Data is all around us - and it can't be denied that data is a hugely valuable asset for any business. In fact, most businesses are collecting all sorts of data, all the time. By using data effectively, businesses can make informed, evidence-based decisions rather than having to rely on intuition or guesswork. This is known as data-driven decision making (DDDM) and can yield impressive results across all areas of a company's operations.

The power of data can be particularly effectively leveraged in the context of budgeting. According to Deloitte, data analytics can streamline the budget formulation process and improve efficiency. Huge mounds of data can seem overwhelming; but once it's sorted and analysed with the assistance of analytics technology, it provides valuable insights into exactly where savings can be made and processes optimised.

What's the value of data in recruitment?

Recruitment is key to a business' success, but can also prove costly and time-intensive. Hiring managers may often find themselves asking questions such as:

What are my most effective sourcing platforms?

Which candidate screening techniques are most effective?

How long does it take to get from application to offer?

At what point is the candidate drop-off rate highest?

These are all questions which can be answered through effective data analysis. Hiring managers can begin by identifying which “recruitment metrics” they need to gain insight into - these could include cost-per-hire, time-to-hire, source of hire, candidate experience scores, or job offer acceptance rates. Once these have been selected, the analytics platform can process the data to paint a clear picture of the current situation. Then, all that's left is for the hiring manager to interpret the data, with the aid of visualisation tools offered by many platforms, and create solutions to drive their recruitment processes to be more cost- and time-efficient, and more effective overall.

How can data analytics inform my recruitment marketing budget?

Marketing represents a considerable investment for many companies: the average large company spends around 10% of gross revenue on marketing, whilst for smaller companies this can be as high as 25%.

The insights provided by data analytics can be leveraged to improve processes, and a key part of that is data-driven budgeting. Here's an example - if you were a hiring manager who had asked the question, “what are my most effective sourcing platforms?” and you'd gained a clear answer to that question through analysis of candidate data, you could now apportion your recruitment marketing budget to invest more in better-performing platforms, and budget less for platforms that aren't reaching your future workforce.

Here are 3 ways to make your recruitment marketing budget stretch further using data.

1. Reduce time-to-hire

Only 30% of companies report being able to fill vacancies within 30 days, with 50% taking 1-2 months to fill a role. Long drawn-out hiring processes are a considerable drain on recruitment resources and can result in companies missing out on talent along the way. Compare your time-to-hire with the average for your industry - is this an area that could be optimised?

Recruitment data can offer insight into each stage of the recruitment process, so that companies can see where processes are inefficient. For example, you may find that initial CV processing and candidate screening can be automated, freeing up hiring managers' time to where they can add the most value.

2. Use predictive analytics to set future budgets

Predictive analytics is a form of data analytics which draws out important insights from data, and uses these to make predictions about future hiring activities and candidates. It has been shown to save up to 23 hours per week in manual labour.

When setting future recruitment marketing budgets, companies don't need to take a stab in the dark - predictive data analytics can be used to set budgets which are data-driven and accurately apportioned to a company's hiring needs.

3. Reduce new hire turnover

High rates of new hire turnover can drain a company's recruitment resources - it's no good investing in a candidate throughout the hiring process only to lose them shortly afterwards.

For companies with a high new hire turnover, it may be necessary to distribute a portion of the recruitment budget into improving the onboarding process. Maintaining good levels of communication with new hires and offering high-quality training will enable companies to retain talent - recruiting is only half the battle.

If you're currently in the process of setting a recruitment marketing budget for the coming year, or thinking of reviewing your existing budget, don't underestimate the power of data to inform these decisions and get the most out of your recruitment resources.

Candidate experience analytics with inploi

Our dashboard offers end-to-end candidate journey tracking with actionable data insights and aggregated analytics. This gives you the information you need to make crucial recruitment decisions to maximise ROI and hiring success. Just imagine, your candidate experience data at your fingertips.

Get in touch to learn more and find out how you can transform your talent attraction with inploi.