Key Takeaways:
- Recruitment metrics are crucial numbers used to evaluate and improve hiring processes– ensuring efficient talent acquisition strategies.
- Tracking metrics helps optimize hiring, enhance candidate experience, reduce costs, and drive data-driven decision-making for recruitment.
- Some of the best recruiting metrics are time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, quality-of-hire, source of hire, and candidate satisfaction.
- Regularly analyzing and refining hiring metrics helps organizations to adapt, innovate, and stay competitive in evolving talent landscapes.
One of the most critical aspects of modern recruitment strategies is the monitoring of key recruitment metrics to understand the effectiveness of hiring processes. In fact, a 2023 report by AIHR suggests that 82% of companies believe data is critical for talent acquisition decisions.
But even though people know they’re important, many of them struggle to figure out which metrics to focus on and how to use them well. In this blog, we’ll talk about the 21 most important recruiting metrics to keep track of in 2024 and how they can help make hiring easier.
Let’s get started!
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What Are Recruitment Metrics?
Recruitment metrics are important numbers that help companies understand how well their hiring processes are working. They include things like how long it takes to fill a job, how much it costs to hire someone, and how many people apply for each job.
These metrics give businesses insight into their recruitment effectiveness and help them make decisions to improve hiring. Examples include time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and applicant-to-hire ratio.
By tracking these metrics for recruiting, companies can measure recruiter performance and make smarter hiring decisions, ultimately improving their talent acquisition strategies.

Don't just track HR recruitment metrics for the sake of it. Choose metrics that align with your hiring goals and organizational objectives. Experiment with new metrics and adjust your strategies accordingly to ensure you're measuring what matters most for your organization's hiring success in 2024 and beyond.
Top 21 Recruiting Metrics To Track In 2024
Here are the top 21 recruiting metrics to track in 2024. These talent acquisition metrics will help you measure the effectiveness of your hiring processes and improve recruitment strategies. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
1. Time to Fill
Time to fill is nothing but the average time a company takes to find a suitable candidate for an open position.
The formula for calculating the time to fill is:
Time to fill = (Number of days the job position is open/ Total number of job positions open)
There are several factors that determine the time taken to fill a position by a company. These include the ratio between the demand and supply for certain jobs, the speed at which the recruiters operate, the complexity of the job, geographical jobs, the availability of the skills demanded by recruiters, and others.
Time to fill is essential while designing your recruitment plan as it provides a realistic view to managers on the time it would take to attract and onboard replacements for departing employees. Besides, the more time it takes to find a candidate, the more the recruiting costs.
2. Time to Hire
One of the best metrics for recruiting– time to hire, is calculating the number of days that passed between a candidate applying for a job and accepting the job offer. It is also known as turnaround time, or TAT, in HR.
The formula for calculating time to hire is as follows:
Time to Hire = (Day the candidate accepted the offer/ Day the candidate applied for the job)
TAT in recruitment is considered an important recruiting metric since it provides information about two recruiting processes – recruiting efficiency and candidate experience. The faster a company can hire a candidate, the greater its recruiting efficiency.
3. Source of Hire
Source of hire, abbreviated as SoH, provides a breakdown of the different sources from where your hires entered the pipeline, calculated as a percentage. These sources can include job posting boards, campus recruiting metrics, job boards, placement agencies, referrals, social media channels, career fairs, and others.
To compute the source of hire, you can either choose to track individual sources or their broader categories. It is also important to decide whether you want to only track hired candidates or collect data on candidate sources as well.
4. First-Year Attrition
First-year attrition, or new hire turnover, is a key indicator for measuring the success of your organization’s recruitment strategy.
Here is how to calculate first-year attrition:
First-Year Attrition = Number of first-year employees who leave the company/(Total number of employees who leave during the same period)*100
Candidates who leave within the first year of onboarding usually fail to become productive and cost a lot of money and time.
There are two types of employee attrition – managed and unmanaged. Managed attrition indicates that the company terminated the employment contract. On the other hand, unmanaged attrition or voluntary turnover implies that the employee left of their own accord.
Often, the reasons for managed attrition are poor employee performance or a bad fit with the team. Unmanaged attrition can be attributed to a mismatch between the candidate’s job expectations and the actual job role or the position being oversold by the hiring manager.
5. Quality of Hire
Quality of hire indicates the value that new employees provide based on productivity KPIs. Hiring quality includes various other indicators, such as employee engagement, performance appraisals, management satisfaction ratings, and cultural fit.
Also known as the success ratio, the quality of hire in an organization can be evaluated by first determining your company’s business goals. You can then choose the metrics that will help you better understand the quality of hires in the company. A high success ratio signals that most of the hired employees perform well and vice-versa.
You May Also Read: 20+ Recruiting Trends to Watch in 2024
6. Hiring Manager Satisfaction
As a recruitment metric, hiring manager satisfaction aims to understand the quality of hiring and whether the hiring process meets the hiring manager’s needs and objectives.
The formula to measure hiring manager satisfaction is:
Hiring Manager Satisfaction = Number of hiring managers who are very or extremely satisfied with the candidate pool/ (Total number of surveys filled out)*100
Typically, surveys are used to gauge the satisfaction levels of recruiters. These surveys should be highly comprehensive and include questions related to employee productivity, engagement levels, skills, customer service, culture fit, and so on.
7. Candidate Job Satisfaction
Another top recruitment metric to track is candidate job satisfaction. It helps recruitment teams determine whether the employees are happy. This recruiting metric is commonly used to understand how workers at your organization perceive factors such as company culture, benefits, job responsibilities, and the hiring process.
Here is how to calculate candidate job satisfaction:
Candidate Job Satisfaction = Number of employees who report being very or extremely satisfied with the recruitment process/ (Total number of surveys filled out)*100
Similar to hiring manager satisfaction, employee satisfaction levels are measured by conducting surveys. These surveys are usually administered through HRMS platforms and are sent out once every 30 days to find out how employees feel about the job application process, interviews, and onboarding activities.
8. Applicants Per Opening
Applicants per opening calculate the number of candidates who have applied for a single job opening.
The formula for calculating applicants per opening is as follows
Applicants Per Opening = Number of jobs posted/ Number of applicants
A large number of applicants per opening indicates a high demand for the job or that the job description is too broad. Companies can reduce the applicant pool without compromising on the qualified candidates number by posting a more detailed job description.
9. Selection Ratio
The selection ratio, or submittals to hire ratio, is defined as the number of hired candidates compared to the number of total candidates.
The formula for computing the selection ratio is:
Selection Ratio = Number of hired candidates/ (Total Number of candidates)*100
The selection ratio is quite similar to the applicants per opening metric. Whenever there is a large pool of applicants, the selection ratio approaches zero. The lower the ratio, the better, since it indicates a selective recruitment process.
On the other hand, a higher selection ratio might signal a smaller pool of quality candidates or a highly competitive market for the job.
You May Also Read: Key Differences Between Internal and External Recruitment
10. Cost Per Hire
Cost per hire, or cost to fill, measures the expenditure involved in filling a single job opening. Recruitment costs can be typically categorized into internal and external costs.
Internal recruiting costs comprise administrative expenses, compliance costs, training and development, and hiring manager expenses. External recruiting costs, on the other hand, include performing background checks on applicants, travel expenditures, marketing costs, and sourcing expenses.
All in all, cost per hire is an excellent metric that demonstrates improvements in the hiring process and how it ties to the company’s objectives.
11. Candidate Experience
Candidate experience is a method by which job seekers perceive a company’s recruitment and onboarding process. It is often measured using a candidate experience survey and keeps a net promoter score to identify areas of the hiring plan that can be improved.
Here is how you can gauge the candidate experience of your organization
Candidate Experience = Number of applicants who reported being very or extremely satisfied with the hiring process/ (Total number of surveys completed)*100
To get a better understanding of how employees perceive your workplace, you should conduct surveys at regular intervals. Moreover, the survey should not just be limited to successful candidates but also be extended to unsuccessful applicants.
12. Offer Acceptance Rate
Offer acceptance rate is one of the best recruitment metrics in HR that helps you identify how many candidates successfully accepted the job offer as compared to the number of applicants who received it.
The formula for calculating the offer acceptance rate is
Offer Acceptance Rate = Number of offers accepted/ (Total number of offers made)*100
A low offer acceptance rate can indicate dissatisfaction with the compensation provided, a mismatch between the candidate’s and recruiter’s expectations, or negative perceptions about the employer.
You May Also Read: Agile Recruitment Process: What It Is, Benefits and Tips To Implement
13. Offer Decline Rate
The offer decline rate is a recruitment metric that shows the percentage of candidates who turn down job offers after receiving them. It helps businesses understand how attractive their job offers are to candidates and identify any potential issues in their hiring process.
Offer Decline Rate = (Number of declined offers / Total number of offers made)*100
A high decline rate may indicate problems with compensation, company culture, or job expectations. By tracking this metric, companies can make adjustments to improve offer acceptance rates and attract top talent more effectively.
14. % Of Open Positions
The % of open positions indicates the number of available vacancies in a company versus the total number of positions. Hence, you can calculate this metric as
% Of Open Positions = Total number of open positions (Total number of positions in the company)*100
You can use this metric to measure not only the number of vacancies in the organization as a whole but also for each department. A high percentage of open positions can either imply a high demand for those posts or a low supply of workers for such positions.
15. Application Completion Rate
Application completion rate is a recruitment metric that shows the number of candidates who finished and submitted a job application. This metric is particularly important for companies that have an elaborate application process. As a result, firms with a low application completion rate should look for ways to make their job application shorter and easier.
16. Recruitment Funnel Effectiveness
A recruitment funnel includes all the steps companies take to fill vacant positions, such as posting the job, searching for passive candidates, contacting previous applicants, and building your brand as an attractive workplace.
To calculate the effectiveness of your recruitment funnel, you can start by identifying the different steps involved and tracking their efficacy individually.
You May Also Read: 15+ Best Recruitment Tracker Software: Key Features, Benefits & Pricing
17. Sourcing Channel Effectiveness
Sourcing Channel Effectiveness is a key recruitment metric that measures how well different recruitment channels attract qualified candidates. These channels can include job boards, social media, employee referrals, and recruitment agencies.
By tracking the effectiveness of each channel, recruiters can allocate resources to the most successful ones and optimize their sourcing strategies.
All in all, this metric helps businesses make informed decisions about where to focus their recruitment efforts, ensuring a steady stream of quality candidates and maximizing hiring success.
18. Sourcing Channel Cost
Sourcing channel cost is a vital recruiting metric that measures the expenses associated with different candidate sourcing channels, such as job boards, social media, and employee referrals. By calculating the cost per hire for each sourcing channel, businesses can determine which channels provide the best return on investment.
The formula for calculating sourcing channel costs is
Sourcing Channel Cost = Number of Hires Sourced from Channel/ Total Expenses for Sourcing Channel
This metric helps optimize recruitment budget allocation by identifying the most cost-effective channels for attracting qualified candidates. To calculate the sourcing channel cost, divide the total expenses for each channel by the number of hires sourced from that channel.
19. Cost of Getting to Optimum Productivity Level (OPL)
The cost of getting to the optimum productivity level (OPL) is one of the key hiring metrics that measures the resources and time required for new hires to reach full productivity. It includes expenses such as onboarding, training, and mentorship. A high OPL cost can indicate inefficiencies in the onboarding process or a mismatch between job requirements and candidate skills.
Cost of Getting to OPL = Total Onboarding and Training Expenses / Number of New Hires
By tracking and optimizing OPL costs, companies can streamline their onboarding procedures, reduce training expenses, and accelerate new hire productivity. This will ultimately improve overall organizational performance and profitability.
20. Time to Productivity
Time to productivity measures how many days from the day of hiring it takes to bring a new employee up to speed.
You can calculate time to productivity using the formula below:
Time To Productivity = Number of days taken to hire a new employee + Number of onboarding days + Number of training days
This metric can also help you gauge the effectiveness of your company’s screening, interviewing, onboarding, and training process. You can calculate this recruiting metric by collecting feedback from managers and employees to understand the competency levels of the workers.
21: Employee Lifetime Value
Employee lifetime value is a crucial HR metric that calculates the total value an employee brings to the company over their entire tenure. It takes into account factors such as productivity, performance, and contribution to company goals.
Employee Lifetime Value = (Revenue generated by employee - Cost of employing the individual) * Number of years the employee remains with the company
By understanding the lifetime value of employees, organizations can make better decisions about recruitment, retention, and talent development.
This metric helps businesses quantify the long-term impact of their workforce and allocate resources effectively to maximize employee value and organizational success.
You May Also Read: Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO): A Detailed Guide
Conclusion
To sum up, tracking the right recruitment metrics is crucial for businesses to hire the best talent efficiently. By embracing recruitment metrics best practices and measuring key recruitment metrics like time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and candidate satisfaction, companies can understand what’s working well and where they need to improve. Also, using these insights, they can streamline their hiring processes, reduce costs, and attract top-quality candidates.
Recruiting metrics are crucial as they provide insights into the efficiency and success of hiring efforts. They enable businesses to make data-driven decisions and optimize their recruitment strategies.
Common recruiting metrics include time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, applicant-to-hire ratio, candidate experience feedback, and quality-of-hire. These metrics for recruiting help assess various aspects of the recruitment process.
By analyzing recruiting metrics, businesses can identify bottlenecks, improve candidate experience, reduce time-to-fill, optimize sourcing channels, and enhance overall hiring effectiveness.
There are several tools and software available to track and analyze recruiting metrics, such as applicant tracking systems (ATS), HR analytics platforms, and recruitment dashboards. These tools provide actionable insights for recruiters and HR professionals.

Khyati Sagar is a seasoned HR and payroll expert with over a decade of experience in the field. She has worked with businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large corporations, helping them optimize their HR and payroll processes. As a passionate advocate for technology-driven solutions, she is always on the lookout for the latest advancements in HR and payroll software. When she’s not working, you can find her hiking or playing basketball with her friends and family.

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