Talent acquisition strategy and recruitment success

“83 percent of 924 companies surveyed globally have low people analytics maturity, as compared to the high maturity organizations which have graduated to more advanced practices,” according to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Practice leader Art Mazor, in his recent analysis of talent acquisition analytics.

“This indicates that most organizations are under-equipped to identify problem areas and potential solutions to their recruiting challenges,” he continued. “Addressing this capability gap is a business imperative, given the need to effectively manage staffing and meet operational goals.”

Talent acquisition strategy

He has a point. A talent acquisition strategy is important at any time. And especially in times like these where ongoing staff and high demand skills shortages make it challenging to find people. Sustained high volume hiring continue to impact businesses.

Talent acquisition analytics might just be the way forward you need. It is emerging as powerhouse solution for measuring recruitment success (and retention success). It’s also making strides in an increasingly data-driven recruitment-scape.

How? By equipping you with the deepest insights into your hiring processes. This in turn allows you to identify areas in need of attention and make better informed decisions to optimize end-to-end talent acquisition.

Let’s take a look at some of the alluring benefits Mazor references. Utilizing talent acquisition analytics to the max to bridge recruitment gaps is key to talent acquisition strategy.

Putting a blast on recruitment efficiency

Talent acquisition analytics provide a comprehensive ‘bigger picture’ view of your recruitment funnel, from sourcing candidates to onboarding them. And measuring recruitment success. The three-dimensional data it generates helps you identify and close any bottlenecks in your hiring process, for example:

  • Time to fill
  • Cost per hire
  • Applicant conversion rates

Actionable insights in these areas arm you with knowledge not entirely impossible to unearth manually, but a ridiculously tall order! On the other hand, an exceptional analytics system gives you the utmost clarity and confidence in areas such as:

  • Allocating resources most effectively
  • Focusing on the most fruitful sourcing channels
  • Giving your candidates the best possible journey

And at the end of the day, all the above add up to high octane recruitment efficiency. And an informed talent acquisition strategy.

Identifying, rinsing and repeating what’s working

A striking feature of talent acquisition analytics is the ability to measure the success of your recruitment efforts with quantifiable metrics. Measuring recruitment success is an imperative! And truthfully, it’s a game-changing resource if you’re used to relying on your better judgement, making do with inadequate vanity metrics, or both!

It means you can gauge the effectiveness of your recruitment process by combining and analyzing various KPIs. As a result, it’s no longer a case of, for example, knowing how many hires originate from a particular source per year but not knowing how good those hires ultimately are. On the contrary.

A deeper dive into multiple data points is needed for analyzing elements such as channel effectiveness and quality of hire. In fact, premium insights at this level are achieved with a calculated combination and comparison of data from all your disparate systems.

So, if you want a holistic understanding of your entire talent acquisition ecosystem, and the cost and savings that come with deeper understanding, the answers involve a multitude of different elements, including:

  • Retention
  • Performance
  • Engagement
  • Potential

By slicing and dicing these metrics and more, you can evaluate the impact of your talent acquisition strategy to identify key areas of strength. Measuring recruitment success—and understanding what works and what doesn’t is key. This data-driven approach enables you to replicate and further reinforce your successful recruitment practices to attract hot talent and build a compelling and engaged talent pool.

Uncovering cracks and gaps

Fact: You can’t paper over cracks and plug gaps in your recruitment process when you don’t know if and / or where they exist. For this reason, a lack of ability to streamline and benchmark recruiting efforts against goals is a common challenge without the right tools.

But it’s nothing less than transformational to take an analytical look in areas such as:

  • Recruiter effectiveness
  • Time-to-hire and time-to-fill
  • Diversity hires
  • Regional hires

When you can access these metrics, you can set clear targets and identify any areas of weakness in the recruitment process, by hiring manager, underrepresented group, region, or any other category.

This means you can really delve deeply into your recruitment situation, and understand it in previously envisioned but unavailable ways, especially over time.

Ultimately, being able track your successes, plus areas where things aren’t meeting expectations, informs your talent acquisition strategy. It also enables you to:

  • Prioritize and focus
  • Capitalize on what’s working and improve or adapt what’s not
  • Maximize ROI on your HR investments

Ramping up recruitment strategies

One of the most captivating things about data-driven insights from talent acquisition analytics is how they enable you to:

  • Continuously benchmark performance
  • Make informed decisions
  • Optimize your strategies in ways that simply aren’t possible without the means

 This includes using the past and present to inform the future, by analyzing historical data to inform and dictate areas like:

  • Identifying the most cost-effective and worthwhile sourcing channels
  • Shifting your job ads up a notch
  • Fine-tuning your candidate screening criteria

Moreover, people analytics can even help predict future talent needs, enabling you to be more proactive and strategic in your recruitment planning. Measuring recruitment success, including the ROI of various recruitment initiatives, empowers to you to allocate resources efficiently, invest in the most effective talent sourcing methods, and build a stronger, more magnetic employer brand.

Tip of the iceberg

Talent acquisition analytics are undeniably transformational in terms of recruitment success. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg, when you think about it in broader terms. After all, it’s remiss to overlook the retention story beyond recruiting. By analyzing employee data, including turnover rates and reasons for leaving, you’re presented with even more opportunities to pinpoint any shortfalls and adapt your recruitment and retention strategies to suit.

At HireRoad, our trailblazing PeopleInsight by HireRoad system is a powerful way to streamline and measure your recruitment success, and to identify and deal with any gaps in your processes. By leveraging leading-edge data-driven insights, you’re well placed to optimize your talent acquisition strategy, magnetize the best needs-based fits, and build a competitive advantage in the talent market.

Need to really drill down into your recruitment situation in support of your HR and broader business objectives?  Get in touch for a free demo of PeopleInsight by HireRoad. Can you afford not to, given the pressing need to manage recruitment in line with your organization’s goals?