UK employers are facing unique challenges in today’s jobs market. Rapidly evolving technology, a focus on specific skills, a mix of part-time, full-time, temporary and gig economy workers and rehiring former employees means that managing the talent pipeline has become more complex and more urgent.

The urgency is highlighted in the latest figures from the Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) for September which show that candidate availability fell for the 41st successive month. Engineering and healthcare are the sectors most affected by the skills shortage.

Consistently sourcing qualified candidates isn’t a one-off recruitment marketing push but must form an ongoing part of your talent acquisition strategy. HR metrics are key to that. The seven below will help you to build an effective and consistent talent pipeline:-

Source of hire : Job boards are an applicant source but not necessarily the source of your successful candidates. Data analysis will enable a comparison between the two. Drill down into this information to evaluate the number of applicants per source, how many of these are qualified, where your shortlisted candidates entered your pipeline and how your new hire found out about your vacancy.

Candidate ‘drop-out’ : It’s vital to understand where (and why) qualified candidates abandon your application process. A negative candidate experience with your business can impact your company’s ability to attract talent. Over half of UK businesses have been affected by negative online reviews in the past year and a poor reputation can cost your business an estimated 10% extra per hire.

Open jobs v filled positions : For larger organisations dealing with multiple vacancies this is a vital metric to monitor the effectiveness of job posts and make changes where necessary. Measure this metric on a monthly or quarterly basis and evaluate together with the ‘time to hire’ metric below.

Time to hire : In 2014, the average time to hire was 28.9 days in the UK. However you measure your time to hire, delays may indicate a problem in the final decision making process. It will also reveal how adept your talent acquisition strategy is in identifying qualified candidates? How quickly do your respond and where are your candidate roadblocks? Time to hire is one of the most important metrics in identifying how efficient your hiring process really is. Keep in mind that qualified candidates won't be on the market for 28.9 days.

Quality of hire : Less than a quarter of UK businesses are confident in their ability to measure quality of hire and only 5% would describe themselves as ‘best in class’. A simple way to assess quality of hire is to evaluate your staff retention levels in your recruitment data. If one particular role repeatedly requires resourcing, it could be an indication of a bigger problem in your hiring process.

Candidate rejection (offer to acceptance ratio) : Candidate turndowns are important metrics particularly as the number of job hoarders are likely to rise as the skills shortage intensifies. A rejected offer affects morale and your cost of hire. If you notice a recurring pattern, carry out a market review on salaries or incorporate a formal candidate feedback strategy into your hiring process.

Cost of hire : The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) estimated the cost of hire at $4129 (c£3,300) in its Human Capital Benchmarking Report earlier this year, which for many employers will be a conservative estimate. Compare that to Oxford Economics’ estimate of £30,614 in 2014. Your cost of hire will include the cost of job posts where relevant, maintaining social media accounts and time spent interviewing candidates, together with agency fees and administrative costs. The cost of hire can also be evaluated against employee retention levels and should incorporate your offer to acceptance ratio. Additional ‘hidden’ costs include disruption to staff morale and training of your new hire.

A note on data

If your business is new to HR software, building a talent pipeline means tapping into multiple candidate streams, such as job boards and social media, until sufficient information is available to begin to evaluate your hiring success. As those metrics begin to take shape in a form of data that you understand, it will help you to adjust your process to attract more qualified candidates into your recruitment funnel.

Good data is vital and depends on efficient HR processes. Your recruitment software will not achieve the results you need if any of the following apply:-

• You don’t understand how to attract talent.
• You’re suffering from ‘unconscious bias’.
• Your leadership is poor – people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.
• You don’t have a social recruitment policy.
• Your onboarding still relies on a manual or paper based system.

Track the recruitment metrics that will build your talent pipeline with world class software used by some of the world’s leading organisations. Start your 30 day free trial with Advorto today.

You might also like to read:-

Talent Acquisition : 10 Steps To Ensure Your Job Offer Is Accepted

8 Undeniable Reasons People Hate Recruitment Software

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