Measuring Recruiter Performance: Essential Productivity Metrics to Watch

The number of job applications has increased, along with the number of interview hours, scheduling volume, and more.

To get the right new hires in faster, recruiters have to closely examine each of these factors and how they’re impacting productivity. That requires taking processes, technology, and key performance metrics into consideration to measure their effectiveness and make improvements.

We’ve talked about troubleshooting the recruitment process in the past. So today, we’ll focus on the recruiting metrics that measure the productivity of hiring teams and take a closer look at how those can be positively impacted.

Recruiter productivity is on the decline  

If you take a look at traditional recruiting metrics, such as the number of hires per recruiter, recruiter productivity is on the decline.

In reality, productivity is decreasing for a number of reasons.

There is an increase in the number of applicants, resulting in more profiles for recruiters to review. However, there is also a decrease in the quality of applicants.

New resources like LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature mean non-qualified candidates can apply to roles with just one click. The ability to apply for multiple jobs quickly means recruiters must take more time to focus on the quality of hire.

This also translates to an increase in the number of interviews per hire. Data showes that today’s teams are spending 40-60% more time on each role they interview for in hopes of improving employee retention and reducing the turnover rate.

In addition, recruiting teams are shrinking. Downsizing during a time when there are more application submissions, profiles, and interview hours means more administrative work and follow-up for every recruiter.

As recruiters work to manage these changes, there’s also a shift happening in how recruiter performance is measured.

In the past, the number of hires was the primary focus for all recruiters. For agency recruiters, that’s still the case. However, for in-house recruiters, the quality of hire is now the number one measurement of success.

To improve recruiter productivity, it’s essential to determine what metrics need to be measured in agency and in-house environments to determine success in the face of all these changes.

Once the major performance metrics are set, then recruiting teams can decide which levers to pull to make impactful changes.

Recruiter performance: Key productivity metrics to look at

Let’s take a look at some of the important performance metrics for both agency and in-house recruiters.

Agency recruiting metrics

Efficiency metrics

There are three primary efficiency performance metrics:

• Time to fill, which is the average time it takes to fill a position from receipt of job order to candidate placement. It demonstrates the recruiter’s efficiency in sourcing and placing candidates.
• The average number of days to submit the first candidate is another key recruiting metric. This is the average time from receiving a job order to submitting the first qualified candidate. This metric reflects the recruiter’s speed and efficiency in sourcing top talent.
• Finally, the submission-to-interview ratio is another way to successfully measure efficiency. This number measures how many candidate submissions result in client interviews. It indicates the recruiter’s ability to match candidates to job requirements.

Filling open positions both quickly and effectively is essential for successful recruiter performance.

Effectiveness metrics

While efficiency metrics are focused on the speed of recruitment efforts, effectiveness metrics are in place to ensure that high-quality candidates are being selected to move forward with the interview process.

Here, what matters is:

• The interview-to-placement ratio, which shows how many interviews lead to successful placements. This metric reflects the recruiter’s skill in preparing candidates and understanding client needs. If interviews do not ultimately lead to job placement, recruiter performance is negatively impacting the client.
• Fill rate is another important metric. This is the percentage of job orders successfully filled. It shows the recruiter’s overall effectiveness in meeting client needs.
• Finally, the job order conversion rate is the percentage of job orders received that result in placements. It measures the recruiter’s ability to win and execute on new business.

Quality metrics

Quality metrics extend beyond efficiency and effectiveness and are related to the client’s overall feeling about incorporating the recruiter into their talent acquisition and hiring process.

Here are some of the most important metrics to track:

• Client satisfaction score is an important quality metric because it’s based on feedback from clients about the quality of candidates they received and the overall service experience with the recruiting agency. This is commonly measured through surveys or Net Promoter Score (NPS).
• Candidate satisfaction score is another important metric. This is feedback from placed candidates on their experience with the recruiter. It helps gauge the recruiter’s ability to manage relationships. It’s a critical metric to understand as it is based on the candidate experience and may also be tied to their feelings about the employer brand.
• Finally, the retention rate of placed candidates is important to track. This is the percentage of placed candidates who remain with the client company past the guaranteed period. It indicates the quality and fit of placements.

Financial performance metrics

The recruiting process as it relates to financial success for both parties depends on the metrics we’ve discussed above. Agency recruiters are rewarded for efficiently and effectively bringing in high-quality candidates, and clients are rewarded more financial success when they have reduced turnover rates and first-year attrition.

Performance metrics to track include:

• Revenue per placement. This is the total amount of fees a recruiter earns divided by the number of placements. It indicates the recruiter’s ability to negotiate fees and place higher-value candidates.
• The repeat business rate is the percentage of clients who return with new job requisitions. This metric reflects long-term relationship-building and client satisfaction.
• Lastly, the candidate pipeline strength is the number of qualified candidates in the recruiter’s network for key positions. This metric indicates the recruiter’s ability to build and maintain a talent pool.

Now that' we’ve reviewed key recruiting metrics for agency recruiters, we’ll take a look at important performance metrics for in-house recruiters.

In-house recruiting metrics

Efficiency metrics  

Just like with agency recruiters, the time to fill is also a valuable efficiency metric. In this case, it is the average time from a job opening to when an offer is accepted. It helps measure overall recruitment process efficiency and can be used to inform future decision-making processes and the recruitment strategy.

With in-house recruiters, it is also helpful to measure the time in recruitment stages. This is a breakdown of the time period spent in each stage of the recruiting process. This metric helps identify bottlenecks in the hiring pipeline so that recruiters can better streamline processes.

Finally, the recruiter workload is the number of job requisitions open per recruiter. With an in-house environment, this metric is used to balance workload and set realistic expectations.

Quality metrics

As with agency recruiters, it’s important that quality candidates are making their way into the pipeline. The quality of hire can be measured by new hire job performance ratings, hiring manager satisfaction, or retention rates. This metric indicates the recruiter’s ability to find candidates who perform well and fit the company culture.

Hiring manager satisfaction is a critical metric, as it is based on feedback from hiring managers about the quality of candidates and the recruitment process. This is most often measured through surveys.

Finally, time to productivity is a metric that indicates how quickly new hires become fully productive in their roles. This is a long-term measure of recruitment effectiveness, as it ultimately impacts attrition rates and turnover rates. It can also be used to improve onboarding processes and to learn more about how the company culture impacts recruiting efforts.

Process effectiveness metrics

Since in-house recruiters manage the entire recruiting process from the inside, they can use a wide variety of metrics to improve their recruiting strategies over time as the company evolves.

Source effectiveness tracks which recruitment sources yield the best candidates. This metric can help optimize recruitment channel investments by learning more about sourcing channel effectiveness.

The offer acceptance rate is the percentage of job offers accepted by candidates. It reflects the recruiter’s ability to sell the company and manage candidate expectations, which can also influence the employer brand. The interview-to-offer ratio is the total number of interviews conducted per job offer made. It indicates the efficiency of the interview process.

There are two more process effectiveness metrics that are critical for in-house recruiters to know:

• Recruitment funnel conversion rates are the conversion rates between stages of the recruiting process, such as application to candidate screening or candidate screening to interview. This data can help identify where candidates begin to drop off in the process.
• Finally, cost-per-hire is the total of all recruitment costs divided by the number of hires. This number helps measure the efficiency of recruitment spending.

Candidate experience metrics

The candidate experience is an essential part of the recruiting process and can have a significant impact on the employer brand. The candidate experience score is a metric derived from candidate feedback about their experience. It can be measured through surveys or Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Strategic alignment metrics

Internal fill rate is the percentage of positions filled by internal candidates and indicates a company’s effectiveness in promoting internal mobility. Benchmarks like this are important not only for recruiters but also for leadership teams and those in other human resource functions.

Hiring plan attainment is the percentage of planned hires that are actually made within a given timeframe. It measures the ability to meet organizational hiring goals.

Whether agency or in-house, recruiters have several metrics to help measure their job performance.

The KPIs we’ve discussed above enable recruiters to make data-driven decisions about everything from the job application and job posting to their preferred applicant tracking system, job boards, social media channels, and more.

Once recruiters understand these metrics, they are equipped to improve the areas where they aren’t as successful as they would like.

Improving recruiter productivity by reducing admin time

Using data-driven metrics, recruiters can increase their productivity without totally overhauling the processes and systems they currently have in place.

Instead, they can delegate administrative tasks that are impacting factors such as their efficiency, effectiveness, and financial impact, to AI recruiting assistants like Carv.

Carv can support interview and intake preparation, follow-up, note-taking, and ATS data filling. In addition, an AI assistant like Carv can generate interview questions, job descriptions, and offer letters. These are all necessary steps that can’t be overlooked but can be improved with the right AI support.

Interview scheduling can also be automated to reduce admin time and provide recruiters with more opportunities to focus on the human side of recruiting.

When metrics are used to determine areas where more support is needed, an AI assistant can also increase the number of high-quality candidates by helping recruiters maintain a strong talent pool that is both up-to-date and engaged.

Over to you

In today’s environment, recruiters have to do more with less. And while data shows their productivity is declining despite the quality of hire going up, there is a way to ensure that productivity remains high without sacrificing quality.

From interviews and intake calls to follow-ups and pre-screenings, necessary administrative recruitment tasks slow down both agency and in-house recruiters and impact their performance metrics.

However, with AI assistants like Carv available, the time to hire can be reduced and productivity can be increased without sacrificing candidate quality.