How to Set Up Recruiting Goals: the Complete Guide

Setting clear recruiting goals is a key step for any organization looking to build a successful and efficient team. It helps prioritize and allocate resources and keeps recruiters aligned on the end goals. But how do the best recruiters in the industry set their goals? In this article, we’ll review key recruiting goals, best practices to achieve them, and more! Let’s get right to it!

What Are Recruiting Goals?

Recruiting goals are targets set by a company or organization to achieve in their recruitment process, in other term, it can be called recruitment KPIs. These goals are key to ensuring that you hire the right candidates to meet your business needs.

Key Metrics for Recruiting Goals

1. Time to Fill

Time to fill is an important metric that measures the time it takes from when a job opening is posted to when a candidate is hired. A shorter time to fill indicates an efficient recruitment process, ensuring that positions are filled quickly to maintain productivity and meet business goals. Monitoring this metric can help identify bottlenecks in the hiring process and improve your overall efficiency.

2. Quality of Hire

The quality of hire assesses how well a new employee performs in their role and how long they stay with your company. A high-quality hire is someone who not only meets but exceeds performance expectations and contributes positively to the organization. This metric helps you evaluate the effectiveness of your recruitment process in attracting and selecting top talent.

3. Cost Per Hire

Cost per hire is a fundamental metric that calculates the average cost incurred to fill a job opening. It includes expenses related to sourcing, recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding a new employee. Monitoring this metric helps you understand the financial investment required for each new hire and identify opportunities to save a recruitment budget while maintaining the same quality.

4. Candidate Satisfaction

Candidate satisfaction is a valuable metric that measures the level of satisfaction candidates have with your recruitment process. Positive candidate experiences can significantly impact your employer branding, attracting top talent, and fostering a positive company reputation. It’s a good idea to constantly monitor candidate satisfaction levels to shine a spotlight on areas for improvement in the recruitment process and increase acceptance rates for job offers.

5. Retention Rate

Retention rate evaluates the percentage of employees who remain with the company over a specified period. High retention rates point to a strong organizational culture, effective leadership, and employee satisfaction. Keeping a close eye on retention rates allows you to spot factors that contribute to employee turnover and implement strategies to construct stronger employee engagement, job satisfaction, and overall retention of top talent.

6. Offer Acceptance Rate

The offer acceptance rate measures the percentage of job offers that are accepted by candidates. A high offer acceptance rate indicates that candidates perceive the job offer and company positively, leading to successful recruitment outcomes. Monitoring this metric can help organizations assess the effectiveness of their recruitment process, identify factors that influence candidate decision-making, and make necessary adjustments to improve offer acceptance rates.

Measuring these metrics can be a hassle while dealing with other recruitment tasks. You can make things easier by leveraging hiring software like Manatal’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS.) Manatal comes with with Reports & Analytics feature where you can generate comprehensive reports in one click. You can leverage Manatal to track key recruitment KPIs, have full visibility on areas that need improvement, and make immediate adjustments for a stronger strategy. Manatal’s report also allows you to track and manage revenues, and measure ROI across all of your team’s recruiting efforts.

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Recruiting Goals Examples

Increasing Diversity in Hiring: Google

Google is a company that has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) with a firm grip. The search engine Titan aims to boost underrepresented groups in leadership to 30% by 2025. In this endeavor, Google brought in Melonie Parker, an HR, TA, and DE&I expert to work as the Chief Diversity Officer in 2017. Within the first two years of her leadership, utilizing data-driven research to push Google’s initiatives forward, the company was able to expand the leadership representation of black, Latin, and Native Americans by 30% in 2022. [1]

Streamlining Candidate Screening: Amazon

The world-famous online retailer and marketplace prioritizes the quality of its recruitment process. The company collaborated with an automated applicant evaluation software to streamline the candidate screening process and produce more accurate results. The software helps Amazon identify applicants who come with the most potential to be a successful worker at the company by automatically running through resumes and comparing them to current Amazon workers in the same type of position. Once zeroing down on the right candidates, Amazon would fast-track these individuals to the interviewing process. [2]

Additional Tips for Recruiting Goals

• Set Specific and Measurable Goals: When setting recruiting goals, make sure they are specific and measurable. For example, instead of aiming to increase recruitment efforts, set a goal to increase the number of qualified applicants by 20% within the next quarter. This will make it easier to track progress and evaluate success.
• Align Recruiting Goals with Overall Business Objectives: It's important to ensure that your recruiting goals are in line with the overall objectives of the organization. This will help to drive the recruitment process towards achieving broader business goals, such as expansion, diversity, or talent development.
• Utilize Technology and Data Analytics: Leveraging recruitment technology and data analytics can help streamline your recruiting process, improve efficiency, and make informed decisions. Tools like ATS and predictive analytics can provide valuable insights to optimize your recruiting strategy.
• Develop a Comprehensive Recruitment Strategy: A well-rounded recruitment strategy should encompass sourcing, screening, interviewing, and onboarding processes. By developing a comprehensive plan that covers all stages of recruitment, you can ensure a smooth and efficient hiring process.
• Foster a Strong Employer Brand: A strong employer brand can attract top talent and improve the quality of your applicants. So, be sure to highlight your company culture, values, and employee benefits. It can help differentiate your organization and make it more appealing to potential candidates.
• Continuously Evaluate and Adjust Your Strategy: Recruiting goals and strategies should be dynamic and adaptable to changing market conditions and business needs. So, regularly monitor and assess the effectiveness of your recruiting efforts. Also, be prepared to make adjustments as needed to stay on track toward achieving your goals.

Conclusion

Setting clear recruiting goals is a very important step for any organization looking to attract and retain top talent. Having defined and specific goals allows you to focus your efforts on attracting the right candidates and ultimately, end up with a stronger workforce. Before setting solid recruiting goals, don’t forget to consider factors like your company's long-term objectives, current workforce needs, industry benchmarks, and available resources. By taking these considerations into account, you can set realistic and achievable recruiting goals that will drive success and growth in your company.

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Citations:

1. BBC

2. Forbes