The ability to collect and analyze data is critical to making sound decisions in almost every business. And it’s no different with recruiting. The problem recruiters have with understanding data is that many don’t know what to look for.
We believe the best recruiting data comes from your career site. Why? Because that is your most important recruiting channel. It is the most valuable resource for job seekers looking to work for your company. And is, therefore, where the majority of time is spent with your company and your jobs before an application is submitted.
That said, the opportunity to capture data from job seekers on your career site is enormous. You just have to know what data points to focus on.
It starts by relying less on the source data in your ATS, and more on third party web analytics programs like Google’s, which provides accurate Source data.
Marketers have been relying on Google Analytics for years. They have successful used that free service to refine their strategies to increase traffic and conversions. Recruiters can do the same. Applications received is a conversion. It’s the same thing.
So here are the big four data points that can point you in the right direction:
1. Source.
You have to know how candidates arrive at your job application. While some people will point to recruiters as the source, the real source is the referring site that leads the person to apply.
Generally, that is a job board or a social network. It could also be an ad on a website or even an ad you placed on a social network. The source can get pretty layered since there can be multiple ways to arrive on your career site from say, Facebook or LinkedIn.
It can also tell you which sources are worth less than the spend to use them. The ROI just isn’t there, so you can either adjust your strategy or eliminate the source.
Tracking these sources will help to refine visitor data and put real decision-making power in recruiters’ hands.
2. Device.
Tracking the device job seekers use to find your career site is equally as important as the source from which they found you.
Why? Because it can tell you where the candidate experience fails by where the drop-off point is according to device.
Those who reach your career site on an iPhone will have a different experience than those on an Android tablet, or even a desktop. This is especially true if you don’t have a mobile strategy in place.
The drop off point for mobile users who find your non-mobile career site is almost 50 percent. If that mobile user number is significant to you, and it should be, then the solution is to make your site mobile.
So by tracking the device job seekers are using it can help root out specific problems with viewing your website from various devices.
This goes for browser compatibilities as well. Your site will look different to a Chrome user than it will a Safari or a Firefox user. Same rule applies. Find the issue, fix it for that particular browser.
The great thing about a free program like Google Analytics is it will not only tell you the type of smartphone or tablet used, it will tell you the last page visited, so you can easily pin down the problem.
3. Exit Pages.
You can track the point where the journey ends for candidates on your career site. For whatever reason, sometimes a candidate just leaves. It could be an issue with your site like it took too long to get to a job. It could be they ran out of time, or even that they changed device.
The point is drop off is a concern worth tracking.
To ease drop off rates it’s important to make the path to your jobs, and therefore, apply, as easy as possible. Including making your application as short as possible.
Think of how easy it is today to make a purchase. Often it’s a two click process. Consumer businesses understand that to make a conversion, the buying process has to be as simple and streamlined as possible.
You should strive for the same thing with your application to reduce drop off and improve conversions.
4. Conversions.
This is probably the most important metric to study as it will tell you so much about your apply funnel, from landing page to applications submitted and the number of unfinished applications.
You need to know exactly where the process fails in order to improve conversions and data will tell you.
Some of this is overlap with the other metrics. Certainly conversions can be affected by exit pages and user device, in the case of a mobile user landing on your non-mobile site and leaving on arrival.
But mostly it deals with your application. What we see with most ATS applications is a process that expands several pages. The standard rule of thumb is for every click beyond two, you lose two applicants.
You should shorten that 6-page application to as few pages as possible to see increased conversions.
Web analytics won’t change the landscape of your recruiting drastically, but it will give you a new perspective on your strategy so you can make better decisions on hiring.
Just studying these four metrics will allow you to adjust your recruiting strategy to hire more qualified people, lower your time to hire, and decrease your recruiting spend.
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