The role of analytics in candidate attraction

Targeting and engaging the best applicants through a great candidate attraction strategy is more important than ever in today’s competitive market. 

You’re battling for the best candidates with the right qualifications, experience and potential. You’re faced with a dazzling array of job boards and multiple social media channels, as well as trying to attract traffic to your own site through search.

So where do you start? Is LinkedIn or Google the go-to for job seekers? Which social media channel has the best potential talent pool for your sector?

It’s critical you understand where your recruitment process is working well - and what needs refining to effectively source, access and select candidates. If you can measure each part of your recruitment approach, you can maximise it - from mixing up the channels you’re using, improving the candidate experience, to reducing spend in a particular area. 

If you know how well your website is performing, which adverts on which boards need tweaking or where to spend money on social media, you’ll have the best chance of reaching the right candidates. 

Used in the right way, data and metrics will make your recruitment process truly effective.

Use the right channels, the right way

So how do you incorporate analytics and where to start? You need to firstly think about the channels available and what you will get from each of them. You can use a mix of job boards, social media and your own company website to recruit digitally, but to maximise your reach and impact, you need insight into what works and what fails to make the grade.

Jobs on your website will improve search rankings and help build your brand. Understanding how your website is performing and getting insights into your candidate traffic will help you identify opportunities for growth. To improve search rankings, use short, searchable job titles, including specifics such as location. Tools such as SourceFlow’s in-built SEO for job advertising will also give you the best chance of your listings being seen. 

The right analytics tools will really ramp things up - if you know how candidates came to your site, you’ll know exactly where to increase your spend, and where to reduce it.

Tracking the source of every candidate that visits your website gives you a better understanding of how your advertising budgets translate into placements,” Matt Comber, CEO, SourceFlow

Through social media, you’ll reach a new, but more potentially more passive audience that may not be actively job searching. But don’t spend time posting to multiple sites or adapting job application forms.  Automated systems can simplify the process. And by using the power of data, such as knowing where applications have come from, you’ll get a clear understanding of which social networks are most effective for you.

Job boards help you attract active candidates, and with the right insight, you can also make job boards work even harder. Track metrics such as the effectiveness of adverts across different boards and spend, and you’ll quickly work out where to allocate your budget for optimum effect. On the flip side, you’ll also see what’s not working and can change things accordingly.

Understand your candidate’s journey

When it comes to understanding candidate behaviour, knowledge is power. The user experience on your website is a critical factor in making sure you’re attracting – and keeping - the best candidates. Do job seekers on your site find what they want, or does it take too long? According to recent research[1], 60% of job seekers want companies to simplify their candidate experience. If you can iron out bottlenecks in your website process, you’ll have a better chance of securing the right talent.

You also need to know what happens in the candidate journey. Are people dropping out after the initial screening or even at the offer phase? Tracking conversion rates will tell you exactly how effective each stage in your recruitment process is, from the first interaction right through to the offer phase. For example, drop-outs after the initial screening stage may indicate that your job descriptions need more work.

You’ll also gain a powerful picture of the quality of your candidates, so you can improve your hiring funnel. And once candidates are placed, tracking their journey from source to placement helps you know exactly which sources of talent and advertising were most effective and where to spend your time and money in the future.

Harnessing the power of knowledge

The capacity to leverage and act upon data will determine who has the competitive advantage,” Martin Bramall, Managing Director, idibu

To get a true picture of what’s working and what’s not, your data and analytics should feed directly into your CRM system and all your recruitment channels. Whether you use Bullhorn, Vincere, Access or another major CRM system, your technology needs to be streamlined, scalable and compliant. If your systems seamlessly talk to all areas of your business, there’ll be fewer manual tasks and you’ll save time. And most importantly, you’ll have valuable insights into every stage of your recruitment process - from start to finish.

And it’s not just your company that reaps the benefits. Candidates will receive more effective, relevant communications from you and will have a better experience, whether they get the job or not, feeding back into building your brand reputation.

idibu and SourceFlow work together to offer a complete package of recruitment analytics: from tracking traffic on a custom-designed recruitment website by SourceFlow, to idibu’s shareable reports on ROI, channel and team performance, help you manage recruitment more efficiently and effectively. We’d love to chat about how we can make the recruitment process work harder for you.

[1] https://www.greenhouse.com/uk/blog/key-learnings-from-the-2022-greenhouse-candidate-experience-report

 

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