job applications. Scores of stand-alone applicant-tracking systems (ATS) are also available for businesses of all sizes, including midsized companies.

Regardless of what process or tool you use, you’ll gain the most insights into your recruiting efforts by tracking:

• Average days from the decision to hire until the person’s first day, also known as time-to-fill. This will measure the overall success of the recruiting function as every day that a position is unfilled is hurting your company’s potential growth and success.
• Average qualified resumes you get for each advertised open position. This measures the effectiveness of your outreach.
• Average number of strong candidates you bring into a final round of interviews. Having a choice of great candidates produces far superior results than hiring the only person who wasn’t rejected.
• Percentage of new hires who remain on the job for more than six months. Recruiting isn’t just about speed; it’s about quality. A bad hire is worse than a postponed hire.
• Open positions at any one time. The more open positions you have translates into growth deceleration. This metric is your call to action.
• Percentage of job offers rejected. Even an amazing recruiting function may not work if your company isn’t winning the battle against other employers. A high percentage of rejections is a signal to up the ante. Perhaps you need to raise wages and increase benefits. Maybe your employer reputation needs polishing. Something you’re doing is not working.

What we measure is what gets improved. Begin by picking two tor three to get started. You can add the rest a a later date!