Today, thanks to programmatic and other technology, recruitment metrics are readily available. However, not every hiring organization recognizes the value of metrics. Some organizations still prefer to wing it, despite a wealth of data.
This is problematic for several reasons.
Why winging it doesn’t work
When it comes to recruitment advertising, you may think you can rely on past trends, your gut, or some tidbit you read somewhere. Armed with this “information,” you might feel confident you can make good recruitment advertising decisions.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. What you’re essentially doing is gambling. And unless you happen to luck out, you could blow through your recruitment advertising budget with very little to show for it.
Why metrics matter
Fortunately, there’s a better way. Let data inform your recruitment advertising decisions. Hard numbers allow you to assess what’s really going on. Data tells the story—the true, unvarnished story.
How is a story revealed? It starts with the details, which in this case are metrics.
Key metrics to track include:
- Cost Per Application (CPA)
- Cost Per Qualified Applied (CPQA)
- Cost Per Hire (CPH)
See the Appcast whitepaper Three Recruitment Metrics That Matter to understand what these metrics tell you.
Once you know your numbers (for help with this, dig into the Appcast whitepaper Building Baseline Metrics), and compare them to industry benchmarks, you’ll have a good idea of where you’re succeeding and where there’s room for improvement.
But your story doesn’t end here. Metrics only tell you where there is a problem; context tells you what that problem might be. Therefore, you’ll then want to apply what you’ve learned to context.
Here are some examples of context:
- Job Mix
- Source
- Location
- Competition
See the Appcast whitepaper Recruitment Metrics 101 to learn more about context.
How your competition leverages metrics
And speaking of competition, if this all feels like too much work and/or you’re accustomed to winging it, keep in mind that your competition is leveraging metrics to learn the whole story and make highly informed advertising decisions.
This allows your competition to get the biggest bang for their recruitment advertising buck and find candidates to fill open roles.
Why does this matter? It’s likely some of those candidates are the very ones you seek.
