Recruitment isn’t easy. Internal HR teams are increasingly finding it difficult to recruit the right candidates. It means a stalled recruitment process, unnecessary costs and slower growth in the long run.
So, what’s the solution? Many think data driven recruitment is the answer. This post explores the benefits of data driven recruitment, which data can provide useful insights and whether big data really is the future of recruitment.
The recruitment conundrum
Why is recruitment becoming more problematic? It’s partly down to a skills shortage. A number of UK sectors – logistics included – are suffering because they can’t fill key roles. According to a survey of 400 companies by Open University, 90% have faced difficulties recruiting skilled workers in the past year. Moreover, 53% of businesses were unable to find a candidate with their right skills, choosing to hire someone at a lower level instead.
These problems have a knock-on effect for businesses, who have to spend more on recruitment – which takes nearly two months longer than expected – and temporary staffing to fill the gaps. It’s estimated that these extra costs amount to at least £1.7 billion a year for UK businesses.
What is data driven recruitment?
Simply put, data driven recruitment is the use of big data to make key recruitment decisions. With new analysis technology and techniques, recruiters can quickly identify candidates with the necessary skills and qualifications for their roles.
The benefits are clear. Recruiters can navigate a larger pool of candidates with quicker results, as well as improving the quality of hire. Over time, big data also enables them to build a better picture of what makes an effective candidate. By looking at metrics like interview-to-offer rates, recruiters can better understand the match between candidates and job roles
Choosing the right metrics
It’s not just the rate of success, there are many other metrics which can improve the recruitment process. Take turnover, for instance. Turnover metrics include wanted and unwanted departures and the rate at which high performers leave. They help indicate where companies have a retention problem, and what the reason is for that. Are staff being mismatched to roles? Is one manager or department experiencing significantly more turnovers than others?
Other metrics indicate the success of the recruitment process itself. Fill rate and time to fill indicate the efficiency of recruiters, while the hit rate (offer-to-acceptance) shows the productivity of the recruitment process, or if it’s matching candidates with unsuitable roles.
The future of recruitment
So, is data driven recruitment going to overtake traditional methods? Probably not. What’s more likely – and more useful for employers – is that big data will be incorporated into a traditional recruitment process.
At Bis Henderson, we understand the value of data in recruitment. Our team works with a number of metrics, such as offer ratios, turnover or fill rate, we are constantly looking to optimise the way we work. Part of this is developing metrics to make the recruitment process quicker and more efficient for the client and candidate.
However, we also understand the importance of industry expertise and candidate relationships. This, more than anything, is essential in recruitment and cannot be replaced by data and metrics alone.
The right candidates for you
Our exceptional network and our vast Supply Chain recruitment and Logistics recruitment experience not only allows us to utilise our data to place the right candidates, but to ensure they are happy in their new roles – and their employers are satisfied too.
Whether you’re struggling to find the right skills for the job or simply don’t have the time, we can help build an effective recruitment campaign and deliver the right candidates for you. Get in touch today to talk to our recruitment team.
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