6 Metrics to Help You Measure How Your Candidate Experience Affects Your Recruiting Outcomes
The last thing you, as a recruiter, think about when you are hiring is the experience your candidate has during the interview process. That’s understandable. Your aim is to find the right candidate for the role as fast as you can in order to move on to filling the next one.
But it’s a good idea to stop and think about the message you are putting out there as the representative of the company to a varied set of candidates. As important as it is to fill a role quickly, it’s equally important to give candidates a wonderful experience during the recruiting process. After all, every candidate you come in contact with has the potential to become an unpaid ambassador of your company. If a candidate gets rejected for a job, they’ll still be willing to apply again in the future or put in a kind word for you with other talented candidates as long as they had a great experience during your hiring process.
You can read a ton of articles from Google on how to improve the candidate experience, but none of that advice will work if you don’t measure the experience you already provide. This will help you understand what’s working and what’s not.
So, how do you measure the candidate experience? Like all HR processes, the candidate experience has its relevant metrics — six to be exact. Let’s have a look at them in this article.
Candidate Experience Metrics
- Candidate experience score
- Candidate response rate
- Candidate withdrawal reasons
- Time to contact candidate after application completion
- Assessment completion rate
- Time taken to communicate the results to rejected candidates
1. Candidate Experience Score (Use Net Promoter Score)
Candidate experience score = % of promoters – % of detractors
You want candidates to promote a positive image of your company. If you identify detractors — candidates portraying your company negatively — send them a survey with simple questions seeking reasons for their unpleasant experience. Anyone who has come face to face with your organization is a potential employee, customer, or brand ambassador. You want them to say pleasant things about you.
2. Candidate Response Rates Across Different Channels
Sourcing of candidates happens through various channels — social media, job boards, referrals, etc. This metric allows you to track the response rates of candidates across different channels so that you can focus your efforts on the most effective ones.
Candidate response rate = (Number of candidates who responded / Number contacted) * 100
Given the number of sources through which a candidate can arrive in your talent pipeline, it would be a good idea to use an ATS for your recruitment. best ATSs come with reports and analytics, which makes it easy to measure and maintain relevant channels.
3. Candidate Withdrawal Reasons
While this might not be a quantitative metric, the most common reasons for withdrawal can be quantified over a period of time. Track why candidates drop out during a particular stage of the process — e.g., lack of updates, low salary, too much travel, inconvenient interview time, etc. Use an ATS that comes with the ability to track these metrics for you.
4. Time to Contact Candidate After Application Completion
Measure the time it takes for a recruiter to contact the candidate after they have completed and submitted an application form. The less time taken, the better the candidate experience.
Time it takes for a recruiter to first contact a candidate = Date of contact – Date of submission of application form
5. Assessment Completion Rate
The assessment completion rate measures the number of candidates who actually complete and submit a preemployment assessment. The easier and faster the assessment is to complete, the higher the likelihood that any given candidate will complete it. Many candidates searching for work are already holding full-time jobs, so make sure your assessments are short, exciting, and challenging for them.
Assessment completion rate = (Total number of candidates who completed the assessment / Total number candidates who were given the assessment) * 100
6. Time Taken to Communicate Results to Rejected Candidates
Whether it’s a yes or no, every candidate needs to know where they stand. Recruiters need some motivation to communicate the results to rejected candidates on time and with empathy. Metrics will help them do the job. Track the time it takes to inform a candidate when they are rejected. List it as a key performance indicator for your recruiters.
Time it takes to inform a rejected candidate = Date of communication – Date of rejection