5 Recruiting Metrics to Track in 2023

Technology is rapidly transforming the recruitment industry. Accelerated by the pandemic remote hiring has taken off, propelled by online technologies, video streaming, and AI-powered software. 

In addition, sophisticated applicant tracking systems and recruiting CRMs are making the hiring process easier and more efficient.  

Such technologies are among the many systems that now help you gather and use HR metrics to measure your recruiting KPIs.  When you analyze HR recruiting metrics, you derive insights into which parts of your hiring strategy are working well and which parts need attention. HR recruiting metrics help you identify issues you may not be aware of, helping you to correct and improve your hiring process. 

Here are five critical recruiting metrics that will remain influential in 2023.

1. Time to Fill

What is it? 

Time to fill measures the number of days between publishing a job opening and hiring the candidate.  

It’s the total time to fill a position, from when a firm issues a job requisition to when a new hire accepts the position. It is used when hiring externally to fill a position (internal hiring often entails other procedures). 

You can measure it organization-wide or per team..  

To calculate it, divide the total amount of working days (i.e., the number of days between the submission of the job requisition and the official hire) by the roles hired. It would look like this: 

([Working days… role A] + [Working days… role B] + [Working days… role C] + ...) / (Amount of roles filled) = Time to fill. 

Why track it? 

• Time to fill gives you a quick guide to how long it would take to fill an empty position, helping you to plan better.  
• It is also a useful KPI to assess how good your recruitment process is.   
• You can also use this metric as a forecasting variable for your future talent strategies.

2. Time to Hire

What is it? 

Time to hire is the number of days between the moment a candidate is approached by a company, and the moment he or she signs a contract and accepts the job.  

You can measure it organization-wide or per team. 

To calculate it, you divide the sum total of working days spent hiring candidates by the number of roles hired. So it would look something like this: 

([Working days from first job post to official hire, role A] + [Working days from first job post to official hire, role B] + [Working days from first job post to official hire, role C] + …) / (Amount of roles hired) = Time to hire. 

Why track it? 

This metric may sound similar to time to fill, but there’s a difference. While time to fill emerges from business politics and needs, time to hire is more focused on the candidate’s recruitment experience.  

Hiring times can be fast—for instance, within two weeks—or slow, taking three months or more. If candidates wait months before hearing back from a recruiter, some will lose interest and move on. 

According to LinkedIn, the average time to hire depends on your specialty. Administrative and sales roles are the fastest, at an average of 33 days, while highly technical roles, such as engineering, take the longest, at an average of 49 days. 

A high time to hire score may suggest a problem in your recruitment process, such as: 

• Jobs aren’t posted in the right channels. 
• Recruiters are swamped by applicants and can’t get back to candidates in a reasonable time. 
• Hiring managers are not available to do interviews or review tests. 
• Your hiring process is too complicated and turning away recruits. 

3. Source of Hire

What is it? 

Source of hire shows what percentage of your overall hires entered your pipeline from each recruiting channel or source—e.g., referrals, job boards, career fairs, or direct sourcing. 

Sourcing costs vary by industry, profession, and job title. 

To calculate source of hire, divide your recruiting source yield by the number of applicants from the recruiting source. The calculation would look like this: 

(Total number of hires) / (Total number of candidates from a particular source) = Percentage of hires from a particular source. 

You should track the total number of hires, applicants, or interviewees per source, and rank and compare them. 

To measure source of hire accurately, first determine what a “source” is. Define what you will measure, and measure it consistently. 

For example, 

• Will you track individual sources (e.g., job board 1, job board 2) or broader categories (e.g., recruitment agencies, referrals, job boards, etc.)? 
• Will you separate inbound and external hiring? 
• Will you only track hires, or will you gather data on candidate sources too? 

Next, gather the data. Methods may include a combination of approaches, such as surveys, questionnaires, analysis of your ATS reports, web analytics to track candidate engagement across channels, and documentation from your recruiting team. 

Finally, compare the data from different sources, and do your analysis. 

Why track it? 

• When you know which sources are most effective, you can direct more resources to the most valuable channels for you. You can allocate your advertising budgets better. 
• You can reduce costs by dropping or adjusting less fruitful sources.  

• Source of hire helps indicate how effective your hiring team is. 

4. Cost per Hire

What is it? 

Cost per hire is the total cost of hiring divided by the number of new hires. 

Calculating it would look like this: 

(Internal plus external recruiting costs) divided by the total number of hires. 

Costs involved in hiring a new employee may include internal costs, such as 

• Cost of marketing material to advertise a vacancy. 
• Cost of interviewing. 
• Onboarding expenses. 
• Referral bonus program costs. 
• Compliance costs to monitor and process legal documents. 
• Administrative costs. 
• Cost of initial training and upskilling, separate from onboarding. 
• Fees for recruiting staff or sourcing staff. 

There may also be external costs, such as 

• Background checks—criminal and background education checks, references, credit checks, eligibility to work checks. 
• Screening expenses—such as tests and assessments. 
• Technological expenses, including your ATS and application processing system. 
• Marketing costs, including SEO and website updates. 
• Job fair expenses such as labor and equipment rental. 

Why track it? 

• Calculating your cost to hire tells you whether your recruitment process is optimized for your industry and roles. 
• It also lets you compare hiring costs between departments on a quarterly and annual basis to spot trends. 

5. Quality of hire

What is it? 

Quality of hire refers to the performance of a new employee within their first year. It considers their adjustment time, how well they integrate with teams and the company culture, and the outcomes of performance reviews. 

When calculating quality of hire, there are many indicators to measure. Pre-hire measures may include criteria such as candidate assessment scores and interview scores, while post-hire measures can include time to productivity, end-of-probation review, job fit, and hiring manager satisfaction metrics. 

AIHR offers this generalized formula in which an organization agrees on indicators and weights to devise a scorecard: 

Quality of hire = (Indicator #1 % + Indicator #2 % + Indicator #3 %...) divided by the number of indicators. 

Why track it? 

Quality of hire is perhaps the most important metric to measure because it represents the value a new hire brings to the company—their contribution to the success of the organization. 

As AIHR notes in an insightful article, what defines a quality employee often differs across industries, organizations, and job roles, so it's challenging to measure. But even though there is a subjective element, it’s still a key metric for value of your talent in your business. 

Why recruiting metrics make sense 

The recruiting scene continues to change, with many more online tools and platforms being used since the pandemic. Some rising trends to expect in 2023, according to Jeanne MacDonald of Korn Ferry, including 

• more use of rent-an-executive (or rent-a-professional)—that is, the rise in using skilled freelancers on a contract basis for finite projects or to fill temporary roles, 
• flexible hours and hybrid work will become a normal option offered by many more firms, 
• more internal mobility as people move to new positions in their own firms rather than seek jobs in an uncertain market, and 
• more employee upskilling, certification, and use of AI-driven talent analytics to enable wiser internal promotions of skilled, capable people. 

As HR evolves to embrace more freelancers, accommodate hybrid work, and foster internal talent development, gathering accurate people data will become even more important for robust HR databases and decision-making processes. 

Recruiting metrics are useful people data that help you track, manage, and optimize the hiring of candidates, including achieving your most important goal: hiring the right talent for your firm.  

You can also link your recruiting metrics to a general HR recruiting matrix to help deliver a more diverse, inclusive, and fair hiring process.  

Last but certainly not least, recruiting metrics can help show HR’s ROI to your business leaders.  

You may also be interested in

https://blog.pixentia.com/why-data-driven-hr-matters-part-2  

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Pixentia is a full-service technology company dedicated to helping clients solve business problems, improve the capability of their people, and achieve better results.