Data Analytics Recruitment: Helping Talent Teams Better Understand Diversity Analytics

‍Data analytics recruitment is the process of using candidate data, as well as current employee data, in order to make decisions about hiring strategies. By collecting, measuring, collating, and interpreting data, companies can paint a clear picture of which candidates are getting call backs, interviews, making it to a shortlist, and getting hired. In addition to advising your company on how well you’re meeting diversity recruitment goals, data gives you a long-term look at how effective your inclusion efforts have been because you know what your retention rates are. 

Data analytics recruitment is increasingly being seen as an important item to have handy in recruiters’ toolboxes. In fact, according to Human Resources Today, 78% of large companies view data analytics as “urgent” or “important.” Are you thinking about adding data analytics to your diversity recruitment efforts? Continue reading to find out how this approach can help you reach your goals.

How Can Data Analytics Recruitment Improve Your Hiring Process?

Recruitment data analytics can help you improve your diversity hiring process in the following ways:

Improved candidate sourcing

Where do you find candidates? Where do you advertise open positions? Tracking the effectiveness of sources can help you figure out which platforms are the best bet for getting the talent you want—whether it’s social media sites, specific job boards, or recruiting events.

Getting a higher return on investment

By having recruitment data at your fingertips, you're able to see what you're spending money on and what is giving you the best return on your investment. Knowing the ROI of different approaches will allow you to work smarter because you’ll understand which strategies yield the best candidate options.

Increasing the quality of new hires

Data analytics can help improve the quality of your hires by identifying the best candidates for any given position and helping you create shortlists based on the qualifications you’re looking for. This not only saves you time, but it can give you confidence that the most qualified candidates are being chosen each and every time.

Revealing problems in the hiring process

No process is perfect, but using recruitment data analytics can help you fine tune your process to make it the best and most effective it can be. By looking at things like employee demographics, recruiting cost, and retention rates, you are in a better position to course correct if your process isn't working.

Laying the foundation for future plans

With the evidence-based information that data analytics recruitment programs provide, you can better plan for when you need to fill certain positions, as well as create realistic goals and policies around hiring practices. 

How to Successfully Use Data Analytics Recruitment to Hire More Untapped Talent 

Data alone will not help you reach your diversity recruitment goals. In order for recruitment data analytics to be effective, you have to know how to use the information you're collecting. The following are some suggestions to help.

Understand key metrics and choose the most relevant 

Although there are several options of data you can measure, for data analytics recruitment to be effective, you need to evaluate the information that is most relevant to your company. Some of the key metrics you may choose from include:

• Source of hire
• Applicants per position
• Cost-per-hire
• The time it takes to hire for a position
• Offer acceptance rates
• Retention rates
• Future employment needs
  

Find the right tools

Since there are so many possible data points you can track, it's important that you find the tools that enable you to capture the data you need. Collecting and analyzing data can be extremely time-consuming, so the better the tools, the more efficient and cost-effective your data collection will be.

Make your data visual

The more data you need to track, the more confusing it can be to keep track. By using the tools of your data analytics platform to make the information visual, you can more quickly and easily get the insights you need and understand what actions should be taken based on the charts and graphs you create.

Incorporate the information into practices

Once you have the data you need to see hiring trends in your organization, you can use it to make informed decisions about practices. You may find that something you've been doing for a long time isn’t actually working, while a newly-implemented hiring strategy is proven more effective than you originally thought. The good thing about having the data is you can course correct as needed based on your recruiting objectives.

Keep in mind that data has its place

While data can inform your decision-making, it's important to keep it in perspective. Not only is it necessary to look at data on a long-term basis to see the hiring trends taking place in your organization, but you also must look at what else is going on to understand why these trends are occurring. Without this kind of perspective, it's difficult to make diversity recruitment decisions that make sense for your organization. 

Knowledge is power, and the knowledge you gain from recruitment data analytics can give you the power to make the best hiring choices. Using these steps and modifying them to your company’s specific needs will go a long way toward getting the results you want and make your D&I efforts as successful as possible.