Tactical vs Strategy - Metrics in Recruitment

Moving to strategic metrics tracking actions is easier but fails to capture the business impact.

If your recruiting team is like most, you already track time to hire. It’s the most commonly used recruiting metric for good reason—it’s easy to measure and can set expectations— but it’s not the most strategic. It tells you how fast your team hires, but not how well.

A slow recruiter who hires 10 high performers is far more valuable than one who efficiently hires 25 poor performers.

Tactical metric s —like time to hire, candidates per hire, or offer acceptance rate—track the immediate actions of your recruiters. That’s a good starting point, but the future of recruiting will revolve around strategic metrics: those that measure the business outcomes of your team’s efforts—not just the actions they take.

The role of recruiting is rising. Shaping your business’s talent strategy will be just as important as executing it. To do that well, you’ll need to track the metrics that really matter. 

Which is the best ATS, I asked

Maarten Oostenbrug wrote to me a detailed reply:

Sorry Sajit, imho this questions can’t be answered eaningfully.
The “right” ATS depends on the specific needs of your organization. An ATS that works fine for one company can be totally unfit for another and vice versa. As always, HRM is context sensitive. So are recruitment processes and therefore also the supporting technology.

You will have to define the requirements for your specific organization and define the specs of a tool to support that. Then (and only then) can you start looking for tools (there are various sites to compare and evaluate software). It’s a bit work but it will make things easier and faster down the road. In case you have not a good idea yet how your requirement process works and what you need for support:

• use a whiteboard (yes, I’m serious. If you can’t figure it out with pen and paper, you can’t automate it either!)
• Use trello or any other KanBan system to keep track of workflow
• Use excel or something that recruiters themself can modify and maintain with basic skills.

None of these solutions will automate your recruitment process. None of these are scalable and none should be used for more than a short time. They are only useful to develop and understand your recruitment process, decision making (selection!) and other requirements.
Some examples of requirements you need to know before you even start looking for ATS: what is the recruitment experience you want to offer? How many applicants and recruiters are involved? Do you need video conferencing? What are selection criteria and how do you know them (CV’s are horrible for selection)? Legal requirements (privacy. Equal opportunity). And of course, do you really need an ATS to start with? There are downsides and risks involved with an ATS too. Bottom line: you can’t select or evaluate an ATS (or any tool) based on an idea that you will recognize something good once you see it. Neither will raving reviews by others mean anything for your specific situation. Serendipity is not a strategy.

Productivity tools during social distancing - Nick Martin

16 tools shared by Nick Martin, to increase productivity
Collaboration and project management: 1. Communication: Slack 2. Program management: Trello 3. Video conferencing: Zoom 4. Wireframing: Figma & Invision 5. Document management and storage: Google Drive 6. Visual collaboration: Mural 7. Research: Dropbox Paper Operations: 8. Payroll: Gusto 9. Accounting: Quickbooks Online 10. Sales and CRM: HubSpot Others (and eLearning tools): 11. Decks and infographics: Piktochart 12. Icons: Flaticon 13. Learning management and course creation: the TechChange platform 14. Rapid elearning authoring: Articulate 360 15. Screencasting: Camtasia 16. Video editing: Adobe Creative Cloud

Links to tools: 1. Slack: https://slack.com/ 2. Trello: https://trello.com/en-US 3. Zoom: http://zoom.us/ 4. Figma: https://www.figma.com/ Invision: www.invisionapp.com 5. Google Drive: https://www.google.com/docs/about/ 6. Mural: http://mural.co/ 7. Dropbox Paper: https://www.dropbox.com/paper 8. Gusto https://gusto.com/ 9. Quickbooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ 10. HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ 11. Piktochart: https://piktochart.com/ 12: Flaticon: https://www.flaticon.com/ 13: TechChange: https://www.techchange.org/ 14: Articulate: https://articulate.com/360 15: Camtasia: https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html 16: Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html

What should #recruiters do during an epidemic?

Recruitment is a sales function period. Just that it is under the HR department.

So what should a recruiter do during tough times! If you haven't face the 2008 recession, read below.

Ask yourself if you are a hunter or a farmer?

If you are a hunter, you might want to sharpen your nails for the next kill as it is going to be a tough market once things become normal.

• Connect: use your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or whatever platforms you use to connect with potential candidates.

• Engage: you haven't had time to connect with your previously placed candidates, now is the right time.

• Brand: To brand or not to brand is not an option anymore, the HR department especially the recruitment function has to take branding seriously. Decide what processes you can streamline to make the customer experience better.

I guess a farmer to can follow the above steps as in a crisis your contractors will be looking at other opportunities if they are uncomfortable with their current job. You might want to know who is looking to jump ship as soon as the economy starts to pick up.

Happy hunting! Stay Safe| You Are Awesome!

Who owns your brand - You?

Think again. Don't be delusional. You don't own your brand. Your customers and employees own your brand and the faster you realise this, the easier it is for you to see the big picture.

It is at the top of every CMO's mind. But have you thought about looking at the recruitment process in your company? Have you sat with your HR folks to understand if they are contributing to the branding process?

Every touchpoint in the recruitment process is important to reinforce the brand image and it can work wonders for the brand.

Think about it!

#EmployeeAppreciationDay

Recruiters possibly are the least appreciated employees of an organisation.

Mostly because they are sandwiched between the business and the candidates.

Businesses often confuse between recognition and appreciation.

Recognition is about giving positive feedback based on results or performance. Sometimes this happens in a formal way: an award, a bonus, a promotion, a raise. Sometimes recognition is given more informally: a verbal thank you, a handwritten note. All of these methods can be meaningful, especially if they’re done in a timely and genuine way. They’re also motivating and exciting — everyone wants their good work to be applauded.

Appreciation, on the other hand, is about acknowledging a person’s inherent value. The point isn’t their accomplishments. It’s their worth as a colleague and a human being.

Oprah Winfrey once said: 

I have to say that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people was that there’s a common denominator in our human experience….The common denominator that I found in every single interview is we want to be validated. We want to be understood. I’ve done over 35,000 interviews in my career. And as soon as that camera shuts off, everyone always turns to me and inevitably, in their own way, asks this question: “Was that OK?” I heard it from President Bush. I heard it from President Obama. I’ve heard it from heroes and from housewives. I’ve heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyoncé in all of her Beyoncé-ness….[We] all want to know one thing: “Was that OK?” “Did you hear me?” “Do you see me?” “Did what I say mean anything to you?”

The Little Things That Make Employees Feel Appreciated

• Give balanced feedback. 
• Touch base early and often. 
• Address growth opportunities. 
• Make it a habit.

#EmployeeAppreciationDay

https://hbr.org/2019/11/why-employees-need-both-recognition-and-appreciation

https://hbr.org/2020/01/the-little-things-that-make-employees-feel-appreciated

ATS - No magic wand!

An applicant tracking system or fondly called ATS by HR is no magic wand. But it does make life a lot easier or sometimes more difficult for recruiters. 

But having said that, it is a must for any organisation in order to evaluate your recruitment metrics.

Below is a small list and I am sure I haven't covered all. But let me know your thoughts, which ones you like best and also if you want to add to this list.

ADP

ApplicantPro

ApplicantStack

ATS OnDemand

Bullhorn

CATS ATS

Ceridian

ContactHR

eRecruiting

Force.com

Greenhouse

HealthCareResource

Hirebridge

HireRabbit

HRDepartment.com

HRMDirect.com

Hrsmart

Hyrell

iApplicants

iCims

iRecruit

iRecruitment

JJ Keller

Jobscience

Jobscore

Jobvite

Kenexa-Brassring

Lever

Link

Luceo

Lumesse

MyStaffingPro

netMedia

Newton Software

NovaHire

PCRecruiter

PeopleAdmin

PeopleAnswers

Peoplefluent

Pereless

PracticeMatch

Recruiting.com

Resumeware

SAP-SuccessFactors

Silkroad

SmartRecruiters

SmartSearch

Snaphire

Taleo

TeamWorkOnline

TheResumator

Tribepad

TrueBlue

Ultipro

Vitae