Talent Management

By: Paul Croteau
July 26, 2009

One of the most frequent comments in today’s workplace is that “people are our most important resource.”  With that in mind, it is easy to understand why organizational recruiters, external executive search and recruitment professionals and the recruitment process itself are all very important elements of ensuring an organization has “the right people in the right place at the right time doing the right things.”

Therefore, much attention should be paid to ensuring that the recruitment strategies of an organization are effective. The challenge however, is developing measurements that can assess the success of the recruitment strategies and, for that matter, the recruitment team. Thankfully, over the years, researchers and practitioners alike have created several metrics that can assist in the assessment of the recruitment process and function. Some of these include:

Value of recruitment strategy – most organizations use multiple strategies for sourcing their candidates. Whereas these strategies are often costly, it is wise to evaluate which strategy resulted in the most candidates.  This may well provide you with guidance as to which strategies to use for specific jobs and/or for all of your jobs. It creates an opportunity to better target candidates and will result in a more cost effective approach. One note to be mindful of is that quantity does not always equate to quality.

Time to fill position – it is well known that recruitment costs often equate to three times the salary for a position. Overtime and lack of service are the most frequent causes of the cost increase and therefore examining the length of time it takes to fill a position is a valuable metric to examine.  Lengthy timeframes might suggest the job is hard to fill as the skills might be in short supply. The results of this review will help determine if extra help such as using an external search professional is more appropriate for hard to fill jobs.

Vacancy rates – conducting an examination of your overall vacancy rates as compared to your full staff complement may provide you with good information. You may find that the recruitment department is understaffed or the recruitment process itself is challenged by several roadblocks which should be fixed. An examination of vacancy rates helps to identify which departments are experiencing the most difficulty and can assist you to adjust your recruitment strategies.

Turnover rates – high turnover rates in any job category suggest a number of difficulties. The job tasks may not be well defined, resulting in the wrong type of skill being recruited. The candidate assessment tools may also need revision. It is also wise to assess the costs of turnover.

Selection ratios – another valuable tool, selection ratios, can help define the success of recruitment strategies. A selection ratio is simply the number of people hired divided by the number of applicants.  This calculation can help you analyze many things: A very small number may mean that you did not attract the right applicants, resulting in an unproductive hiring process. On the other hand, a large number (closer to 1) may show that you did not attract enough applicants to effectively hire the right people.

Quality of hire – this metric allows for the assessment of the quality of the candidate. Is the successful candidate fully qualified and/or will the organization be required to invest immediately in order to increase their skills.

Retention rates – assess the retention rates of new hires. How long does a candidate stay in the position? What happens to them, are they promoted or do they leave? If they leave the role and the organization, then it is time to re-analyze the job to ensure the skills required are accurate and that an incumbent can experience job satisfaction for a longer period of time.

Recruitment Cost Ratio – total costs include costs for advertising, job fairs, recruiter salaries and travel costs, signing bonuses, candidate compensation and any other expenses incurred during the recruitment process. This provides an organization with the total sum of money spent on recruiting for each new employee. This assessment will assist recruiters to justify costs and/or to seek new opportunities to cut costs.

The recruitment process has been developed to ensure that organizations have “the right people in the right place at the right time doing the right things”. Therefore, both the recruitment process and the skill of the recruiters need to be assessed on an annual basis. To do so, establishing meaningful metrics are key.

Research and Review: 6P Marketing

Paul Croteau, B.Comm., CMA, FCMA is a partner with Waterhouse Executive Search Partners, a Canada-wide executive search firm. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 204-943-0553.

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