There’s an old adage: not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted actually counts. As staffing professionals, you can help reach goals faster and more effectively by measuring your performance. That means identifying metrics that really count. But remember that metrics aren’t goals or answers -- they strengthen your efforts as benchmarks, indicators, and even motivators. Metrics are less about what a number “should be” and more about how that figure “could be better.”

Metrics That Matter

Submittals per Job

At its core, this measurement is all about demonstrating breadth of coverage. In the last five years, the number of candidates submitted for each job order has increased from an average of 34 applications per open requisition to around 59. For analysts, the growth indicates a positive correlation between this metric and the overall health of the economy. For clients, it validates the power of your people network. The ability to provide several compelling, skilled, and well-matched candidates for a given requisition proves how extensive, or how limited, your talent pool may be.

Calculating this metric is straightforward: you can isolate a single requisition and the number of candidates submitted to it, or you can derive an average by dividing the number of submittals by the number of job orders. For example, if you worked 1,100 requisitions with 2,000 candidates submitted to the client, then you arrive at a ratio of 1.81 submittals per job.

Submittal to Hire

This metric determines your overall efficiency. To calculate the metric, divide the number of candidates submitted to the position by the number of those who are actually hired. For example, if 25 of your candidates are submitted to clients for review and five are hired, the ratio is 25 to 5. Simplified, that would be 5 to 1. So we can say that it typically takes five submittals to place one qualified professional.

Also remember that when you’re submitting exceptional candidates who ideally match the skills and qualifications of the role, the lower the ratio will be. A ratio of 3 to 1 would indicate an efficient recruiter who’s a masterful interviewer, screener, and champion of the program manager’s needs.

Submittals to Interview

This metric depicts how many candidate submittals lead to an interview. Why is this measurement important? It exemplifies speed and quality. To think of it another way, we know that the best candidates are engaged first. Their resumes capture the attention of savvy recruiters immediately. There’s also another pressing need: as recent industry figures point out, the most in-demand talent will move on within 10 days if an offer is not forthcoming. So, the sense of urgency is real. Talent suppliers that strive to provide the highest caliber talent must also act the fastest. More than a war for talent, we really seem to be in a race for talent. And this metric offers a clear picture of how each staffing partner is positioned on the track.

Calculating the metric is easy: divide the volume of submittals by the interviews they produced. If 500 candidates were interviewed out of the 3,100 submitted, the ratio is 6.2 submittals per interview.

Interviews to Hire

This metric is interesting. Essentially, it helps evaluate candidate control. However, it also helps identify issues with the interviewing process itself, along with other areas that could be impacting the employment brand and hiring results. For example, an increase in the ratio might reveal inefficiencies with the interviewing team on the client side. Conversely, a very low number could show that hiring managers are behaving anxiously and extending offers to “panic hires” -- people who might not be the best fits for the role.

The metric is represented in the form of a ratio such as 6 to 1, meaning six shortlisted candidates participated in interviews before one job offer was extended. Measuring this data helps determine the overall effectiveness of recruiting efforts, the interview process, and the qualifications of submitted candidates.

Total Hires to Submittals

What happens when you divide the number of hires by the total number of submittals? You derive what industry experts call the “close ratio” -- the best indicator of recruiting performance, as far as metrics go. If 100 candidates were hired in a year that saw 1,100 requisitions, the close ratio would come out to 9.1 percent. And that’s nothing to scoff at. Total Hires to Submittals offers additional benefits as an ongoing measurement: monitoring the change in the metric on a year-over-year basis provides a meaningful snapshot of performance.

If your close ratio went from 3 percent to 6 percent between year one and year two of the program, the increase is 100 percent.

Metrics Inspire and Drive Performance, Not Define It

Mark Twain famously said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics.” When we place too much emphasis on figures, we run the risk of losing perspective. Achieving a specific ratio in a metric should never be a goal. Instead, use this data to understand the health of your business, where your recruiting efforts are thriving, and where improvements could be made. More than anything, metrics are a mirror. How you look is up to you.