Let’s look beyond standard recruitment metrics and uncover what matters.

As talent professionals, we’ve been taught to measure key details like time to hire and cost per hire. Maybe you’re measuring the volume of applications you receive and which job board most applicants come from. You might be tracking tenure and turnover to help you assess talent suitability.

Can we look beyond quantitative measures? Think bigger and longer-term?

Of course these traditional metrics matter, but they shouldn’t work alone. These metrics are part of a reactive, transactional recruitment approach that forgets to focus on the power of employer brand in treating hiring as a long game.

If talent engagement and retention are important for your business, you need to be intentional about recruitment – and measure different metrics.

Measure traffic

Traffic metrics can give you great insight into how your organisation appeals to job hunters.

Consider how much traffic you get on the careers page of your website or your LinkedIn company page. Compare the traffic you receive in an ordinary day, week or month to the traffic you generate when running an active hiring campaign.

When you pay attention to online traffic data, you can connect the dots between the amount of people who see opportunities at your organisation and and the amount of people who submit an application. This will help you determine how effectively your hiring materials are working.

Measure interest

Measuring interest in your organisation’s job opportunities can help you evaluate how well your employer brand appeals to talent.

When people get in touch with your talent team to express interest in a career at your organisation, keep track of it. When you’re interviewing people, ask questions to determine whether they’re chasing just the job or if their interest is in the organisation, leader or brand.

Understanding people’s interest in your organisation, coupled with insights about your employee experience, will help you evaluate your talent attraction strategy and look for ways to market your organisation to the right people, treating recruitment as a selling exercise.

Measure engagement

Online engagement can help you understand how people interact with your organisation and its mission.

When you publish a new company post on LinkedIn or any other social media platform, consider how people in your network respond. Do they answer questions, follow links or add to the conversation? Look for ways to engage talent as part of a community-building approach.

Tracking your engagement rates can help you plan to expand your reach and engagement over time. This can support greater brand awareness and interest, all while giving talent a chance to be part of your story, even before they apply.

Measure experience

Understanding your employee experience is the key to both talent attraction and retention.

When you welcome a new team member, seek feedback about why they chose you. When you’re working with your existing team, ask about their experience, and find out how well you meet people’s needs.

The more you learn about employee experience, the more you can optimise the experience you provide. You can give your team the flexibility, opportunity and support they need to love their work and thrive at your organisation.

Measure quality, ratios and performance

There is a place for traditional metrics, but not in isolation. Consider measuring ratios, not numbers.

For example, rather than volume of applications, consider measuring what percentage of these you progress to a phone conversation. This is a quality metric. We all know that 20 strong, appropriate applications is better than 100 irrelevant or inappropriate ones.

Beyond tenure and turnover, measure the effectiveness of your recruitment by performance ratings and employee feedback at 3, 6 and 12 months. Is the new employee performing as expected? Are they happy and engaged at work?

Why it matters

Measuring time and cost is a short-term mindset. And while reactive hiring is sometimes necessary to keep your organisation running, there is a bigger picture at play.

A strategic approach to talent engagement and attraction means you can track these things over time while considering new, non-traditional metrics that help your organisation do better for employees.

Understanding and showcasing your employer brand is the way to improve traffic, interest, engagement and experience metrics. With an authentic, proactive employer brand, you’re always recruiting, even when you’re not hiring.

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Need help with recruitment or employer brand building? Contact Heart today, and take the first step towards a smarter hiring process.

Guide to recruitment metrics: What should you really be measuring?