How to measure your quality of hire
Time-to-hire and cost-per-hire are relatively short-term measures of success.
They may be evidence of an efficient and cost-effective recruitment campaign (or not), but they don’t necessarily offer a longer term indication of ROI, nor the effect of a hire on the wider business.
Measuring your quality of hire, on the other hand, can demonstrate how HR and Recruitment activity benefits other functions, as new hires starts contributing value to the business.
But ‘quality’ is an intangible concept, isn’t it. So how can you measure your quality of hire?
Quantitative data: Facts and stats that make an impact
1. Look at your rate of attrition, after three, six and 12 months.How many of your new hires are still with you?
A low rate of attrition will demonstrate that all or many of the candidates you placed have remained with the organisation and (we can assume) have settled in well.
2. If you’ve placed apprentices or graduates, consider measuring a conversion rate.
How many remain in the business in a permanent role? This success metric can signify that these candidates were a good cultural fit for your organisation and performed at a high standard – hence the permanent job offer.
3. Collecting data on how quickly new hires have been promoted can be another indication of quality of hire.
Using these metrics does take time; you’re playing a long game in terms of proving ROI. But because they’re long term measures of success, they are that much more compelling than their more short-sighted cousins of cost and time-per-hire.
Qualitative data: A more in depth look at your quality of hire
1. The results of a new hire’s first year PDR (Personal Development Review) can provide insight into the quality of their placement.
To quantify the data, consider creating a scoring system, where you assign specific feedback, comments or activities a score when reviewing the PDR. You can use this as a benchmark when assessing other hires in this manner.
2. Issue both the employee and the hiring manager a questionnaire.
For a really well-rounded view, you could consider asking them to complete a questionnaire once the candidate has been hired and again after their first 12 months.
Alongside the quality of their placement, these questionnaires will offer an insight into your recruitment and on-boarding process from your candidate and manager’s perspective. You’ll also have a better understanding of whether the expectations you set at interview/offer are matched when the candidate joins your organisation.
Again, consider scoring responses, or simply offering a numerical scale (e.g. 1 – 5, with 5 being excellent) for answer choices, in order to easily compare and report on hires.
Use your quality of hire data to demonstrate your rate of long-term, successful placements and provide a measurable ROI in terms of HR and Recruitment’s role in the wider business.
Ultimately, those high quality hires are the people who are going to drive your business forward. So, make sure you have a process in place to measure them and to promote your recruitment processes, campaigns and successes.
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