4 Metrics to improve your recruitment now

If recent surveys into the hiring intentions of the local marketplace are to be believed, 40-55% of organisations based in Northern Ireland are recruiting right now.

If yours is one of those organisations why not apply these metrics and draw some inferences from their results.

For ease of digest, Justin Rush, Abacus Talent Group Director has made the assumption that this analysis is applied to intermediate professional level recruitment managed by an in-house team.

1. Number of quality applicants per advertised vacancy.

A quality applicant is one that meets all the essential criteria. A number of less than five, indicates you really need to extend your reach into the specific marketplace to promote your offering. This may mean you need to:

• Extend your promotion of this vacancy
• Increase the reward on offer,
• Paint a clearer picture about why you are a top-class outfit, or
• Just make it easier to apply.

If you are obtaining a number of quality applicants more than 15, you can afford to enhance your criteria.

2. Percentage of candidates that complete the recruitment process.

Arriving at a suitable short-list of applicants is great, losing half on the way isn’t. In Justin’s experience, he suggests having a minimum of two candidates whom you would feel happy to offer the job too. This really means you need eight candidates for interview. In a competitive marketplace, you need to be clear on the process, timescales for interviews/assessment and when decisions will be made. If you are losing more than 25% of applicants before you complete your recruitment, you are definitely missing out on high potential candidates to competitors.

3. Percentage of employee referrals per vacancy.

If you don’t leverage the power of your employees when recruiting you are missing a massive trick. For a typical SME, a minimum of 15% of your applicants should be referrals. Importantly, Justin has often found that recommended candidates are of a higher quality than most, they are more bought in and often will have an advocate in the organisation to advise them (which is a great thing).  Next time you recruit, review the performance of referred candidates against others to see if my experience holds for your organisation.

4. Percentage of offers of employment accepted without renegotiation.

Most think that the hard work is completed when you decide upon the most suitable candidate, after all, it is just a question of rolling out the offer… wrong. You have one chance to make an acceptable offer, trying to low-ball is a mistake and it’s very hard to come back from.  The Abacus Director strongly advises offering just slightly above the market. Business people that recruit well make the financial aspect of the offer of employment secondary to the opportunity available, therefore they insulate themselves from the inevitable counter-offer.  Over the course of the year you may recruit anywhere from 10-25, even if you are an SME.  If you are gaining acceptance, first time, more that half the time, you are doing well.

(It is also worth looking at the concept of ‘Total Reward’ when presenting an offer to a suitable candidate, view our Salary Guide section for more on this important aspect).

Remember, metrics help identify trends. It’s your job to act upon the trends and to improve your performance when you go to market.

If you would like to discuss any of the metrics above in more depth please reach out to Justin Rush, Abacus Talent Group, Director in confidence on 028 9031 3157 | justin@abacustalentgroup.com