Successful talent acquisition isn't just about filling open positions—it’s about doing so effectively, efficiently, and strategically. For hiring teams, measuring performance is crucial to optimising the recruitment process and demonstrating a tangible return on investment (ROI). When tracked and analysed correctly, talent acquisition metrics help uncover strengths, identify areas for improvement, and guide more informed decision-making.

Here, we explore six essential metrics that can impact your recruitment strategy and directly contribute to better ROI.

1. Cost Per Hire

Knowing how much it costs to bring a new employee on board is vital. This metric captures the total expense of recruiting, from advertising costs and recruitment software to recruiter salaries. While cost reduction is important, the focus should be on finding the right balance between expenditure and the quality of hires.

By using inploi's candidate experience platform, companies can streamline their recruitment process, optimise spending, and ultimately lower the cost per hire. inploi automates manual tasks and targets the right talent pools, helping businesses save time and money while enhancing the quality of their hires.

2. Time to Fill

This metric tracks the number of days it takes to fill a position from the moment it is advertised to when an offer is accepted. Prolonged vacancies can strain team productivity and resources, making it crucial to address inefficiencies in the hiring process.

inploi's platform helps reduce time to fill by streamlining the candidate journey and minimising bottlenecks. With features like dynamic job distribution and real-time data insights, recruiters can refine their approach, leading to faster placements without compromising candidate quality.

3. Quality of Hire

The true measure of recruitment success goes beyond speed and cost—it’s about the calibre of new hires. Quality of hire considers factors like a new employee's performance, productivity, and retention. High-quality hires positively impact business outcomes and reduce the costs associated with turnover.

inploi enables organisations to enhance this metric through targeted candidate segmentation and tailored job advertising. By analysing key data points and candidate behaviours, inploi helps businesses attract individuals who are more likely to excel and remain with the company, improving both employee performance and long-term ROI. In fact, companies with a strong candidate experience see a 70% increase in the quality of hires.¹

4. Candidate Experience

A candidate's journey through your recruitment process can shape their perception of your brand. An efficient, user-friendly experience not only keeps candidates engaged but also boosts the chances of successful hires. Poor experiences can lead to candidate drop-offs and damage your brand's reputation. Consider that 72% of candidates who have a poor experience will share it online or with someone directly, harming your reputation and reducing your talent pool.² Moreover, 78% of job seekers say that the overall candidate experience is an indicator of how a company values its people.³

Improving candidate experience isn't just good for hiring—it’s crucial for protecting your employer brand. 64% of job seekers say a poor candidate experience would make them less likely to purchase goods and services from that company.⁴ This shows a direct connection between your employer brand and consumer brand, with real consequences for both your hiring success and bottom line.

inploi directly addresses candidate experience by offering streamlined application processes and personalised communication. Our platform provides dynamic application flows and branded careers hubs to ensure a smooth, positive candidate journey. This approach not only increases application conversion rates but also builds a strong employer brand.

5. Source of Hire

Understanding where your top candidates come from is key to optimising your recruitment strategy. The "source of hire" metric tracks which channels—whether job boards, social media, or employee referrals—yield the most effective results. By identifying the sources that bring in the highest quality applicants, you can better allocate your resources and refine your outreach efforts.

inploi’s data-driven approach automatically distributes jobs across various online channels, while our performance analytics track the effectiveness of each source. This enables hiring teams to make informed decisions on where to focus their efforts, leading to smarter spending and enhanced ROI.

6. Offer Acceptance Rate

Your offer acceptance rate indicates how attractive your job offers and company brand are to candidates. A lower-than-expected rate may point to issues such as salary misalignment, a lengthy hiring process, or gaps in communication.

Optimising this metric requires a comprehensive view of the candidate journey, including engagement touchpoints and the final offer stage. inploi provides insights into candidate preferences and behaviours, allowing companies to craft competitive offers and communicate effectively, thereby increasing the likelihood of offer acceptance. It's important to note that 60% of job seekers have abandoned a job application due to its length or complexity.⁵ Simplifying this process not only boosts acceptance rates but also contributes to an inclusive recruitment strategy, as 76% of neurodiverse job seekers—who make up 15% of the workforce—say they would be discouraged from applying if the process is not accessible or inclusive.⁶

inploi’s Platform: The Infrastructure for Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting

Behind all these metrics lies the need for a robust infrastructure that enables accurate tracking and clear reporting. inploi's platform serves as this foundation, offering a comprehensive analytics suite that seamlessly integrates with your existing Applicant Tracking System (ATS). With real-time data insights and customisable dashboards, inploi provides talent acquisition teams with a single source of truth for all recruitment activity.

Our platform meticulously tracks the entire candidate journey, from job view to hire, delivering detailed analytics on every stage of the process. Whether it’s understanding candidate sources, monitoring application flow, or evaluating the performance of job adverts, inploi’s tools provide actionable insights that drive data-led decision-making. By offering transparent and granular reporting, inploi ensures that hiring teams can quickly identify what’s working and where adjustments are needed, ultimately leading to more effective recruitment strategies and a stronger ROI.

Building a Strong Talent Pipeline

A positive candidate experience pays dividends in the long term. 62% of candidates who have a positive experience—whether hired or not—will apply again in the future, and 78% would refer others.⁷ By using inploi’s platform to optimise each aspect of the candidate journey, organisations can foster a strong talent pipeline that supports ongoing recruitment efforts and reduces future costs.

Bringing It All Together: Using Data to Enhance ROI

These metrics offer valuable insights into your recruitment process, allowing you to optimise each step and maximise ROI. The key is not just to track these metrics but to integrate them into a broader data-driven strategy. This approach helps organisations refine their hiring practices, attract higher-quality candidates, and use resources more effectively.

With inploi's tracking, analytics, and data platform at the core of your strategy, you can monitor key metrics effortlessly, gain clear visibility over recruitment activities, and drive improvements that directly impact your bottom line.

Conclusion

Effective recruitment is about more than just filling roles; it’s about filling the right roles with the right candidates in the most efficient way possible. By keeping a close eye on metrics like cost per hire, time to fill, and candidate experience, HR leaders can drive meaningful improvements in their recruitment strategy and demonstrate real ROI to the business.

While no single metric can provide all the answers, combining these insights offers a comprehensive view of your recruitment health, empowering you to make data-driven decisions. With the right approach—and inploi’s advanced platform—businesses can optimise their talent acquisition strategy and secure the talent needed to thrive.

Sources:

1. Glassdoor 2.CareerArc; 3.IBM Smarter Workforce Institute, 4.Talent Board 5. Appcast, 6. Harvard Business Review, 7. Talent Board