Here is Why People Leaders Need to Measure their Recruiting Conversion Rate
March 11, 2023
By Ganesh Ram
Recruitment metrics track and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your hiring process. They especially help assess how well you are attracting, hiring and retaining talent for your organization, as well as how your recruiting performance aligns with your business goals.
In this context, one could argue that recruitment conversion rate is one of the most important recruitment metrics people leaders need to watch out for.
Analysing recruitment conversion rates not only helps organisations in better decision-making but also help cut costs and improve overall efficiency of the hiring process.
What is a recruiting conversion rate?
Typically, a recruiting funnel in an organization looks like this –
Stage 1 – Awareness and attraction. In this stage, organizations bring as many ideal candidates as possible by means of recruitment boards, social networks, and so on.
Stage 2 – Application & Screening. The application stage generates the highest volume of qualified applicants and filters out those who do not meet the requirements.
Stage 3 – Interviewing & Selection. The top candidates make it to this stage where they are assessed for their skills, fit, and potential.
Stage 4 – Hiring. The final stage where job offers are made and accepted by the best candidates.
For recruiters who are managing the entire process, recruiting conversion as a metric measure how effective the recruiting process is at turning candidates into hires. It is calculated by dividing the number of hires by the number of candidates at the start of the recruiting funnel.
Let us assume, you have 1000 candidates who apply for a given position advertised on a campus and 50 of them were hired. In this case, the overall recruiting conversation rate would be 5%.
Advantages of measuring your recruiting conversion rate
Measuring recruiting conversion rate can have many advantages for your organization. Some of them are:
Identifying bottlenecks in the recruitment process:
Each stage in the recruitment process is a way to engage with your candidates and gauge them to the job at hand. But, if there is a high % of candidates dropping out, it might indicate other structural issues pertaining to the recruitment process itself.
Case in point, let us say that candidates are dropping out after the initial screening stage, it may indicate that the job description is not clear/screening process is not ideal.
By identifying bottlenecks in the recruitment process, recruiters can take steps to address the issues that are causing candidates to lose interest or disqualify themselves. This might include adjusting the job description or screening criteria, shortening the interview process, or providing more information about the company or job.
Better understanding of the talent pool
Tracking the conversion rate at each stage of the recruitment process can help recruiters gain insights into the talent pool and how they are responding to the job posting and recruitment efforts. This information can be used to refine recruitment efforts, and more effectively engage with candidates.
By better understanding the talent pool – including demographics, companies can adjust their recruitment tactics such as adjusting the compensation package, channels in which they target the audience, and so on.
Additionally, tracking the conversion rate can help recruiters gain insights into the preferences and behaviour of the talent pool, such as the factors that are most important to them in a job. This information can be used to tailor recruitment efforts and develop more effective communication strategies to attract and engage with candidates.
Reduce costs
Another benefit of measuring recruiting conversion rate is that it can help you to cut down on hiring costs.
By identifying which recruitment strategies produce the best results, you can double down on your efforts there. This means automating your recruitment processes, having a hiring playbook, using referral strategies, and leveraging social networks to minimise costs and ensure efficiency.
Grade Recruiting Professionals
The last benefit of measuring your recruiting conversion rate is that it can help you to grade your recruiting professionals. By understanding your recruiting conversion rate, you can identify which recruiting professionals are providing you with the best results.
This information can be used to implement a system that rewards and incentivises the recruiting professionals to deliver the best results. These insights ensure that recruiting professionals do their jobs effectively and that recruitment processes run as smoothly as possible.
Conclusion
Recruiting is one of the most critical and complex aspects of running a successful business. It’s essential to understand how many applicants convert into actual hires. Knowing the recruiting conversion rate is a critical metric for any organisation, as it provides valuable insights into the performance of their recruitment efforts.
By understanding the recruiting conversion rate, businesses can ensure that their recruitment efforts are successful, efficient, and cost-effective in the long run.
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