Quality data is the difference between making informed decisions or going in blind. Unless you can collect and interpret data to quantify your process, you simply won’t know what’s truly going on — you don’t know what you don’t know.
When it comes to recruitment, however, sourcing that quality data in an easy-to-interpret manner can be challenging. Recruitment is a broad term that encompasses a whole slew of processes and tasks, from advertising to prospecting to hiring to onboarding. There are also typically multiple stakeholders involved, such as HR or the department that’s hiring. Successful recruitment requires mastering all of those elements.
Without a common thread to tie those pieces together like an applicant tracking system, it can become a disjointed process. Of course, that’s not great for data collection: it’s hard to effectively track or prioritise data across all those factors. Nonetheless, data is vital.
A data-driven recruitment process is based on tracking the right metrics.
Data cuts to the heart of recruitment because recruitment is fundamentally a specialised form of marketing. You run a whole host of activities to attract the right person to your organisation. To be effective and iterate on that process, you need to learn from the available data.
Here are just a few key metrics for a data-driven recruitment process:
- Time-to-hire
- Cost-to-hire or ROI
- Candidate sources (adverts, agencies, etc)
- Turnover and retention
For more details, check out this post on the recruitment reporting metrics you need to monitor.
Employing a data-driven recruitment process brings enormous benefits.
Regularly tracking and analysing this data will do wonders for your recruitment — you’ll be more strategic, find better uses for your recruitment spend and see an improvement in the quality of candidates. Here are 3 integral benefits that demonstrate how:
1. Data enables you to save time and streamline your recruitment process.
With data, you can link and optimise all the disparate threads of recruitment. It’s a benefit that really can’t be overstated. You’ll be able to swiftly identify the source of bottlenecks and address them; you’ll also get insight into which parts of your process are working, and which need to be improved.
For instance, if you discover that your time-to-hire is slow because there’s significant lag time between identifying an opening and posting an advert for that opening, you can work to reduce that time-to-hire — which will also help you plan ahead better and save you money in the long run.
Streamlining and speeding up the process also creates a better experience for both your candidates and your team. Data shines a spotlight on all inconsistencies and the root cause of delays, enabling you to improve your service delivery and align your team around goals for improvement.
2. A data-driven recruitment process is inherently more strategic.
When you base your decisions on data rather than instinct and you analyse your process rather than operating blind, you’re able to be more strategic. Data brings the ability to make educated decisions — simple as that.
A better understanding of the impact of your spend will help you allocate that spend better, so you can create a budget. Streamlining your process gives you a better understanding of time required for each stage, so you can plan and schedule accordingly.
Data also helps you see the bigger picture for your recruitment. For instance, you might see that your most impactful hires were sourced from within your own database, rather than a job board or agency. You can then allocate more resources toward talent pool management or dig into why your candidate nurturing strategy is so effective.
3. Data saves you money and proves the efficacy of your recruitment.
In one way or another, all the above factors will help you save money and make your recruitment efforts more impactful. A data-driven recruitment process makes it easy to prove the benefits of your actions or back up your strategic decisions.
You’ll be able to cut ineffective spend and boost efforts in other areas for a more comprehensive process that ultimately drives better ROI. Ultimately, you can make significant headway on key indicators, such as reducing your cost-per-hire.
In the end, the benefits of a data-driven recruitment process boil down to the eternal classic, time and money. Of course, to see those benefits, you need to be able to effectively track that data in the first place.
To see the most impact, you may want to consider effective methods to track all that data. An applicant tracking system will help you monitor all recruitment data and consolidate those processes. An ATS can even give you the necessary insight to prove the ROI of using that system and gaining those data insights — check out this post for more details.
Ready to see all these data benefits for yourself with the power of an ATS? Check out our free eBook, How to Build a Business Case For Recruitment Software.
