In 2024, the most successful businesses are those that are data-driven.

According to Forbes, data-driven companies are 23 times more likely to top their competitors in customer acquisition, about 19 times more likely to stay profitable, and nearly seven times more likely to retain customers. That’s quite an edge if you ask me.

For recruitment businesses, understanding which metrics to track can significantly improve your talent acquisition efforts.

In this blog post, we'll explore the top 10 metrics that every recruitment business should be monitoring. These metrics will help you measure your earnings, track candidate quality, calculate how fast you’re hiring, and optimize your overall recruitment process.

Let's dive in!

What are recruiting metrics? 

Recruitment metrics are like a GPS for your hiring process. They help you track your progress, find shortcuts, and avoid dead ends. By keeping an eye on the right numbers, you can make your hiring process faster and more efficient.

Why you should keep track of your recruiting metrics

Revamping how you track data can be somewhat of a workload, but it's totally worth it if you want to nail your hiring game. By keeping tabs on how well you're doing at finding and placing top talent, you can make your entire hiring process a whole lot smoother.

The list isn’t exhaustive, but keeping track of recruiting metrics is crucial for several reasons including:

Measuring your overall effectiveness: Recruitment metrics help you gauge how well your hiring strategies are working. You can see what's working, and what’s not, and make data-driven decisions to improve the process.

Optimizing costs: By monitoring metrics like cost-per-hire, you can identify areas where you're overspending and find ways to reduce recruitment costs without sacrificing quality.

Improving the candidate experience: Metrics like time-to-hire and candidate satisfaction provide insights into how candidates perceive your recruitment process, helping you refine it for a better experience.

Enhancing your quality of hire: Tracking metrics related to the quality of hire allows you to see if the people you’re bringing on board are meeting or exceeding performance expectations.

The top 10 recruiting metrics to track in 2024

Whether you're new to tracking your hiring numbers or want to focus on the big stuff that'll really make a difference, these 10 metrics are the perfect starting point.

1. Time-to-Fill

Time-to-fill is a critical metric that measures the number of days it takes to fill a position, from the moment it opens to the time an offer is accepted. 

Why it matters: A faster time-to-fill can lead to higher client satisfaction and ensures that companies don’t lose productivity due to unfilled positions. It also reduces the risk of losing top candidates to competitors.

How to track: To track time-to-fill, simply start by recording the date when a job is opened and the date when the candidate accepts the offer. Use an ATS  to automatically log these dates for each position. Many ATS tools will calculate this metric for you, but if you’re doing it manually, subtract the start date from the end date for each role and then average these times across all roles to get an overall picture.

2. Cost-per-Hire

Cost-per-hire calculates the total expenses incurred during the recruitment process, including job advertising, recruiter fees, recruitment tools and software, and any additional costs during the hiring process. This metric helps agencies understand the financial efficiency of their recruitment efforts.

Why it matters: Tracking cost-per-hire allows you to identify areas where you might be overspending and optimize your budget to achieve the same or better results with lower costs.

How to track: Use a detailed spreadsheet where you log the total costs for each hire and calculate the average. Keep track of things like job ads and the tools you use. 

3. Quality of Hire

Quality of hire is one of the most important metrics, reflecting how well the candidates you place perform in their roles. This metric is often assessed through post-hire evaluations, performance reviews, and retention rates.

Why it matters: A high quality of hire indicates that you’re not only filling positions quickly but also finding candidates who add real value to your clients’ organizations –a key measure of the long-term success of your placements.

How to track: Quality of Hire is typically tracked through post-hire evaluations. Work with your clients to gather performance data on placed candidates over a set period (e.g., 3, 6, or 12 months).

4. Offer Acceptance Rate

The offer acceptance rate is the percentage of job offers extended to candidates that are accepted. This metric can reveal how attractive your clients’ offers are and how well you’re matching candidates to job roles.

Why it matters: A low offer acceptance rate might indicate issues with the compensation packages, the appeal of the roles, or even misalignment between candidate expectations and job realities. 

How to track: Record the number of job offers extended and the number of those offers accepted. Calculate the percentage by dividing the number of accepted offers by the total number of offers made and then multiplying by 100. Recruitment software or ATS tools can often track this automatically by logging every offer made and its outcome. 

5. Candidate Satisfaction Rate

This metric gauges how candidates feel about their experience with your agency, from the application process to post-placement follow-ups.

Why it matters: Positive candidate experiences can enhance your agency’s reputation, leading to better candidate referrals and a more robust talent pool. It also reduces the likelihood of candidate dropouts during the hiring process.

How to track: Ask questions about their experience, communication, and whether they felt supported throughout the process. Use survey tools like Greenhouse or Trustcruit to collect this feedback and analyze trends over time. 

6. Retention Rate

Retention rate measures how long candidates placed by your agency stay with the client company. This is usually tracked over specific periods, such as six months or one year after placement.

Why it matters: A high retention rate suggests that you’re placing candidates who are not only qualified but also a good cultural fit for the organization. This can significantly boost your agency’s credibility and reduce the need for re-recruitment.

How to track: Work closely with your clients to get this data or use integrations with CRM systems that track employee tenure.

7. Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

This metric evaluates the success rate of different recruitment channels – such as job boards, social media, referrals, and strategic AI sourcing – in bringing in qualified candidates. By tracking which channels yield the best results, you can allocate resources more effectively.

Why it matters: Understanding which sourcing channels work best allows you to focus your efforts and budget on the methods that deliver the highest quality candidates.

How to track: This can be tracked by logging the source of each candidate and measuring the success rate of these sources. This includes tracking how many candidates from each source are interviewed, offered a job, and eventually hired.

Pro tip: Try an AI-talent search engine for free and see the results. Thank me later

8. Interview-to-Offer Ratio

The interview-to-offer ratio tracks how many candidates need to be interviewed before an offer is extended. This can highlight the effectiveness of your screening processes.

Why it matters: A lower ratio indicates that your pre-interview screening is working and that you’re presenting well-qualified candidates to clients. A high ratio might suggest a need to refine your screening or better understand your client’s requirements.

How to track: Count the number of candidates interviewed versus the number of job offers extended. Divide the total number of interviews by the number of offers made to get your ratio. This metric can be easily tracked through an ATS or CRM that logs each stage of the hiring process, from interview to offer.

Further tips

Set realistic benchmarks

Once you have a clear understanding of your current performance, you can set realistic benchmarks. A benchmark is a target or standard that you aim to achieve within a specific timeframe. It should be challenging but attainable and aligned with your agency’s overall goals.

Consider the following:

• Research industry benchmarks for each metric. For example, the average time-to-fill in your industry might be 30 days, which could be a good benchmark to aim for if you’re currently at 45 days.
  
  

• As your agency grows, periodically raise your benchmarks to continue pushing for better performance. Conversely, if benchmarks are consistently unattainable, consider revising them to be more realistic.

Implement tracking systems

To effectively track your recruitment metrics, you need reliable systems in place. Data-specific recruitment software and ATSs are crucial for collecting the data you need to track your recruiting metrics and gain real-time insights.

Try out the following Applicant Tracking Systems that put data and analytics at the forefront: 

• Zoho Recruit

• Recruitee

• JazzHR

• Breezy HR

Also, the bigger your agency grows, it’ll be worth hiring someone to track and analyze your hiring processes for you. Let them be in charge of collecting data and suggesting areas for improvement. 

And while you're at it, take a look at Juicebox AI. It's a super smart search engine that actually understands who you're looking for, sets up filters for you, and even lets you do a full boolean search in plain English. With Juicebox AI, you'll be crushing those hiring metrics in no time!

Happy recruiting!