Ultimate Guide to 40+ Recruitment Metrics: Track your Hiring Success at Every Stage

This extensive guide provides you with over 40 key recruitment metrics, organized by stage of the hiring process, to help you measure, analyze, and optimize every aspect of your recruitment efforts.

Whether you're an in-house HR team or a recruitment agency, tracking the right metrics is essential for attracting top talent, streamlining your processes, and making effective data-driven hiring decisions.

As we explored in our foundational article on understanding recruitment metrics, these data points are the key to unlock a more efficient and effective hiring strategy. This guide builds upon that foundation so that you can use to start improving your recruitment performance today.

How to use this guide?

This article is designed to be a comprehensive, yet practical, resource. We've meticulously selected over 40 recruitment metrics, drawing from industry best practices, research, and real-world experience in the headhunting field.

It's important to understand that not every metric will be relevant to every company or every role. The key is to choose the metrics that align with your specific hiring goals and business objectives.

Here's how to make the most of it:

1. Identify the stages: We've organized the metrics by the key stages of the hiring process: Awareness & Attraction, Interest & Application, Screening & Selection, Offer & Hiring, and Onboarding & Retention. Familiarize yourself with these stages and how they relate to your own recruitment funnel.
2. Grasp the definitions: Each metric includes a clear and concise definition, so you should understand exactly what it measures.
3. Learn why it matters: We explain the importance of each metric, highlighting its impact on your overall recruitment success and how it can inform your decision-making.
4. Consider benchmarks (with caution): While we've included some industry benchmarks (where available), remember that these should be used as general guidelines only. Your ideal metrics will depend on your specific industry, company size, role type, and location.
5. Prioritize and focus: Don't try to track everything at once! Start with a few key metrics that are most relevant to your current challenges and goals. Gradually add more metrics as you become more comfortable with data-driven recruitment.
6. Iterate and improve: Recruitment analytics is an ongoing process. Regularly review your metrics, analyze the results, and adjust your strategies accordingly.

This guide is your starting point for building a data-driven recruitment engine. Use it as a reference, a resource, and a roadmap to achieving your hiring goals.

Awareness & Attraction Metrics

This is the very first stage of the recruitment funnel – where you make potential candidates aware of your open positions and your company. It's about casting a wide net, but also ensuring you're reaching the right talent pool. Tracking these metrics helps you understand the effectiveness of your employer branding, job advertising, and overall sourcing strategy.

Source of Hire

• Source of Hire tracks where your new hires originally found out about the job opening. This could be a specific job board (Indeed, LinkedIn), your company website, social media, an employee referral, a recruitment agency, or another source.
• Why it matters? This is arguably the most crucial sourcing metric. It tells you which channels are delivering the best results, allowing you to allocate your recruitment budget and efforts more effectively. Knowing your top-performing sources helps you double down on what's working and stop wasting money on what's not.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Leverage your ATS to track source of hire for every applicant.
  2. Regularly analyze the data at least monthly to identify trends and make adjustments to your sourcing strategy.
  3. Prioritize base on the quality of source.

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

• This metric measures the conversion rate of each source to identify the effective ones. It helps you answer the question: "What percentage of applicants from each source actually become hires?"
• Why it matters? Sourcing Channel Effectiveness helps you identify which channels are not only attracting candidates but also delivering qualified candidates who are likely to be successful. It refines your understanding of ROI beyond just the initial application.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: Conversion rate = (Number of hires from a specific source) / (Total number of applicants from that source)
  2. Compare among channels to identify your highest- and lowest-performing channels.

Sourcing Channel Cost

• This metric tracks the total cost associated with using a particular sourcing channel. This includes subscription fees (for job boards), advertising costs (for social media campaigns), referral bonuses, and even the time spent by your team managing that channel.
• Why it matters? Understanding the cost of each channel is essential for budget allocation and determining the true cost-per-hire from each source. It helps you identify expensive channels that may not be delivering a good return.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Track all costs, don't just focus on direct costs, also consider indirect costs like staff time.
  2. Calculate cost-per-applicant and cost-per-hire for each channel.
  3. Regularly review and adjust your budget based on cost and effectiveness.

Sourcing Channel ROI

• ROI is an important performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment. Applied to recruitment, Sourcing Channel ROI helps you understand the financial return you're getting from each of your sourcing channels.
• Why it matters? This is where you determine if your sourcing investments are actually paying off. A high ROI means the channel is generating hires efficiently, while a low ROI suggests it's time to re-evaluate or optimize your approach.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: Sourcing Channel ROI = (Total Revenue from Hires via Channel - Total Cost of Channel) / Total Cost of Channel
  2. Compare and analyze the ROI of different channels to identify your most profitable sources.

Applicants per Opening

• This metric simply counts the total number of applications received for a specific job opening.
• Why it matters?
  • While a high number of applicants might seem good, but it's not always an indicator of success. This metric is most useful when considered alongside other metrics, like sourcing channel effectiveness and screening-to-interview ratio.
  • A very high number of applicants could indicate a well-written job posting and effective advertising, or it could mean the job description is too broad, attracting unqualified candidates. A very low number suggests problems with reach or attractiveness.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Monitor trends in applicants per opening to identify any significant changes.
  2. Use this metric in conjunction with quality-focused metrics to get a complete picture.
  3. If the number is consistently low, let review your job descriptions and sourcing channels.

Candidate Engagement

• This metric measures how actively potential candidates interact with your employer brand and job postings before they actually apply. This can include things like:
  • Clicks on job postings.
  • Time spent on your careers page.
  • Social media interactions (likes, shares, comments) related to job openings.
  • Downloads of resources (e.g., company culture guides).
• Why it matters? Candidate engagement provides insights into the effectiveness of your employer branding and recruitment marketing efforts. High engagement suggests that your messaging is resonating with potential candidates and that they're interested in learning more about your company.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Use website analytics to track metrics like time on page, bounce rate, and pages per visit on your careers site.
  2. Don’t forget to track engagement metrics on job-related posts on social media also.
  3. Use UTM parameters to track the performance of different campaigns and channels.
  4. Continuously analyze and Improve.

Interest & Application Metrics

This stage is crucial – it's where interested candidates move from passive awareness to active engagement with your open positions. They're visiting your careers page, reading job descriptions, and, ideally, starting and completing the application process. Tracking these metrics helps you understand how effectively you're converting interest into applications and identify any potential barriers in the candidate journey.

Application Completion Rate

• This metric measures the percentage of candidates who start an online application and actually complete and submit it.
• Why it matters? A low application completion rate is a major red flag. It indicates that something in your application process is discouraging candidates, potentially causing you to lose top talent. This could be anything from a lengthy, cumbersome application form to technical glitches or confusing instructions.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Regularly test your application process, go through the application yourself, from start to finish, on different devices (desktop, mobile).
  2. Simplify the form, and ask only for essential information. Consider allowing candidates to apply with their LinkedIn profile or resume.
  3. Provide clear instructions and progress indicators.

Candidate Experience

• Candidate experience encompasses the entire perception a candidate has of your company and your hiring process, from their first interaction to the final outcome (offer or rejection). It includes everything from the clarity of your job descriptions to the responsiveness of your recruiters and the fairness of your interview process.
• Why it matters? A positive candidate experience is crucial for attracting top talent, protecting your employer brand, and even improving your bottom line. Candidates who have a negative experience are less likely to accept an offer, more likely to share their negative experience with others (which damages your reputation), and may even be less likely to become customers of your company.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Use surveys (like the Candidate Net Promoter Score, discussed below) to gather feedback at various stages of the process.
  2. Communicate regularly: Keep candidates informed about their application status and next steps.

Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS)

• cNPS is a specific metric used to measure candidate experience. It's based on a single question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [Company Name] as a potential employer to a friend or colleague?" Respondents are categorized as Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), or Detractors (0-6).
• Why it matters? cNPS provides a quantifiable measure of candidate sentiment and helps you identify areas for improvement in your hiring process. It's a valuable indicator of your employer brand and can help you attract (and retain) top talent.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: cNPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors
  2. A "good" cNPS can vary, but generally, a score above 0 is considered positive, above 20 is good, and above 50 is excellent.
  3. Send the survey to all candidates after they've completed a significant stage of the hiring process (e.g., after an interview).
  4. Analyze the feedback to look for patterns in the comments and identify areas for improvement.

Test Completion Rate

• If your hiring process includes pre-employment tests (skills assessments, personality tests, etc.), this metric measures the percentage of candidates who start a test and actually complete it.
• Why it matters? A low test completion rate could indicate several problems: the test is too long, too difficult, technically flawed, or not relevant to the role. This can lead to losing qualified candidates and wasting time and resources for both parties.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Provide clear instructions, explain the purpose of the test and how long it should take.
  2. Make sure the test is user-friendly and works properly on different devices.
  3. Consider the candidate experience, a shorter and well-designed tests are generally better received.

Screening & Selection Metrics

This critical stage is where you narrow down your pool of applicants to the most promising candidates. It involves carefully evaluating applications, conducting initial screenings (phone screens, skills assessments), and ultimately deciding who to invite for interviews. Tracking these metrics helps you ensure your screening and selection process is efficient, effective, and fair.

Screening-to-Interview Ratio

• This metric (also sometimes called the "Selection Ratio" at this stage) measures the percentage of applicants who are invited to an interview after the initial screening process.
• Why it matters? This ratio reveals the effectiveness of your initial screening criteria. A very low ratio might indicate your screening is too strict, potentially causing you to miss out on qualified candidates. A very high ratio suggests your screening isn't strict enough, leading to wasted time interviewing unqualified individuals.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: (Number of Candidates Invited to Interview / Total Number of Applicants) x 100
  2. Review this ratio regularly (monthly or quarterly) to identify any significant changes.
  3. If the ratio is unusually high or low, you should spend your time to investigate the reasons why.
  4. Adjust your screening criteria (job description, application questions, pre-employment tests) when needed to achieve a balance between efficiency and inclusivity

Interview-to-Offer Ratio

• This metric (also sometimes called a "Selection Ratio," specifically at the interview stage) measures the percentage of interviewed candidates who receive a job offer.
• Why it matters? This ratio reflects the effectiveness of your interview process in identifying suitable candidates. A low ratio could indicate problems with your interview questions, interviewer training, or alignment between the interview process and the job requirements. A too high ratio might suggest your interview process isn't rigorous enough
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: (Number of Job Offers Extended / Number of Candidates Interviewed) x 100
  2. Track by interviewer to identify any interviewers who have significantly higher or lower offer ratios than others.
  3. Utilize this metrics to explore insights to train interviewers on best practices for conducting interviews and evaluating candidates.

Recruitment Funnel Effectiveness

• This metric assesses the overall efficiency of your recruitment funnel by measuring the conversion rates between each stage (e.g., application to screening, screening to interview, interview to offer, offer to acceptance). It's often visualized as a funnel, showing the percentage of candidates who move from one stage to the next.
• Why it matters? This provides a holistic view of your recruitment process, highlighting where candidates are dropping off and identifying bottlenecks. It helps you pinpoint areas for improvement at every stage.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Clearly define each stage of your recruitment process and funnel.
  2. Analyze to identify where the largest drop-offs occur and investigate the reasons why.

Recruitment Funnel Speed

• While effectiveness focuses on conversion rates, speed focuses on the time it takes candidates to move through each stage of the recruitment funnel. This includes metrics like "Time in Process Step" (see below).
• Why it matters? A slow recruitment process can lead to losing top candidates to competitors, increased costs, and a negative candidate experience. Tracking funnel speed helps you identify and address delays.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Pinpoint the stages where candidates are getting stuck.
  2. Continuously look for ways to reduce delays and speed up the process without sacrificing quality.

Time in Process Step

• This metric measures the average amount of time candidates spend in each specific step or stage of the recruitment process (e.g., screening, first-round interview, second-round interview, offer stage).
• Why it matters? This provides granular detail about where delays are occurring within the recruitment funnel. It allows you to pinpoint specific bottlenecks and take targeted action.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Keep a mindset that you have to measure the time spent in each individual step, not just the overall time-to-fill.
  2. Establish target timeframes for each step and monitor performance against those targets.

Adverse Impact

• Adverse impact refers to a situation where a seemingly neutral employment practice (e.g., a pre-employment test) has a disproportionately negative effect on a protected group (e.g., based on race, gender, age, religion, etc.).
• Why it matters? Ensuring fairness and avoiding discrimination in hiring is not only ethically right but also legally required in many jurisdictions. Adverse impact analysis helps you identify and address any unintentional biases in your selection process.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. The "four-fifths rule" is a common guideline: If the selection rate for a protected group is less than 80% of the selection rate for the majority group, it may indicate adverse impact. Consult with legal counsel for specific guidance.
  2. You don’t have conduct adverse impact very often, ideally once or twice a year.

Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) / DEI / DEIB Metrics

• These metrics track the representation of different demographic groups (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability status, sexual orientation, etc.) at various stages of the recruitment process and within your workforce. DEIB stands for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
• Why it matters? Building a diverse and inclusive workforce is not only ethically important but also beneficial for business. Diverse teams are often more innovative, creative, and better able to serve a diverse customer base
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Spent time to determine which demographic groups you will track and at which stages of the process.
  2. Ensure you are complying with all relevant privacy regulations.

Candidate Diversity

• Measures and tracks the demographic diversity of the candidate pool at various stages of the hiring process (e.g., applicants, those screened, those interviewed, those offered positions, those hired).
• Why it matters? Provides insight into whether sourcing and screening efforts attract a diverse range of candidates, highlights potential bias in selection, helps meet diversity and inclusion goals.

Offer & Hiring Metrics

This stage marks the culmination of your recruitment efforts – extending offers to your chosen candidates and, hopefully, securing their acceptance. The metrics in this section provide critical insights into the competitiveness of your offers, the efficiency of your overall process, and the ultimate success of your hiring initiatives.

Offer Acceptance Rate

• This metric measures the percentage of job offers that are accepted by candidates.
• Why it matters? A high offer acceptance rate indicates that your offers are competitive, your company is attractive to candidates, and your recruitment process is generally effective. A low rate suggests potential problems with compensation, benefits, company culture, or the overall candidate experience.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: Offer Acceptance Rate = (Number of Offers Accepted / Number of Offers Extended) x 100
  2. Conduct exit interviews, if candidates decline offers, try to gather feedback on their reasons.

Days to a Job Offer

• This measures the time elapsed between the start of the recruitment process (e.g., when the job is posted or when a candidate applies) and when a job offer is extended to the chosen candidate. Note that this is not the same as Time-to-Fill or Time-to-Hire.
• Why it matters? While a fast process isn't always the best process, excessive delays can lead to losing top candidates to competitors. This metric helps you identify potential inefficiencies in your decision-making process.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. You should establish reasonable timeframes for extending offers.
  2. Look for effective ways to reduce delays without sacrificing quality.

Candidate Withdrawal/Rejection Reasons

• This metric involves systematically tracking why candidates withdraw their applications or reject job offers. This requires actively soliciting feedback from candidates.
• Why it matters? Understanding the reasons behind withdrawals and rejections provides invaluable insights into potential weaknesses in your recruitment process, compensation and benefits, company culture, or overall candidate experience.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Implement exit interviews/surveys to invite candidates to share their reasons.
  2. Categorize the reasons by grouping the feedback into common themes (e.g., compensation, benefits, location, company culture, better offer elsewhere).

Cost per Hire

• This metric calculates the total cost associated with hiring a new employee. This includes both direct costs (e.g., advertising fees, agency fees, referral bonuses) and indirect costs (e.g., recruiter salaries, time spent by hiring managers, technology costs).
• Why it matters? Cost-per-hire is a fundamental measure of recruitment efficiency. Tracking this metric helps you control costs, justify your recruitment budget, and demonstrate ROI.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. You have to be comprehensive in identifying and tracking all recruitment-related expenses.
  2. Analyze cost-per-hire for different positions and departments.

Time to Fill

• This metric measures the total number of days it takes to fill an open position, from the moment the job is posted (or the need is identified) to the day the candidate accepts the offer.
• Why it matters? Time to Fill is a key indicator of recruitment efficiency. Longer time-to-fill can lead to increased costs, lost productivity, and potentially losing top candidates to competitors.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. According to SHRM data, the average time-to-fill across all industries can range from 36 to 42 days, but this can be much higher for specialized or senior-level roles.
  2. You should track this metric along with Time to Hire metrics presented below.

Time to Hire

• This metric measures the number of days between when a candidate enters your recruitment process (typically when they apply) and when they accept a job offer. It's a subset of Time to Fill.
• Why it matters? Time to Hire focuses specifically on the candidate's experience and the efficiency of your internal processes. It can highlight areas where you can streamline the process and improve the candidate experience.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Track alongside Time to Fill and compare the 2 metrics to identify external factors (e.g., slow job posting approval) vs. internal factors (e.g., slow interview scheduling) that are contributing to delays.
  2. Establish target time-to-hire goals for different roles.
  3. Communicate with candidates and keep them informed about the expected timeline.

Fill Rate

• Fill Rate measures the efficiency of filling open positions within a set period. It's most useful for companies hiring for multiple similar roles simultaneously (e.g., call center staff, retail associates).
• Why it matters? This metrics indicates ability to meet hiring demands, highlights potential staffing shortages, and be useful for capacity planning, especially in high-volume hiring situations.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: Fill Rate = (Number of Positions Filled / Number of Positions Open) x 100
  2. Determine a reasonable and specific timeframes based on your hiring context, and monitor your ability to meet hiring targets over set periods.
  3. Identify potential problems as a low fill rate may signal issues with sourcing, screening, or offer competitiveness.

Number of Hires

• This is the simplest metric that counts the total number of new employees hired within a specific timeframe (e.g., month, quarter, year).
• Why it matters? While seemingly basic, this metric is essential for tracking overall recruitment volume and workforce growth. It's often used in conjunction with other metrics to provide context.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. You should notice that this number is a component of many other recruitment metrics (e.g., cost-per-hire, offer acceptance rate).
  2. Compare actual metric with your business goals, ensure your hiring volume aligns with your company's growth plans.

Onboarding & Retention Metrics

While technically after the "hire," the onboarding and early retention period is a critical extension of the recruitment process. These metrics provide invaluable feedback on the long-term success of your hiring decisions, the effectiveness of your onboarding program, and the overall employee experience. They help you identify whether your recruitment efforts are translating into long-term employee success and retention.

First-Year Attrition

• First-Year Attrition is the metric tracking the percentage of employees who leave the company (voluntarily or involuntarily) within their first year of employment.
• Why it matters? High first-year attrition is a significant red flag. It indicates potential problems with your hiring process (selecting the wrong candidates), your onboarding program, your company culture, or a mismatch between candidate expectations and the reality of the role. It's also very costly, as you've invested significant resources in recruiting and training these employees.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. A general benchmark of First-Year Attrition is around 20%, but lower is always better. High-growth tech companies often have higher rates than established, traditional industries.
  2. Determine if high attrition is linked to specific recruitment sources. This could indicate a problem with the quality of candidates from those sources or a mismatch in expectations.
  3. Conduct exit interviews to understand why new hires leave, look for patterns and address systemic issues.
  4. A poorly structured or inadequate onboarding program might be a major contributor to early attrition. You ought to review and consider investing in a robust onboarding process that extends beyond the first week.

New Hire Turnover Rate

• While similar to First-Year Attrition, this metric can be more flexible. "New Hire" can be defined by your organization (e.g., within 3 months, 6 months, etc.). This allows you to track turnover at different early stages, and you can calculate based on a specific period.
• Why it matters? This gives you a more granular view of early attrition. High turnover within the first few months might point to different problems than turnover closer to the one-year mark.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Decide on a specific timeframe (e.g., 3 months, 6 months) that makes sense for your organization and roles.
  2. Analyze both metrics to see if there are specific periods with particularly high turnover.
  3. If turnover is high within the first few months, focus on improving the initial onboarding experience (e.g., clarity of expectations, early support, connection with team members).

Quality of Hire

• This is arguably the most important recruitment metric, but also the most challenging to measure objectively. It attempts to assess the overall value a new hire brings to the organization. There's no single formula, it's typically a composite metric based on several factors.
• Why it matters? Ultimately, recruitment is about finding talents who will contribute to the company's success. Quality of Hire helps you determine if your hiring process is actually selecting those individuals.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Work with hiring managers to identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that define a "high-quality" hire for each role (e.g., sales targets met, projects completed on time, positive performance reviews, cultural fit).
  2. Develop a scoring system (scorecard) that combines multiple factors (e.g., performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, achievement of goals) to arrive at an overall Quality of Hire score.

Time to Productivity

• This metric measures the time it takes for a new hire to reach full productivity in their role. This is often defined as the point where they are consistently meeting the expectations and performance standards for the position.
• Why it matters? Faster time to productivity means a quicker return on investment for your hiring and training efforts. It also indicates that your onboarding and training programs are effective.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. The benchmarks ò this metric varies dramatically by role and industry. Highly complex roles will naturally have a longer time to productivity.
  2. Clearly define what "full productivity" means for each role, in collaboration with hiring managers and direct line manager of the position.
  3. You should break down the onboarding process into key milestones and track progress towards each one.
  4. Identify new hires who are struggling to reach full productivity and provide them with additional support or training for faster onboarding.

Cost of Getting to Optimum Productivity Level (OPL)

• This metric quantifies the total cost associated with bringing a new hire to full productivity. It includes not only their salary and training costs but also the cost of lost productivity during the ramp-up period and the time invested by managers and colleagues in training and support.
• Why it matters? This provides a much more comprehensive view of the true cost of onboarding than simply looking at training expenses. Despite of the fact that this metric highlights the financial impact of slow time to productivity, it is easily skipped in your overall recruitment process.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. To effectively calculate this, you need to be thorough in identifying and quantifying all costs associated with onboarding and training.
  2. This metric is directly linked to time to productivity, so reducing time to productivity will lower the cost of reaching OPL.
  3. Compare different roles to see which position take more and less cost, so you can have plan for budget.

Hiring Manager Satisfaction

• This metric measures how satisfied hiring managers are with the quality of new hires and the overall recruitment process.
• Why it matters? Hiring managers are surely the key stakeholders in your recruitment process. Their satisfaction is a strong indicator of whether the process is meeting their needs and delivering the right talent. Therefore, keep in mind that whatever you do, always drive your effort to win this metric.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Implement a system for gathering regular feedback from hiring managers (e.g., surveys, one-on-one meetings) after each hire.
  2. Don’t hesitate to discuss with your hiring manager to define the quality of the new hire, the efficiency of the process, and their overall satisfaction.

Candidate Job Satisfaction

• Candidate Job Satisfaction tracks how satisfied new hires are with their jobs, the company, and their overall experience. While related to candidate experience (which occurs before hiring), this metric focuses on the post-hire experience.
• Why it matters? Along with the importance of Hiring Manager Satisfaction, early Candidate Job Satisfaction is essential also and this is a strong predictor of retention. Dissatisfied new hires are more likely to leave, leading to increased turnover related metrics such as turnover rate and costs.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Conduct regular check-ins with new hires (e.g., at 30, 60, and 90 days) to gauge their satisfaction and address any concerns.
  2. Use anonymous surveys to gather honest feedback.
  3. Take any concerns raised by new hires seriously and address them promptly.

Retention Rate

• This metric measures the percentage of employees who remain employed with the company over a specific period (e.g., one year, two years). It's the inverse of turnover/attrition.
• Why it matters? High retention rates indicate a healthy company culture, effective onboarding, and good job fit. Low retention rates are costly and disruptive.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. A good retention rate is generally considered to be 90% or higher, but this can be lower in high-turnover industries.
  2. You need to segment by department/role to identify any specific departments within your company that have unusually low retention rates.
  3. Investigate the reasons behind low retention (through exit interviews, employee surveys, etc.), do not ignore.

Employee Turnover Rate/Churn Rate/Attrition Rate

• Employee Turnover Rate (often used interchangeably with "attrition rate" or "churn rate") measures the percentage of employees who leave the company, voluntarily or involuntarily, within a specific period (typically a year, but it can also be calculated monthly or quarterly). It's a broad measure of overall employee departures.
• Why it matters?
  • High employee turnover is a significant concern for any organization. It's expensive (due to recruitment, hiring, and training costs), disruptive to productivity, and can negatively impact team morale and company culture.
  • Tracking overall turnover helps you identify potential problems with management, compensation, work environment, or other factors affecting employee retention. This is a "big picture" metric.
• How it differs from First-Year Attrition and New Hire Turnover Rate?
  • First-Year Attrition: Specifically focuses on employees who leave within their first year of employment. This highlights issues with the hiring process, onboarding, or early job fit.
  • New Hire Turnover Rate: Similar to First-Year Attrition, but the timeframe for "new hire" can be defined by the organization (e.g., 3 months, 6 months). It's more flexible but still focuses on early departures.
  • Employee Turnover Rate: This is the broadest metric, encompassing all employee departures, regardless of tenure. It provides an overall picture of employee retention. It is clear that, first-year attrition is a specific type of new hire turnover rate, both of them are also specific type of turnover rate.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Calculate: Employee Turnover Rate = (Number of Employees Who Left) / (Average Number of Employees) x 100

Probation Passing Rate

• This metric measures the percentage of new hires who successfully complete their probationary period.
• Why it matters? A low probation passing rate suggests problems with your selection process (hiring the wrong people), your onboarding program, or your performance management system.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. A high passing rate (e.g., 95% or higher) is generally desirable.
  2. Identify areas where new hires are struggling.
  3. Provide new hires with the support and training they need to succeed during their probationary period.

Employee Experience Score at the Start and After Passing Probation

• This involves measuring employee experience (EX) at two key points:
  • Start: Shortly after the new hire joins (e.g., within the first week).
  • After Probation: Once the probationary period is completed.
  • EX can be measured through surveys that assess factors like: clarity of expectations, onboarding effectiveness, feeling of belonging, manager support, and overall satisfaction
  • The key is to track changes in scores over time and to compare the "Start" score with the "After Probation" score for the same individuals.
• Why it matters? Provides insight into how well the initial onboarding and integration process is working, helps identify if early experiences align with expectations set during recruitment, can highlight potential issues leading to early attrition if scores drop significantly after probation.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Develop short, focused EX surveys with clear questions about key aspects of the early employee experience.
  2. Ensure all new hires receive the surveys at the designated time points.
  3. Analyze and look for patterns in scores and comments. Are there consistent areas where scores drop after probation? Are there specific teams or departments with lower scores?

Overall Recruitment Performance Metrics

While the previous sections focused on specific stages of the hiring process, these metrics provide a high-level view of your overall recruitment effectiveness and its impact on the organization. They help answer the fundamental question: "Are our recruitment efforts delivering a positive return on investment and contributing to the company's strategic goals?”.

Recruitment ROI

• Recruitment ROI (Return on Investment) measures the financial return generated by your recruitment activities compared to the total cost of those activities. It's typically expressed as a percentage or a ratio. A positive ROI means your recruitment efforts are generating more value than they cost.
• Why it matters? This is arguably the most important metric for demonstrating the strategic value of recruitment to senior leadership and justifying your budget. It shows that recruitment isn't just a cost center, but a strategic investment that drives business growth.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Recruitment ROI accurate calculation requires meticulously tracking all recruitment costs (direct and indirect) and assigning a monetary value to the benefits of hiring (e.g., increased revenue, productivity gains). This is often complex and you may need to collaborate with the finance department.
  2. Don't just calculate ROI in isolation. You should seriously show how improved recruitment (e.g., higher quality of hire, faster time-to-fill) contributes to specific business objectives (e.g., increased sales, faster product development, improved customer satisfaction).
  3. Calculate ROI for different recruitment channels, departments, or role types to identify areas of high and low performance, which allows you for targeted optimization.

Recruiter Performance Metrics

• If you are in managerial positions, Recruiter Performance Metrics will work for you. These metrics assess the individual performance of your recruiters. This can include a variety of factors, such as the number of hires made, time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, candidate satisfaction, and hiring manager satisfaction. It's crucial to use a balanced scorecard approach, considering both quantitative and qualitative factors.
• Why it matters? Evaluating recruiter performance helps identify top performers, identify areas where recruiters need additional training or support, and ensure that your recruitment team is operating efficiently and effectively. It also helps in setting realistic goals and providing fair compensation.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. You ought to establish clear performance goals and expectations for each recruiter, aligned with the overall recruitment strategy.
  2. Use a balanced scorecard in order not to rely solely on quantitative metrics like time-to-fill. Consider qualitative factors like candidate experience and hiring manager satisfaction. Provide regular feedback and coaching.
  3. Promote collaboration, not just competition, while individual performance is important, also encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing among recruiters.

Number of Open Positions

• Number of Open Positions is a simple count of all currently unfilled job openings within an organization at a specific point in time.
• Why it matters? While seemingly basic, the Number of Open Positions is a foundational metric that acts as a crucial leading indicator of several key business factors:
  • Workforce planning health: A consistently high or rapidly increasing number of open positions can signal problems with workforce planning, employee retention, or an inability to anticipate future talent needs.
  • Growth trajectory: A significant increase in open positions often indicates company growth and expansion, requiring strategic resource allocation.
  • Recruitment capacity: This number directly reflects the current workload and capacity demands on the recruitment team. It helps determine if the team is adequately staffed and resourced.
  • Potential operational bottlenecks: A high number of open positions, especially in critical roles, can lead to decreased productivity, project delays, and potentially impact customer service. It's a signal to investigate potential operational issues.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Don't just look at the number in isolation. Track it over time (weekly, monthly, quarterly) to identify trends and patterns. Is it consistently increasing, decreasing, or fluctuating?
  2. Correlate with business cycles to analyze the number of open positions in relation to key business events (product launches, seasonal peaks, expansion plans). This helps anticipate future hiring needs.
  3. You should trigger a deeper investigation into the underlying causes when having a significant change in the number of open positions. Is it due to growth, turnover, or other factors?

Percentage of Open Positions

• This metric expresses the number of open positions as a percentage of the total number of positions within the organization (both filled and unfilled). It provides context to the raw number of openings.
• Why it matters? This metric provides a more nuanced understanding of staffing levels and potential risks than the raw number alone. It helps answer critical questions:
  • Staffing adequacy: A high percentage, especially if sustained, suggests the organization may be understaffed, potentially leading to overworked employees, decreased productivity, and missed business opportunities.
  • Hiring efficiency: A consistently high percentage, even with a stable number of open positions, might indicate inefficiencies in the hiring process itself (long time-to-fill, high turnover).
  • Strategic resource allocation: This metric helps inform decisions about resource allocation, both within the recruitment team and across the organization. It can highlight areas where additional support is needed. It can also be used to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of the talent acquisition process.
• Hireforce suggestions:
  1. Determine what percentage of open positions is considered "acceptable" for your organization, and set thresholds that trigger further investigation.
  2. Analyze the percentage of open positions by department or role type to identify areas with the most critical staffing needs.
  3. Analyze the percentage of open positions in conjunction with employee turnover data. This provides a more complete picture of workforce stability and potential risks. High turnover and a high percentage of open positions is a significant warning sign.
  4. Regularly calculate and communicate the results to stakeholders.

Key Takeaways

Recruitment analytics todays is about transforming your hiring process into a strategic, high-performing engine. Hireforce strongly believe this guide has equipped you with a comprehensive understanding of over 40 key metrics, but remember: It's not about tracking everything, it's about tracking the right things for your organization and, using that insight to make impactful changes.

Here are some key ideas that we want you to remember:

• Start with the stages: Use the recruitment funnel as your guide. This structured approach provides a clear framework for understanding your entire hiring process.
• Prioritize and focus: Don't get overwhelmed. Choose a few key metrics within each stage that align with your most pressing business needs and recruitment goals. Begin with the basics, and gradually expand your tracking as you become more comfortable.
• Go beyond definitions: Don't just memorize formulas. Understand the why behind each metric and how it connects to broader business outcomes (like revenue, productivity, and employee retention).
• From Reactive to Proactive: Recruitment metrics empower you to move beyond simply reacting to open positions. You can now proactively build a high-performing workforce, anticipating future needs and optimizing your strategies for long-term success.
• Actionable insights are key: Collecting data is only the first step. Regularly analyze your metrics, identify trends, and most importantly, use those insights to make tangible improvements to your recruitment process.
• Collaboration is crucial: Share these insights, make the data transparent to relevant stakeholders (hiring managers, recruiters, department leaders).

Are you ready to streamline your hiring? Try Hireforce for free and experience the benefits of automation firsthand. Check for your best deal today!