Data Analytics in Recruitment: How To Take Advantage of Analytics

Do you want to ensure that your hiring practices are more inclusive so you can attract diverse talent to your organization? Are you looking for ways to streamline the hiring process to make it more efficient? Do you want to find a strategy that will help you effectively choose the best performers among a candidate pool and avoid bad hires as much as possible?

If you’re looking for help with these goals and more, incorporating data analytics into your recruitment process is the most effective way to meet your objectives—and it’s a strategy that’s becoming more widely used. In fact, according to Human Resources Today, 78% of large companies believe that the use of these types of recruitment analytics is an important part of their business operations. And it’s no wonder: Data analytics help recruiters find the best candidates based on solid, evidence-based predictions, rather than decisions that are made from a gut feeling alone. In addition, data analytics tools can help recruiters save time and money by streamlining their processes and eliminating tactics that do not yield the best hiring results, as well as make predictions about where they will need talent and when.

However, in order to benefit from a data analytics tool, it’s important for organizations to implement a strong strategy to get the most out of these programs. Here are some tips on how to take advantage of all that recruiting analytics have to offer.

1. Choose metrics

What areas do you want to improve in your hiring process? Do you want to reduce the amount of lead time it takes from pre-screening to onboarding? Do you want to reduce the costs per hiring source? Do you want to improve your organization’s retention rates? When you get started with a data analytics program, the first step is to determine what areas you want to use the data to improve and create a hierarchy based on your priorities. 

2. Create a model

After you know what you want to track, it’s helpful to have a standard to measure your data against. One way you can do this, for example, is to create a model of the ideal job candidate for multiple positions in your organization so you will know how applicants measure up. This can be done by looking at your organization’s high-performing employees and taking note of things like their skills, educational background, and experiences, which will allow you to create a tangible model to measure candidates against.

3. Develop a plan

One of the benefits of doing recruitment data analysis is that it allows you to make predictions about when you will need talent and in which areas you will need it, so you don’t find yourself scrambling to hire someone quickly in order to fill a specific role. By having data at your fingertips, you are able to better plan because you will know when you’ll need to fill a position and have an idea of how long it should take to find, hire, and onboard a quality employee.

4. Track data and measure success 

Now that you have a plan of action for your recruiting and the data to back it up, it’s important to track your success. Regularly check your data against your goals to determine what areas you are succeeding in and what areas you need to improve. You may find that you need to make tweaks to your plan in order to reach your objectives. 

5. Don’t try to eliminate the human element altogether

Although data analytics tools can help you reduce hiring mistakes caused by human error and biases, it’s important to remember that you can’t completely take your own judgment out of the equation. Data can do a lot of things for recruiters, but it can’t account for everything, such as hiring trends that are influenced by unpredictable events like the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as organizational factors that may impact hiring decisions. While it’s important to get as much insight as you can from the data you have, you also have to understand and apply the context that may explain those numbers.  

Using data is an effective way to meet your hiring goals, as well as make predictions about what talent you will need in the future. Want to learn more about implementing a data-driven approach into your hiring strategies? We can help. By using our recruiter analytics tool, you will be able to understand your candidate pool, as well as the effectiveness of your job postings and events, in order to optimize your hiring strategies. In addition, our tool can help you increase the response rates of your messages to candidates and provide useful information to help company decision-makers create budgets. For more information on how our recruiter analytics tool can help you meet your goals, contact us today.