6 Data-Driven Recruitment Strategies That Actually Work

Traditionally, recruiting new talent was based almost solely on a team’s ability to select a good candidate based on a resume, CV, and a few interviews with qualified team members.

Determining the strength of a hire presented challenges, as it was both impractical and expensive to run comparative studies on the performance of every person hired for a similar job. To do so effectively before the data boom required dedicating countless hours to crunching numbers and analyzing performance, primarily whether or not the bottom line increased or decreased.

In this era of data-driven talent acquisition, recruiters can now determine the best candidates much easier, and can analyze their success (or lack thereof) in their new roles by using artificial intelligence and nearly endless banks of data relative to individuals’ performance in a given job. 

Here are six ways that data can help streamline your hiring process and determine if the hire was, indeed, a good one.

Metric Prioritization

In terms of Big Data, a metric is a type of data that companies analyze to inform their decisions. These metrics are almost innumerable, and can be used for marketing teams, safety officers, cash flow analysis, security measures, recruitment strategies, and almost anything else that involves decision-making. 

Choosing which metrics to focus on is an important step. Although choices will vary from industry to industry, here are some that your team might consider:

• First-Year Attrition — This metric is indicative of hiring success. If an employee leaves within the first year of employment, they typically have cost the company money, as they have failed to reach their full potential and haven’t had enough time to add value to outweigh the time it took for them to learn their job. Attrition can come from the employee (“I quit”) or the employer (“You’re fired”), and both scenarios allow for data to be added. If an employee quits, their reason for doing so is an important metric for making sure the next employee won’t make the same choice. If the employee is fired, the reason for termination is also an important metric for ensuring more careful hiring next time.
• Performance Rating — This metric is measured by evaluations of an employee’s actions. With digital reviews, data is stored and can be compared to anyone in the company. High performance ratings indicate a successful hire.
• Job Satisfaction — Also a metric measured with surveys, determining someone’s level of satisfaction helps determine what kinds of people enjoy a given job more, making for a more informed decision.
• Number of Applicants — This metric helps measure the desirability of a job posting and can inform teams that they may need to make a company or open position sound more appealing.
• Cost Per Hire — A monetary metric, this data determines how much money and resources were spent during a given hiring period. If these numbers appear much higher than other hiring processes, HR teams may decide to change how they conduct recruitment for a given job.
• Offer Acceptance Rate — How many people accepted job offers compared to other companies? If this figure seems low, it might be time to revisit your terms and benefits package.

The rest of the strategies will be relative to one or more of these metrics.

Overcommunicate Qualifications and Expectations

One of the most common reasons for someone leaving a job before they have had enough time to add value to a company is that the job was not what they were told it would be. Candidates should understand their day-to-day duties, performance expectations, and communication expectations.

Being clear about the details and expectations of an open position may push a few candidates away, but this is preferable to hiring someone who quits because they were ill-informed.

Prime the Welcome Party

The overall feel of an office can be a major factor in whether or not a job offer is accepted. This data would dictate that having your team in an extra-friendly mood when potential hires are onsite is a good move. There is a line to toe between being phony and being welcoming, of course, but if you can cultivate the best case scenario — your employees actually are happy at work every day — you won’t have to ask for performative enthusiasm. 

Spice Up the Job Offer

With trends toward online recruiting on the upswing, you can expect an increased volume of candidates looking for jobs within your company. However, they will also be vetting other companies at the same increased rate. Using services like Glassdoor can allow you to see what those in a given field are looking for in a job, allowing you to mold your posting accordingly.

Process Success

Online sources can assist you in weighing your cost-per-hire metrics against other companies’ to determine if you’re being efficient with your processes. Sourcing efforts are much easier in the data age as well, and if your data determines that you’re spending beyond your budget consider online recruiting to save some serious money. 

Other ways to avoid out-of-control hiring costs include updating your screening questions and incorporating keyword-based AI software to trim the application pool.

Data Is Great… But It’s Not Perfect

Even if you amass a trove of helpful hiring data, you will still need the personnel to analyze it correctly and put context around the information provided. In other words, data can’t tell you exactly why something happened, but it can provide useful insight if you have the personnel to decipher it properly.

Keep in mind that data collection is not always completely objective. If your data is sourced by members of your team and based on your internal practices, there may be areas of bias. Avoid this by conducting multiple peer evaluations.

Put Your Data Strategies to Work

Data is expected to be a $274 billion industry in 2022, and for good reason. It saves countless hours and allows your teams to plan in ways they never could before. All branches of your company should be utilizing data to make decisions, and HR teams have access to tens, if not hundreds of metrics related to hiring processes. 

KnowledgeCity offers HR training on how to make this data work for you, as well as many other tactics for making your team’s day-to-day activities more streamlined. Take a look at some of the HR training courses we offer!