Great news. Your hiring manager is bought in. They are truly invested. They are actively reviewing candidates to help calibrate, they’re providing feedback quickly. You have a weekly 1-1 set up. Don’t waste this opportunity. This is your chance to really dig in and be a consultative partner for the business. Here’s how to leverage recruiting data to advise your stakeholders and drive results.
Types of Data to Share with Hiring Managers
1. Market Data: I like to dig up market data before any role kicks off. It helps set the stage properly for the search and may impact the JD and how you go to market on the role. Here are some things you should have ready:
- Compensation trends: Share average salary ranges for similar roles in the industry and geography.
- Demand and supply: What’s your Total Addressable Market (TAM)? Highlight how many candidates actually check off the needed boxes versus how competitive it is for that type of talent.
- Competitor insights: Which of your competitors are looking for this hire? What’s their target salary range? Are they offering hybrid or remote work?
2. Pipeline Metrics Give a brief snapshot of your progress, as well as wins + challenges/themes in the search. Here are some examples:
- Pass through statistics: Percentage of candidate that make it one interview round to the next
- Calibration statistics: Highlights if the members of the interview panel are aligned or not on their decision
- Time-to-fill estimates: Projected timelines based on the current pace of the search. I would recommend having a workback model / target date of hire, from the beginning to help anchor this data.
According to this post from Visier, data driven recruitment impacts your quality & speed of hire (with several additional benefits)
3. Performance Benchmarks (if available) for similar hires the team has made in the past. This can include:
- Time to hire: How long it took to fill similar roles previously.
- Interview ratios: How many candidates did the team need to interview in order to get to a hire
- Success rates: How well past hires have performed in similar roles.
While Data is Great it isn’t a Magical Solution
Most recruiters got into recruiting because they are a people person. The human element matters.
Some hiring managers won’t care what data you bring them, just that you find them the hire they are looking for.
So know when to lean on data and when to throw it out the window.
Additionally there are some downsides of data:
- Over-reliance: Numbers can’t capture the nuances of a candidate’s potential, personality, or cultural fit.
- Incomplete data: In fast-moving markets, data may become outdated quickly, leading to misguided conclusions.
- Risk of rigidity: Hiring managers may become too fixated on metrics, ignoring broader contextual factors.
The Best of Both Worlds
To make the most of your hiring manager’s investment & time, you’ll want to leverage recruiting data as a guide but not as the sole driver of decisions. Pair it with qualitative insights from interviews, your professional expertise (this really matters), and the unique dynamics of your company. At the end of the day, data is important, but in order to be successful in recruiting you need to know how to listen, surface amazing talent and find ways to solve problems.
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