The current financial crisis forces us to manage successful hirings on tight budgets, and with more people reluctant to return to their old jobs, a new approach is necessary. Thinking about your applicant-to-hire ratio will not only allow you to look at things effectively but will also require recruiting methods to change.
An applicant-to-hire ratio reflects the percentage of hires out of the total number of applicants for a position. In fact, it is one of those metrics that can be a key insight into your company’s recruiting funnel issues and drive your decision-making forward.
The balance between the number of applicants you wish to have and the number of applicants that really apply can potentially create a gold standard for determining your applicant-to-hire ratio. If you find yourself putting a lot of candidates through the recruitment process and then only hiring a fraction of the quantity, this will result in a low applicant-to-hire ratio. This is unfortunately not the desired outcome.
What should you be looking at?
The best indicators that will help you raise the applicant-to-hire ratio will come from measuring and revisiting the hiring channels you are using. If you are attracting way too many candidates for a position, then you can consider several factors -perhaps the workplace might be well received in the public’s perception which makes it sound extremely appealing to applicants. If that’s not the case, perhaps you are not targeted enough in your job ads or they have stayed too long on a job board. One question to be asked is whether your screening process manages to screen potential successful candidates into the funnel to make sure you don’t waste your time on redundant interviewees.
On the other hand, if you are receiving a small number of applications, this might be an opportunity to examine whether the job ad is reaching the right audience, if it's been publicized for sufficient time, or if it is too long or unengaging. You can also think about your employer branding and optimizing your website to make it more engaging and easy to navigate. Also - what about the hiring process itself? Is it engaging, appealing, and will it let your candidates feel seen? When candidates become engaged in the process, they are already invested in the organization and are motivated and excited to be part of the company.
Raising the Ratio
The average applicant-to-hire ratio is 1 hire per 25 applicants. While it often falls into single-digits in most industries, things can really be improved when choosing the right sourcing methods. When used correctly, Introducing tech into recruitment could be a game changer for job seekers and companies alike. Wouldn’t it be nice to attract only qualified candidates for the interviews and skip all the irrelevant hassle?
If you tailor the hiring process to improve the candidate's experience, the ones you want to hire will be the only ones that you’ll interview. When you create an environment where an applicant can understand the requirements of the job before applying, when they have an active role in the process, and care about the job they are looking for, they will stay with you. And ultimately, your applicant-to-hire ratio will increase dramatically.
