Hiring without data is like trying to find your way around a house in the dark. It’s difficult, stressful, and even dangerous.
Without data-driven hiring, you have no idea how your hiring initiatives are performing. You may even unknowingly be extending your time-to-hire, putting your whole business at risk.
But how do you get started in the world of data-driven hiring? For the full scoop, check out our session on data-driven hiring from McKnight’s Workforce Development Forum. But if you’re just looking for a quick overview, here are some of our highlights from that conversation.
What Is Data-Driven Hiring?
Simply put, data-driven hiring is the process of using data to make recruitment better. This can include analyzing candidate bottlenecks, evaluating time-to-hire metrics, and identifying areas where the recruitment process can be streamlined and made more efficient.
By gathering and analyzing data related to the hiring journey, organizations can make data-informed decisions to enhance their strategies and reduce inefficiencies.
Why Is Data-Driven Hiring Necessary?
The healthcare industry is in crisis. Just look at the facts: there’s a projected shortage of over 3.2 million lower-wage healthcare workers (such as medical assistants, home health aides, and nursing assistants) by 2026. Meanwhile, the average time-to-hire in the medical industry is a staggering 49 days.
Clearly, the old way of doing things isn’t cutting it. That’s why we need data-driven hiring.
Finding Your Data
There are two primary ways to find and track your data: manually or through a dedicated platform.
Tracking data with a dedicated platform involves collecting, monitoring, and analyzing metrics using specialized software designed for this purpose.
On the other hand, manual data tracking doesn’t rely on specialized software or tools. To track data manually, you just need a source for the data, somewhere to put it (an Excel sheet, for example)—and plenty of time to keep it updated.
While manual tracking allows you to circumvent some up-front software costs, it’s often labor-intensive and leaves a lot of room for human error. On the other hand, a dedicated platform automatically analyzes and presents your data, but it does come with a price tag. Ultimately, what’s right depends on your organization’s capabilities and needs.
You Can Use Data to Understand…
The Best Hiring Channels for You
Maybe you’ve been using multiple hiring channels to find candidates—job boards, social media, and employee referrals. Each channel seems to bring in a mix of applicants, but you’re not sure which one is the most effective.
Here’s where data steps in. By tracking and analyzing channel performance metrics, you can pinpoint exactly where you’re getting the most candidates and, more importantly, the most qualified ones.
For instance, you might discover that while social media referrals flood you with applicants, most of them aren’t a great fit for your roles. On the other hand, job boards consistently bring in highly qualified candidates. Armed with this insight, you can focus your efforts and resources on the channels that truly work for you, making your hiring process more efficient and cost-effective.
Data doesn’t just provide information. It empowers you to make smarter decisions.
Individual Recruiter Performance
Let’s say you have a team of recruiters, each responsible for finding and hiring candidates. With data-driven insights, you can assess how well each recruiter is performing and what challenges stand in their way.
By identifying these trends, you can recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your team members. This information can guide your training and development efforts, enabling you to help underperforming recruiters improve and allowing top performers to share their strategies.
Data can also shed light on how efficiently recruiters manage their time. You can track metrics like the time it takes to move candidates through each stage of the hiring process. For instance, you might find that one recruiter spends an unusually long time on initial screenings, causing delays in the overall process. Identifying these bottlenecks allows you to provide targeted coaching and resources to enhance time management skills.
How to Best Communicate With Candidates
Imagine you’ve been receiving feedback from candidates who are frustrated by your team’s slow response times. With data analysis, you can delve into response times and identify areas for improvement.
For example, you might discover that it takes an average of 48 hours for your team to respond to initial candidate inquiries. However, when you compare this to best practices in your industry, you find that top-performing companies typically respond within 24 hours. This data highlights a gap in your communication efficiency. By recognizing this pattern, you can implement strategies to expedite response times and enhance the candidate experience.
Budgeting and Sponsorships
Let’s say you allocate a significant portion of your budget to advertising jobs across multiple platforms, such as job boards, social media, and industry publications. Data allows you to review your return on investment (ROI) across all these platforms.
Your data analysis might reveal, for instance, that a significant portion of your budget is going into a job board that isn’t generating as many qualified applicants as expected. Meanwhile, maybe your social media campaigns are performing exceptionally well.
Armed with this information, you can make informed decisions about how to allocate your resources, ultimately maximizing your ROI.
How to Get Started With Data-Driven Hiring
- Create a data task force. Establish a dedicated task force responsible for implementing and overseeing your data-driven recruitment initiatives.
- Assess the tools available to you. Evaluate the technology and tools at your disposal. Determine whether you have the necessary infrastructure to support data-driven hiring or if you need to invest in additional resources.
- Review your existing data. Examine the data you’ve collected from previous recruitment efforts to identify trends, patterns, and areas where data-driven insights could impact your hiring process.
- Identify knowledge gaps. Take a close look at your existing data to pinpoint the information you’re missing.
- Connect with your software partners. Reach out to your software partners for guidance on how to best utilize their tools for data-driven hiring.
Data-Driven Hiring With Apploi
If you’re interested in data-driven hiring but want to keep your process simple and straightforward, Apploi could be the platform for you.
Apploi connects hiring, management, and analytics tools built for healthcare, so you can understand and optimize your staffing process.
Interested in learning how your healthcare organization can thrive in a data-driven world? Schedule a demo today.
