Before you adjust your recruiting strategy, identify key data related to your short- and long-term hiring efforts that matter most to your growing business. Even in a smaller company, having the people, processes, and technology to monitor these recruitment and hiring metrics is essential.

Let’s review the basics of recruiting metrics, tips for collecting data, and useful recruiting benchmarks to track and explore.

What are Recruiting Metrics?

Recruiting metrics are data points used to track business recruitment and hiring success. They cover various aspects of the hiring process, from time to fill to cost to hire, allowing you to track the effectiveness of your business’s recruiting efforts—how efficient hiring is and whether you’re hiring the right people for your open roles.

Why Tracking Recruiting Metrics Matters

No matter how many people you need to hire or your business’s challenges, ensure you use data-driven insights to guide your hiring efforts. Recruiting metrics enable you to determine whether you’re engaging and onboarding job seekers effectively or if you need to adjust your approach.

Tracking talent acquisition (TA) data regularly isn’t just important for your HR team—it can also help your business leaders make more informed decisions about adding resources in the company. After all, your leaders want to know which processes are efficient, effective, and contribute to long-term growth, so they can allocate resources accordingly.

When you know where recruiting bottlenecks exist, you can make changes that drive down recruitment costs, streamline the application process, and improve candidate outreach. 

Best Practices for Collecting Recruiting Metrics

Here are a few best practices for simplifying recruitment data collection:

• – Use an applicant tracking system (ATS). Regardless of your SMB’s size, an ATS like JazzHR can help your company source qualified candidates, provide a positive application experience, and improve your employer brand.
• – Set detailed goals. Ensure your team’s goals follow the tried-and-true SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) framework, so you can easily pinpoint relevant metrics.
• – Ensure consistency and correctness. Maintain consistency in your collection methods and criteria, and regularly audit your data to correct any discrepancies.
• – Know industry benchmarks. As you start setting recruiting metrics, research within your industry to see which metrics have worked for similar businesses.
• – Gather qualitative metrics. Don’t just focus on the numbers. You can gain valuable, nuanced insights by asking for qualitative data, such as comments about your recruitment process or perceptions of your employer brand.
• – Respect data collection laws. Thoroughly research and implement practices that align with data privacy best practices and regulations, such as transparency and security.

As you start collecting, analyzing, and acting on recruiting data, it might take some time to fall into a natural cadence, especially if you’re working with a small team. Regularly audit your processes, so you can bridge any gaps and work better together.

Let’s explore key recruitment metrics that can give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your SMB recruiting efforts.

Critical Recruiting Metrics Your Hiring Team Should Monitor

Let’s explore key recruitment metrics that can give you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your SMB recruiting efforts.

Average Cost of Hire

• – Basic definition: The measure of how much money your business typically spends on recruiting a single hire.
• – Why it matters: Tracking the expenses designated to promote an open position can ensure you don’t waste any resources. Also, this is one of the most important recruiting metrics for SMBs, given the limited budget you might have for paid recruitment marketing activities. Your internal and external recruiting costs can add up quickly if you don’t pay close attention.
• – Suggested next steps: Compare your cost to hire with other industry benchmarks, which take into account your industry, job level, company size, geographical location, and more. Based on this comparison, consider which parts of your hiring process are more costly and how you can adjust them.

Time to Fill

• – Basic definition: How quickly it takes you to find and hire a new candidate for an open role.
• – Why it matters: You may not have more than a few total open positions at any given time. However, that doesn’t mean you should take a long time to source, nurture, and interview talent. Instead, move with a sense of urgency to drive down your average time to fill to ensure you can fill roles in a timely manner.
• – Suggested next steps: If your average time to fill is longer than you’d like, take a closer look at which parts of the hiring process may be dragging. Identify key blockers to the recruiting funnel and work to streamline them—for example, does your recruiting team take a while to start conducting outreach once a new role opens up? Or maybe your team takes a while to initially screen candidates based on their resumes?

Time to Hire

• – Basic definition: How quickly you move a candidate through the recruiting funnel, from the moment they are approached to the moment they accept an offer.
• – Why it matters: Similarly to the time to fill metric, moving with a sense of urgency shows your business’s leaders that you can fill roles in a timely manner. However, time to hire also reflects a key part of the candidate experience. If it takes you a long time to send an offer to a candidate, they may grow impatient or frustrated with your application process.
• – Suggested next steps: When onboarding new hires, survey them about their experience during the application process. Ask them how they felt about the speed of your recruiting team’s responses and the general pace of your hiring. If they indicate that they felt the process was too long, then you may need to make adjustments to improve your time to hire.

Application Completion Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how many candidates started an application and finished it.
• – Why it matters: Clunky or complicated application processes that require account setup and log-ins lead to few completions by active job seekers. Conversely, simple, user-friendly application processes that take just a few minutes often lead to higher application completion.
• – Suggested next steps: If your application completion rate is low, take another look at your application. Consider how you can simplify it or if there are any fields that you could remove. For example, for a lower-level position, you could remove the requirement for a cover letter to remove a large barrier to application competition.

Applicants Per Opening

• – Basic definition: The number of applicants that apply to any one opening at your business.
• – Why it matters: This recruiting metric provides a way to measure how enticing your job openings are in the market. If there are many applicants, many individuals want that specific job or to work at your specific organization. If there aren’t many applicants, your job opening may fall short of similar roles in other organizations.
• – Suggested next steps: The number of applicants per opening is impacted by various factors, from your employer brand to the compensation you offer. Use this metric as a signal to dig deeper into your other recruiting metrics to determine if there’s an issue with your hiring processes, or if it’s just a sign of greater economic patterns.

Offer Acceptance Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how frequently the offers you extend to applicants are accepted. 
• – Why it matters: You need to know the rate at which candidates you interview and advance to the offer stage decide to join your business. If your offer acceptance rate is low, you must find out why your offers are lacking to ensure that hiring continues to go efficiently.
• – Suggested next steps: Direct feedback from potential hires through post-interview candidate experience surveys can reveal why they did or didn’t accept an offer. This can be used to change your recruiting approach for certain roles.

Sourcing Channel Effectiveness

• – Basic definition: The platforms or channels that yield the most and best new hires. 
• – Why it matters: Not all sourcing channels provide the same return on investment. That said, you won’t know whether you should continue looking for passive or active prospects on certain channels if you don’t keep tabs on how many leads you secure and how far they advance in your hiring process.
• – Suggested next steps: Look at high-performing recent hires (within the last two years) and explore which channel they were sourced from. If you see any patterns (for example, if most of your best hires are from LinkedIn), then focus your hiring efforts on these channels for better results.

Sourcing Channel Cost

• – Basic definition: The cost of using and maintaining a sourcing channel.
• – Why it matters: Certain sourcing channels may cost more to utilize than others. You want to make sure that you’re using your money wisely, not spending on less effective sourcing channels.
• – Suggested next steps: Consider a sourcing channel’s cost against how many applicants it brings in and how many of those applicants end up hired. If there are any channels that you’re heavily invested in but that aren’t working for your needs, consider pulling back the spend on it. Conversely, if a sourcing channel is extremely effective but you’re not spending much on it, consider upping your investment to bring in more top talent.

Funnel Conversion Rates

• – Basic definition: Metrics that reveal how far prospects advance from stage to stage in your recruiting funnel, such as application to interview rate.
• – Why it matters: Tracking funnel-based metrics to see how far the average candidate makes it in the recruitment lifecycle can help you pinpoint areas for improvement in your candidate relationship management approach.
• – Suggested next steps: Explore if there are any parts of the funnel that candidates tend to stop at. Then, discuss with other hiring team members to brainstorm ideas that will help candidates continue moving forward from that funnel step.

Nurture Engagement Levels

• – Basic definition: The open, click, and response rates of candidate nurture messaging.
• – Why it matters: Whether you deliver emails, texts, or a mix of both to candidates, you need a mechanism to easily and efficiently analyze your candidate engagement across channels to see which approaches work best and should be used most often.
• – Suggested next steps: If your nurture engagement levels are low, look at specific messages where engagement rates were higher than average. Analyze them for what makes them more engaging and effective than your other messages. Take these insights and apply them to future messaging to boost engagement levels.

Candidate Feedback Scores

• – Basic definition: Ratings provided by candidates about your recruiting process.
• – Why it matters: Compiling candidate feedback can give you rich insight into the external perception of your SMB recruitment model. Aside from securing general comments from prospects, it’s equally important to collect specific ratings from candidates, so you can quantify your work—and make the necessary adjustments to provide a better candidate experience over time.
• – Suggested next steps: If you aren’t already, send surveys to candidates and ask them about their experience with your hiring process. Based on their responses, make the necessary adjustments to ensure you deliver a great candidate experience during your hiring process.

Hiring Manager Satisfaction

• – Basic definition: The measure of how satisfied the hiring manager is with the outcomes of the hiring process.
• – Why it matters: Feedback is essential for understanding the nuances of your recruiting process. As with candidate feedback, it’s helpful to gather feedback scores and qualitative comments from your hiring team that help you tangibly measure your effectiveness.
• – Suggested next steps: Have your hiring team fill out a survey about how satisfied they are with your process. Then, schedule a team meeting where you discuss the survey responses and how you can make improvements to talent acquisition.

Quality of Hire

• – Basic definition: The ratings of new hires by managers several months into the job.
• – Why it matters: A high quality of hire indicates an employee you hired is performing well in the job. However, a low-quality hire who has poor reviews and misses target goals can greatly hinder your company’s success.
• – Suggested next steps: Evaluate candidate profiles for high-quality and low-quality hires for any commonalities or shared characteristics that might explain why they were high- or low-quality hires. Use that information to develop your talent acquisition further. For example, if most of your low-quality hires have little to no prior experience in the industry, begin adding an industry experience requirement to your job listings.

Employee Retention Rate

• – Basic definition: The measure of how many of your employees remain at your business over time.
• – Why it matters: Employee retention rate is another post-hiring metric that reflects the ROI of your recruitment team’s strategies. A high retention rate indicates members of the workforce you helped hire are satisfied and want to stay, meaning your recruitment efforts are reaching the right audience.
• – Suggested next steps: If your retention rate is low, evaluate your workplace culture, benefits, and engagement programs to ensure you’re delivering a quality work experience. Conduct exit interviews to understand why employees are leaving, and consider their feedback as you adjust your talent acquisition process.

Tracking Recruiting Metrics with JazzHR

To properly track recruiting metrics, you need a robust ATS that caters to the unique needs of growing companies like yours. One of the best options available today is JazzHR. With affordable pricing tiers and a comprehensive, intuitive interface, JazzHR makes it simple for SMB teams to track relevant recruiting metrics.

To learn more, explore our solution’s capabilities with your free trial today. 

But not all metrics are created equal. Which ones should you track to improve efficiency, enhance quality of hire, and streamline your recruiting process? Let’s break it down. 

The Recruiting Metrics that Matter Most 

The most successful recruiting teams don’t just collect data. Instead, they strategically measure metrics that align with their goals. Some key metrics that top performers track include: 

1. Candidate Conversion Rate 

Why it matters: This metric reveals how well your job postings and employer brand attract qualified candidates. Tracking view-to-apply rates can highlight areas for improvement in your job descriptions, application process, or employer branding. 

Optimization tip: If your conversion rate is low, experiment with shorter job applications, more compelling job descriptions, and targeted messaging to boost engagement. 

2. Time to Fill 

Why it matters: A slow hiring process can mean losing candidates to competitors. Tracking time to fill helps identify inefficiencies in your workflow, from sourcing to final offers, so you can streamline decision-making and reduce delays. 

Optimization tip: Identify bottlenecks in your hiring process. Are slow approvals, interview scheduling delays, or sourcing gaps holding you back? Use automation to accelerate decision-making. 

3. Quality of Hire 

Why it matters: It’s not just about hiring fast, it’s about hiring right. Tracking post-hire performance and retention ensures you’re bringing in top talent who thrive in your organization. 

Optimization Tip: Measure quality of hire through new hire performance ratings, retention rates, and hiring manager satisfaction scores to continuously refine your recruiting strategy. 

Taking Action: From Data to Results 

Tracking metrics is only half the battle—the real impact comes from turning insights into action. The best recruiting teams use automation and analytics to: 

• Save hours on administrative tasks 
• Improve communication with stakeholders 
• Make data-driven decisions quickly 
• Adjust strategies based on real-time insights 

Best Practices for Implementing Your Metrics Program 

To unlock these benefits, you need a structured system that ensures your insights lead to measurable improvements in hiring efficiency, candidate quality, and overall recruiting success. 

Here’s how to build a metrics program that actually moves the needle: 

1. Start with Clear Goals 

Before diving into data collection, define what success looks like for your organization. Are you looking to reduce costs, improve quality of hire, or accelerate the hiring process? Your goals will determine which metrics deserve your attention. 

2. Establish a Regular Reporting Cadence 

The most successful talent teams make metrics review a regular habit. Whether it’s weekly or bi-weekly, consistent review helps identify trends and opportunities for improvement before they become challenges. 

3. Leverage Automation Effectively 

Manual data collection can consume valuable time that could be spent on strategic activities. Top talent teams use automation to: 

• Generate regular reports automatically 
• Track candidate engagement in real-time 
• Monitor source effectiveness continuously 
• Share insights with stakeholders efficiently  

4. Focus on Action, Not Just Information 

The true value of metrics comes from the actions they inspire. Each metric should have an associated action plan: What will you do differently if the numbers show room for improvement? How will you capitalize on success when metrics exceed targets? 

Your Playbook for Data-Driven Hiring Success 

Tracking recruiting metrics is just the start. The real power comes from using data to refine your hiring strategy, enhance candidate experiences, and drive better results. The most successful talent teams don’t just measure—they act. 

The Employ Recruiter Success Kit gives you the tools to turn insights into impact and build a smarter, more efficient hiring process. 

Inside, you’ll get:  

• 8 worksheets to optimize your hiring process 
• A recruiting calendar to keep you on track 
• Expert tips on selecting and tracking key metrics 
• Ready-to-use templates for reporting success 
• Strategic tools to plan and scale efficiently 

Don’t just track recruiting metrics—use them to build a smarter hiring strategy. Get the full toolkit to start making data-driven decisions today.  

Aside from impacting team dynamics, recruitment is essential for keeping up with—and surpassing—your competition. However, larger businesses often have more resources, such as larger budgets, dedicated hiring teams, and extensive networks. So, how can a small business compete without these advantages? 

To find the perfect addition to your tight-knit team without breaking the bank, leverage tools that put big-business recruiting activities in your grasp. That’s where hiring platforms for small businesses come in. 

Researching and implementing a new hiring solution involves many moving parts. In this ultimate guide for small businesses, we will explore the essentials and top solutions. 

• What is a hiring platform for a small business?
• 12 Best Hiring Platforms for a Small Business
• Benefits of Hiring Platforms for a Small Business
• How to Choose the Right Hiring Platform for Small Businesses

What is a hiring platform for a small business?

Hiring platforms for small businesses are software solutions that streamline the recruitment process from the initial touchpoint to onboarding. More specifically, a small business hiring platform should be able to:

• Automate routine hiring tasks. No need to manually sync data across different systems and send out interview invitation emails—hiring software can handle these easy tasks for you. 

• Support collaborative workflows. You might not have a dedicated hiring team at your small business, but you still likely require input from several team members to make a well-rounded hiring decision. Streamline hiring conversations with software that accommodates numerous staff seats.

• Track complete candidate information in profiles. Spreadsheets can only accommodate so much information before becoming disorganized and difficult to maintain. Hiring software can collect all relevant data in organized candidate profiles. 

• Engage candidates at scale. Even if your business has only a few people in its hiring pipeline at once, reaching out to everyone can be time-consuming. To preserve efficiency without compromising personalization, hiring software segments recipients and automatically schedules each message. 

• Report key performance metrics. Regardless of your hiring goals, you must collect data to structure your growth. The ideal solution can transform abstract data points into straightforward and helpful visual reports. 

• Mass-post to job boards. Between niche boards and more general ones like Indeed, job boards are likely part of your outreach strategy. Software solutions that integrate with your chosen boards allow you to post to multiple simultaneously. 

12 Best Hiring Platforms for a Small Business

Now that you understand the basics of hiring platforms, let’s examine your top options. 

Top Hiring Platform for Small Businesses: JazzHR

If you’re looking for a platform custom-made to support small business needs, look no further. JazzHR is a recruitment solution that makes complex hiring processes accessible for small teams without breaking the bank. Some of our industry-leading features include:

• Advanced Visual Reporting tool that produces comprehensive reports for recruitment datasets, compliance requirements, and marketing campaigns. 
• Bulk Actions, which empower multi-tasking and help progress candidates through the pipeline quickly.
• Customizable workflows so you can curate the ideal hiring process for your needs. 
• Collaborative interface so you can involve multiple team members in the hiring process.
• Free Job Board Syndication to reach more candidates for a fraction of the time and cost.
• Knockout questions that automatically disqualify candidates based on application responses.
• Email sync, which saves email correspondences directly in JazzHR.
• Interview guides, which allow candidates to provide your team with actionable feedback.
• Comprehensive add-on features like candidate texting, offer letter and eSignature management, all-access support, and a Zoom integration. 
• Transparent pricing, which starts at only $75/month. 
• Convenient support via email, chat, and phone. 

This is only the beginning—view a complete list of our features here. 

Over 15,000 businesses (including Pure Barre, WeVote, and teambuilding.com) trust JazzHR to deliver outstanding recruitment results. Visit our case studies page to see how JazzHR can help your business excel.

Zoho Recruit

• Overview: Zoho Recruit is an entry-level recruitment platform best for professionals who are starting to ramp up their hiring efforts.
• Strengths: Affordability, beginner-friendliness, comprehensive features for the price, integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products
• Weaknesses: Users report a lack of customer service approach and antiquated interface. 
• Pricing: 
  • Free plan available 
  • Paid plan starts at $25/month per user

Freshsales by Freshworks

• Overview: Freshsales is a hiring platform that works for very small and beginner recruitment teams.
• Strengths: Easy learning curve, integration with other Freshworks products
• Weaknesses: Some users complain about slow customer service and a confusing job-posting interface. 
• Pricing: Free trial—contact Freshworks for more detailed pricing information. 

Recruitee

• Overview: Recruitee is a multi-purpose hiring solution for more advanced hiring teams.
• Strengths: Responsive customer support, integrated assessment tools, ReferralsHub for tracking employee referrals
• Weaknesses: It is relatively expensive compared to other entries on this list, and some users report trouble exporting candidate data to other systems.  
• Pricing: Starts at $199/month.

JobAdder

• Overview: JobAdder is an applicant tracking system (ATS) best for recruitment agencies.
• Strengths: Extensive reporting, user-friendly setup, integrations, high value for the price
• Weaknesses: There is no free trial available, and users say the boundaries between different job postings are unclear, and the UI is inconsistent.
• Pricing: Contact JobAdder for complete pricing information.

SmartRecruiters

• Overview: SmartRecruiters is an ATS and candidate relationship management (CRM) software solution meant for in-house recruitment teams. 
• Strengths: Highly customizable workflows, flexibility of posting across multiple platforms, user-friendly, advanced set of features, AI functionality
• Weaknesses: Users report difficulty scheduling interviews with candidates and no notifications when candidates contact them. 
• Pricing: Contact SmartRecruiters for exact pricing information. 

GoHire

• Overview: GoHire is hiring software that’s for small business recruitment teams.  
• Strengths: Affordability, responsive customer service, easy job posting management, clean layout 
• Weaknesses: Users say that there are limited integrations with local job listings and limited functionality to customize email templates.
• Pricing: Reach out to GoHire for specific pricing information. 

Manatal

• Overview: Manatal is a recruitment software made for HR teams and recruitment agencies.
• Strengths: Responsive customer service, functional Outlook and LinkedIn integrations, affordability
• Weaknesses: Users say customizing dashboards can be challenging, and the search function is lackluster.
• Pricing: Starts at $15/month per user.

Breezy

• Overview: Breezy is an HR and recruiting management software best for growing teams.  
• Strengths: Extensive integrations and partner network, many training resources available, good for recruitment team and HR team collaboration
• Weaknesses: Free plan has limited functionality and paid plans sharply increase in price.
• Pricing:
  • Free plan available 
  • Paid plan starts at $157/month per user

Greenhouse

• Overview: Greenhouse is an ATS and hiring solution best for larger small business hiring teams. 
• Strengths: Clear reports, strong support documentation, straightforward job creation interface
• Weaknesses: Users report that managing account permissions and adding notes and feedback for candidates can be confusing.
• Pricing: Reach out to Greenhouse for precise pricing information. 

Workable

• Overview: Workable is a hiring platform and HR software solution for advanced small business hiring teams. 
• Strengths: Collaborative hiring workflows, custom interview scorecards, generally feature-rich
• Weaknesses: Users say canceling their Workable subscription is challenging and that the customer service team isn’t helpful.
• Pricing: Starts at $189/month.

BambooHR

• Overview: BambooHR is an HR platform for more advanced recruiting and HR teams. 
• Strengths: Used by many high-growth organizations, numerous integrations, 
• Weaknesses: Relatively expensive and users say the UX/UI isn’t updated frequently. 
• Pricing: Contact BambooHR for exact pricing information.

Benefits of Hiring Platforms for a Small Business

Investing in a hiring platform for a small business is a big decision, so it’s essential to clearly understand the benefits it offers. Here are some common benefits of adopting a small business hiring solution:

• Cost savings. Investing in new software solutions is undoubtedly daunting to small business teams. However, by choosing the best solution for your needs, you can make every dollar count and save more in the long run. Since staff turnover can cost an employer anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s salary, it’s best to mitigate that outcome by hiring ideal candidates.
• Streamlined recruitment process. With fewer team members to pick up the slack, your hiring needs might be more urgent than your corporate counterparts. Software streamlines the process from start to finish so you can fill vacancies quickly. 
• Improved candidate reach. Unlike with local career fairs or networking events, hiring software allows you to reach ideal candidates in different areas. 
• Enhanced candidate quality. Software is your fine-toothed comb when analyzing candidates. Filter applicants by their specific qualifications and experiences to advance the most promising candidates for your business.
• Data-driven insights. Managing complex recruiting datasets is what allows you to go toe-to-toe with corporations. Reduce human error and create comprehensive reports using software.
• Collaborative hiring. Leverage your team’s unique perspectives and make well-rounded decisions with collaborative hiring tools.
• Improved candidate experience. When software is used correctly, it benefits both employers and candidates. Keep applicants engaged and adhere to your deadlines with personalized, scheduled communications.  
• Scalability for growth. Software provides the foundation for you to build long-term hiring practices and offers the insights you need to grow.  

How to Choose the Right Hiring Platform for Small Businesses

1. Create an Implementation Team

Implementing software is a team-wide job, especially for smaller businesses. Create a dedicated software implementation team with people who can help with:

• Project management
• Coordinating training
• Budgetary advice
• Liaising with vendors
• Data migration
• Tech support
• Integrating current solutions
• Providing recruitment perspectives

As you approach team members for their help, outline the expected time commitment for the role and specific responsibilities so everyone remains informed throughout the process.  

2. Define Must-Have Features

If you’re concerned about costs, look for hiring solutions with flexible payment plans—that way, you only pay for the features you really need. Follow these steps to determine your must-have capabilities:

• Assess your current recruitment workflow. Define strengths and pain points to efficiently set priorities. Ask your employees what they like and dislike about your current process and note any trends in their answers.
• Create a rough budget. You don’t need to track every penny at this point, but having a frame of reference will prevent overspending in the future. Keep in mind your growth goals and how your recruitment needs might change to accommodate them.
• Take stock of your current tech stack. Choosing recruitment technology that integrates with your current solutions sets the stage for a smoother implementation process. Remember to consider which tools you plan to keep for the long-haul versus short-term solutions.
• Review common features on the market. If you’re starting from scratch, familiarize yourself with what applicant tracking systems and other recruiting systems are capable of. From your research, list the top features you’re looking for based on your priorities. 

To ensure you’re on the right track, discuss hiring software with colleagues in your network, especially if their business has a similar scope. Hearing external perspectives gives you a more informed view of how to proceed before you dive into product testing. 

3. Research Providers with a Small Business Focus

You’ve already started this process by reading this list, but you should also get deeper experience with tools before you make a final decision. You can do this by:

• Talking with product experts
• Booking free trials or demos
• Reading training/support materials 
• Checking unbiased third-party reviews
• Asking connections in your network for recommendations

Choosing a system made specifically for small businesses ensures that your specific priorities and perspectives will be accommodated. Ask product experts how their solution serves organizations like yours to see if your perspectives align. 

4. Choose the Best Fit

Now, you can put all of the pieces together to choose the best hiring software for your small business! In particular, make sure your solution checks the following boxes:

• Pricing within budget
• Good user experience
• Multi-seat or user availability
• Integration capabilities
• Security features
• Compliance with recruitment laws
• Scalability potential

No software will be perfect—it’s inevitable that each solution will have weaknesses. Prioritize finding the best fit, rather than the ideal solution. After all, what works for each business will vary greatly. 

5. Train Your Team

Once your solution is ready, you can start using it full-time. Investing in training is essential for starting strong with your small business hiring platform. Leverage product expertise and updated training resources to hit the ground running with your new tools. Set a standard training schedule so you know approximately how long it’ll take to get your team fully comfortable with your new hiring software.

Next Steps

Remember that implementation won’t be flawless. As you integrate your solution into your tech stack, note any unexpected issues so you can swiftly fix them with the help of customer support. Or, work with a software expert to reduce confusion and team time. 

Regardless of whether you’re looking for a comprehensive applicant system or just a straightforward solution for beginners, you’ll find the ideal choice for you by working with your team and consistently tracking progress over time. As long as you address issues efficiently, you shape your talent acquisition strategies and source the best and brightest to join your team.

And despite high levels of job satisfaction, 86% of workers are at least somewhat open to other job opportunities, including 46% who indicate they are very open. Companies should respond to these perceptions by focusing on areas within talent acquisition that can speed the hiring process, better nurture candidates, and reinforce worker priorities.

The 2024 Employ Job Seeker Nation Report dives into the motivations, mindset, and perceptions of both active and passive candidates. Let’s take a look at some of the findings captured in the report on both types of these job seekers.

Active Job Seekers

A significant percentage of U.S. workers are actively looking for a new job right now, with 4 in 10 workers indicating they are seeking new employment. But what motivates job seekers to look for new employment? Beyond compensation, active job seekers are primarily motivated by career advancement and greater work flexibility or remote work opportunities.

Employers should recognize that candidates are looking for opportunities to progress and to stay flexible in their approach to work. By emphasizing advancement and flexibility in recruitment messaging, companies can differentiate themselves to job seekers in the market.

Company culture and better company leadership also rank high in importance to candidates. Organizations must take an active role in managing their employer brand and ensuring they have strong leaders who can effectively lead the workforce.

When it comes to looking for new roles, 50% of active job seekers believe that finding a job in the current labor market is easy, and 56% believe that the current job market favors candidates. Nearly two-thirds believe it will take them less than three months to find a new job.

Passive Candidates

For the 52% of workers who are not actively looking for a job, 54% would consider applying for a new role if approached by a recruiter. Their top motivations for considering a new job include greater work flexibility or remote work opportunities (43%) and career advancement (42%).

Of these more passive candidates, 55% believe it would be easy to find a job in the current labor market, 49% indicate the current hiring environment favors candidates, and 73% believe it would take them less than three months to find a new job. However, despite these beliefs, only 18% of passive candidates would feel comfortable quitting their jobs without having another job lined up.

While there are distinct differences between those workers actively seeking a new job versus those who are not, there are also similarities. These commonalities point to shared motivations for seeking new positions and beliefs that the labor market still offers plenty of opportunities to find new roles quickly.

Between 2022 and 2023, more than one in five workers (22%) had left a job. During the past 12 months, this number dropped to just 17%. Workers indicate that beyond seeking increased compensation, they left their current position for career advancement (33%), better company culture (27%), change in location/geography (26%), better company leadership (25%), and greater work flexibility/remote work opportunity (24%).

Motivations for Leaving or Declining Jobs 

Most alarming for employers, 24% of workers have left a job within the first 90 days of starting a new role. While this number has decreased by several percentage points over the last three years, it is still concerning that nearly one in four workers acknowledge leaving within three months of beginning a role.

The primary reasons for leaving within this three-month period include poor company culture (47%), disapproval/distrust of company leadership (31%), and limited career advancement (28%). It is essential for companies to ensure that the transition from new hire to new employee is seamless and that the experience promised as a candidate matches the experiences delivered as an employee.

When it comes to declining job offers during the last year, less than one-quarter (21%) of workers have turned down a new role. Contributing to their decision to refuse a new job are poor location or geography (38%), limited career advancement (33%), and limited flexibility to work from home or remotely (30%). While declining offers are limited to one in five candidates, it’s essential that talent teams continue to nurture candidates through the recruiting lifecycle from the first look to the first day.

Uncover More Insights in the Full Report

Understanding the dynamics of today’s job seekers in the labor market is crucial for both recruiters and employers alike. The Employ Job Seeker Nation Report provides a comprehensive look into the motivations, aspirations, and challenges faced by workers in the U.S.

Stay ahead of the curve, understand market trends, and make informed decisions to cultivate a thriving workforce in the ever-evolving job market. Download the Employ Job Seeker Nation Report now to unlock more insights on job seekers today and elevate your hiring function to new heights.

To understand the perspectives of job seekers in this complex market, Employ conducted its annual survey of U.S. workers, exploring job satisfaction, career motivations, preferences for workplace flexibility, experiences during the job search process, and recruiter-candidate interactions.

 The 2024 Job Seeker Nation Report, conducted in partnership with Zogby Analytics, surveyed more than 1,500 U.S. workers in April 2024, and the results may surprise or even alarm employers.

The survey found that while 79% of American workers indicate they are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied in their current roles, 86% are at least somewhat open to other job opportunities, including 46% who are very open. Additionally, 40% of workers are actively looking for new employment, with a majority (58%) looking for new roles within their current company.

Beyond compensation, active job seekers are primarily motivated by career advancement, greater work flexibility, and remote work opportunities. Company culture and better leadership also rank high in importance to candidates. The report also reveals that candidates are feeling confident in the current labor market, with 50% of active job seekers believing that finding a job is easy and 56% believing that the current job market favors candidates.

For employers today, understanding job seeker mindset, motivations, and behavior is critical to connecting with candidates more effectively and staying competitive in a tight labor market.

The full 2024 Employ Job Seeker Nation Report provides an in-depth, data-driven look at:

• The complexity of job seeker realities in the current market
• Motivations for leaving jobs or declining new offers
• Preferences for workplace flexibility
• Experiences during the job search process
• Recruiter-candidate interactions

Employers can use this information to optimize and improve their recruiting functions, informed by the realities job seekers face right now. Here’s a peek at what’s inside:

Complexity of Job Seekers Realities

When it comes to levels of job satisfaction, U.S. workers are overwhelmingly satisfied in their roles. According to the Employ survey data, 79% are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied, compared to just 10% of job seekers who are dissatisfied.

Despite these high levels of satisfaction, 86% of workers are at least somewhat open to other job opportunities, including 46% who indicate they are very open.

Similar to 2023, a significant percentage of U.S. workers are actively looking for a new job right now, with 4 in 10 workers indicating they are seeking new employment. The good news for employers is that a majority of job seekers (58%) have looked for a new position within their current company.

Active Job Seekers

So, what motivates job seekers to look for new employment? Beyond compensation, active job seekers are primarily motivated by career advancement and greater work flexibility or remote work opportunities.

Employers should recognize that candidates are looking for opportunities to progress and to stay flexible in their approach to work. By emphasizing advancement and flexibility in recruitment messaging, companies can differentiate themselves to job seekers in the market.

Company culture and better company leadership also rank high in importance to candidates. Organizations must take an active role in managing their employer brand and ensuring they have strong leaders who can effectively lead the workforce.

When it comes to looking for new roles, 50% of active job seekers believe that finding a job in the current labor market is easy, and 56% believe that the current job market favors candidates. Nearly two-thirds believe it will take them less than three months to find a new job.

Download the Full Job Seeker Nation Report

Stay ahead of the curve and attract the best talent to your organization. Download the free report and gain valuable insights into the job market and job seeker preferences.

By using savvy recruiting tools and strategies, you can position your SMB in front of the best candidates for your open roles, highlight your unique value proposition, and grow sustainably over time. And if you’re feeling daunted about competing with larger or more experienced talent acquisition (TA) teams, don’t worry — the tools in this guide are accessible, affordable, and tailored to SMB needs. Let’s take a look at the top recruiting solutions you can add to your toolkit, so you can start bolstering your employer brand.

–Recruiting Tools for SMBs: FAQs

–Top Recruiting Tools for SMBs

–How to Choose and Implement Recruiting Tools

Recruiting today isn’t just about instincts—it’s about insights. For teams juggling fast-paced hiring demands, lean resources, or high applicant volumes, a data-driven recruitment strategy can help you move faster, work smarter, and make confident decisions at every step. 

In this blog, we’ll break down: 

• Why data matters for high-impact recruiting 
• The top recruiting metrics to track 
• How to build a data-backed strategy with the right recruiting tools 
• Tips to continuously improve hiring results 

Let’s dig in.

Why Data-Driven Recruitment Matters 

Whether you’re managing hiring solo, leading a small team, or balancing recruitment with ten other responsibilities, the right data can help you: 

• Identify bottlenecks in your process 
• Focus efforts where they’ll have the most impact 
• Optimize time and budget 
• Align hiring with business goals 

A data-driven recruitment strategy ensures every hire is backed by evidence—not guesswork. 

Key Recruiting Metrics to Track 

Not sure which recruiting metrics matter most? Focus on the data points that connect directly to your recruitment goals. Here are the top metrics to guide your hiring strategy: 

• Application completion rate: How many candidates start vs. finish an application 
• Funnel conversion rates: Where candidates drop off in the hiring journey 
• Nurture engagement: Open and click rates on candidate emails 
• Candidate feedback scores: Ratings on their experience with your process 
• Recruiting and hiring speed: Time to move candidates from apply to offer 
• Hiring manager satisfaction: Internal confidence in the process and outcome 
• Average cost per hire: Total spend per hire across your channels 
• Sourcing channel effectiveness: Which platforms deliver quality candidates 
• Quality of hire: Performance and retention of new hires 
• Offer acceptance rate: How often offers turn into signed deals 
• Employee retention rate: How long new hires stick around 

Choose the metrics that best reflect your current goals—whether you’re attracting talent more efficiently, reducing time-to-fill, or improving retention. 

The Benefits of Data-Driven Recruitment

Hiring is an ever-evolving process. That means you must continuously track your key recruiting metrics and make changes to meet the needs of your evolving business. By using analytics in your approach to recruiting and hiring, you ensure all hiring stakeholders can make decisions based on real-time, unified insights. 

Here are some other key advantages of data-driven recruitment to keep in mind: 

1. Focus on the Most Effective Channels 

When it comes to recruitment channels, such as job boards and career fairs, less is more, especially for teams with a limited timeline and budget. Data from your recruitment channels helps you hone your efforts where they matter most and reach the right candidates faster.  

Metrics that gauge recruitment channel value:  

• Nurture engagement levels 
• Funnel conversion rates 
• Candidate feedback scores 

2. Build a Future-Ready Hiring Strategy 

Planning for the future can be challenging when you don’t have a clear idea of your projected growth. In the face of uncertainty, data is crucial for making a relevant, realistic, and actionable long-term recruitment strategy. 

Metrics that help form long-term hiring plans: 

• Average cost of hire 
• Quality of hire 
• Employee retention rate 

3. Strengthen Recruitment Marketing 

If your brand isn’t widely known yet, recruitment marketing practices like targeted messaging and optimized sourcing can help you stand out. Understanding how to look at your recruitment funnel like a marketer can help you allocate resources efficiently and plan for the future.  

Metrics that enhance recruitment marketing and sourcing: 

• Sourcing channel effectiveness 
• Candidate feedback scores 
• Funnel conversion rates  

4. Consistently Find Qualified Candidates 

Regularly pivoting your recruiting approach to find qualified candidates reduces your recruiting ROI and puts strain on your hiring team. Use data to determine which candidates are qualified and how to source them. 

Metrics that help you find qualified candidates consistently: 

• Quality of hire 
• Hiring manager satisfaction 
• Employee retention rate 

How to Build a Data-Driven Recruitment Strategy 

Creating a smart, scalable recruiting strategy starts with understanding your data. Here’s how to put it to work. 

Step 1: Choose the Right Recruiting Tools 

Strong recruitment software features make all the difference in how easily and effectively you collect and act on data. Look for solutions that are easy to use, fast to implement, and built to support your real-world hiring flow. 

Core tools to consider: 

• Applicant tracking system (ATS): Centralizes candidate data and hiring workflows 
• Workflow management: Organizes tasks and improves team collaboration 
• Candidate sourcing tools: Builds talent pipelines for high-volume hiring 
• Candidate feedback collection: Gathers experience insights to improve your process 
• Communication tools: Automates and personalizes candidate outreach 
• Skills assessments: Validates core competencies before the offer 

Pro tip: Choose recruiting software that meets your current needs and scales as you grow. JazzHR was built to support lean teams, busy hiring managers, and growing businesses alike. 

Step 2: Define Your Hiring Scope 

Hiring one person? Fifteen? More? Whether you’re planning for a seasonal surge or building out a growing team, your recruiting scope sets the stage for your strategy. 

To define your scope, consider: 

• Your business growth trajectory 
• Budget and hiring timelines 
• Turnover trends 
• External economic or industry conditions 
• Your team’s current capacity 

Build flexibility into your hiring plan—because things rarely go exactly as expected. You might plan to bring on two new team members, but a market shift or unexpected growth could change that overnight. A flexible scope helps you stay ready for whatever comes next.  

Step 3: Improve Your Data Collection 

Determining the most important recruitment analytics for your business to track is only the first component of a data-driven strategy. You also need to optimize how you collect your metrics, so you can draw actionable insights from them. Try these data collection best practices: 

• Respect privacy: It’s easy to focus on collecting as much data as possible—but quality and consent matter more than quantity. Stick to the essentials, get clear permission, and make sure your data practices align with current privacy regulations. 
• Prioritize data hygiene: Your insights are only as good as your data. Standardize form fields, run regular audits, and back up your database to ensure your recruiting metrics stay accurate, organized, and easy to report on. 
• Empower your team: Even if only a few people manage recruiting data, everyone benefits from understanding the basics. Set aside time for quick training sessions so your whole team knows how to collect, handle, and use data responsibly. 

Keep Evolving Your Strategy 

Your hiring needs will evolve—and your strategy should, too. By continuously tracking key recruiting metrics, you’ll have the insights needed to adapt quickly, prioritize the right efforts, and make informed, confident decisions. 

Ready to get started? JazzHR makes it easy to build a smarter, faster, more consistent recruiting process backed by data. From guided workflows to automated sourcing and real-time insights, it’s everything your team needs to hire better—without missing a beat. 

One key difference is that bigger businesses have — well — bigger human resources teams. And within these HR departments, there are multiple people focused on HR reporting.

Your SMB likely has just one or maybe two HR professionals who tackle important tasks daily, with HR reporting tied to your recruiting efforts possibly one of them.

Although it may be challenging to find the time, collecting, analyzing, and taking action on HR data to ensure your business can make informed decisions is critical.

Using analytics to drive data-driven improvements requires insights from your human resources metrics that will also enhance your entire hiring process.

What HR reporting involves today — and why it’s so important

If you’re worried about falling behind in leveraging human resources analytics, don’t worry. It’s something that many small businesses struggle with.

“New HR professionals … are just starting to dip their toes into data,” Employee Cycle CEO Bruce Marable wrote for SHRM. “In fact, most HR leaders are tracking reports and metrics in spreadsheets. They aren’t sure what should be measured, how to calculate data, or even what to do with data.”

The good news is you can get going with HR data collection with relative ease using recruiting software with built-in recruiting reporting capabilities. Once implemented, you can then connect this solution to your other HR systems that house workforce data.

This connected human resources tech setup offers two big benefits for your small business:

• 1) Your hiring team can track candidate movement from one hiring stage to the next and ensure roles are filled quickly and efficiently, all from one platform. Data tied to new hires can then sync from this solution to your workforce-centric HR tech to create employee profiles.
• 2) From your small business recruiting software, you can send business leaders and other hiring stakeholders custom HR reports that highlight the best channels to source candidates and get applicants, which workflows slow down and speed up recruiting cycles, and other elements of your hiring process. Once candidates are hired, you can sync their profiles to your employee database to create new employee records and custom reports there as well.

The 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report found 24% of HR decision-makers plan to increase investment in reporting and analytics technology in 2024. This includes many human resources leaders at small businesses who know the importance of data to their HR teams’ success.

If you’re looking to get going with HR reporting, the best place to start is to learn the core HR metrics to monitor and invest in leading tech.

On the hiring side of your HR operations, you need a purpose-built applicant tracking system (ATS) with out-of-the-box talent analytics that every hiring team member can easily use.

Understanding key metrics tied to your HR reporting process

Before explaining the tech you need to succeed with HR reporting, let’s cover the basics around human resources metrics. There are two types of HR data your team must monitor regularly.

HR metrics associated with your workforce

First up, consider data that focuses on your employees, including:

• Employee productivity. These metrics can be analyzed by individual workers, entire teams, and your small business at large. Basically, you can see how employee output, and even the number of hours worked, contributes to revenue growth and other improvements company-wide.
• Employee engagement. The number of employees who quit, worker absenteeism, and employee satisfaction are just a few core HR metrics small businesses track and report on over time.
• Employee retention. Tracking turnover and retention over time gives SMBs insight into bigger-picture trends they need to address. For example, if employees in certain types of roles are leaving at a high rate, small business leaders can figure out what’s causing that. This metric also informs short-term hiring needs for high-priority positions.

Remember: Your small business leaders need to be kept in the know regarding workforce trends.  

Yet, Sapient Insights Group research found 40+% of HR teams only shared some critical HR metrics with their leaders monthly in 2022. This included compensation reports and performance management reports.

Your small business leaders need to be in the know regarding all workforce trends.

Conducting regular human resources reporting around these metrics is the best way to ensure you can make decisions that improve both your company culture and bottom line.

HR metrics related to your recruiting efforts

Th above part of the HR reporting process focuses on your workforce. But, you also need an ATS with built-in analytics that supports reporting on your SMB’s recruiting outcomes as well.

Advanced Visual Reporting (AVR) from JazzHR simplifies the talent analytics experience for small business recruiters. Easy-to-navigate dashboards offer insights into three facets of recruiting:

• Sourcing effectiveness. See how far applicants and sourced candidates move through the hiring funnel, including how many job seekers are extended offers and hired. Get more granular with source analysis to see which specific channels attract the best talent, including job boards, career sites, internal referrers, and social media sites.
• Workflow stages. Some small businesses use the same recruiting pipeline stages, including initial screening calls, panel interviews, pre-employment assessments, and offers submissions to candidates. Other SMBs create additional custom stages for more specific parts of the recruiting cycle where candidates are awaiting feedback or have completed a final interview. Regardless of the workflows they use, JazzHR customers can track candidate progression and easily report on recruiting outcomes using AVR.
• Hiring process speed. There’s time to fill — the number of days between when a requisition is approved to when a new hire starts. And then, there’s time to hire — the number of days between when a recruiter engages an applicant or sourced candidate to when they accept an offer. Both HR metrics can both be easily monitored in AVR and used to identify issues with certain Workflows to speed up your overall hiring process.

The Employ Recruiter Nation Report said it best. Human resources professionals at companies of all kinds, including SMBs, must routinely identify “where bottlenecks exist in the recruiting process and uncover opportunities to speed up time to hire and boost the quality of candidates.”

With an ATS like JazzHR, you can put an HR reporting process in place that helps you do just that.

Why an ATS is the perfect HR reporting software for your business

Of course, our best-in-class applicant tracking system offers much more than just HR reporting capabilities. JazzHR is a robust ATS with many features that help small businesses, including:

• Universal role posting to free and paid job boards with just a single click
• Resume uploader and parser to simplify and streamline applicant review
• Seamless data imports from spreadsheets and exports to HRIS software
• Email syncs to organize historical candidate communications in one place
• Searchable database to resurface previous applicants and sourced talent
• Integrations with LinkedIn, Zoom, and many other recruiting and HR tools
• Self-scheduling functionality to allow candidates to schedule interviews
• Customizable, pre-set job offer templates and offer documentation storage

But, it’s the in-depth, easy-to-use analytics that provide insights into these capabilities that makes ongoing improvement with your recruiting and hiring possible. And it ensures you can regularly share custom HR reports with your leadership team.

Discover how small businesses develop numerous types of HR reports and enhance their data-driven hiring efforts with Advanced Visual Reporting. Chat with our team today to learn more.

• The good news for SMB talent teams with JazzHR as their primary ATS solution? 

Our small business recruitment software now offers more robust talent analytics that can be used to both eliminate hiring teams’ reliance on manual data collection in external spreadsheets and ensure they can glean actionable insights with their data in a quicker, more streamlined manner. 

Introducing Advanced Visual Reporting (AVR).

Get to know Advanced Visual Reporting, our revamped talent analytics tool for small businesses like yours

In-depth yet easy-to-understand tables, charts, and graphs that reveal insights into historical and ongoing recruiting progress and help HR pros learn how they can improve their candidate sourcing, recruitment marketing, talent nurturing, and interviewing efforts. 

That is what modern SMB talent teams, including yours, need to succeed and better compete for qualified candidates today. And that’s exactly what you get with Advanced Visual Reporting. 

Our previous analytics suite offered useful data tied to the talent acquisition process that allowed SMBs to take the appropriate actions that improved their hiring decision-making and collaboration.

• Now, Advanced Visual Reporting goes a level deeper. 

“Even though small businesses may not use data and analytics to the same depth as enterprises, having access to intuitively uncover insights in their hiring process isn’t just beneficial — it’s essential,” said Employ Product Marketing Manager Corey Long. “Without this analytical edge, SMBs risk falling behind, missing out on top talent, and potentially making costly hiring mistakes.

“By integrating Advanced Visual Reporting from JazzHR, your SMB can equip itself with the power of data-driven decision-making in order to reach both your short and long-term growth goals.” 

In short, with our new interactive talent analytics experience, your hiring team can easily: 

See which and how many candidates are in each recruiting stage 

Old-school applicant trackers offer bare-bones data that doesn’t update in real-time. (If they even offer talent analytics at all.) With JazzHR, though, your human resources team can see where currently engaged candidates “reside,” so to speak, in your recruiters’ collective talent pipeline. 

That means you do’t have to spend hours cobbling together different data sets from multiple analytics tools just to see which recruiting funnel stages (i.e., Applied, Contacted, Screened, Interviewing, Offer Extended) an active candidate is currently in. 

Rather, AVR provides a complete view that shows how many total job seekers are in each stage. It also helps recruiters determine if they need to take a specific action to move a prospect from one stage to the next (e.g., schedule an initial panel interview, follow up to a nurture email reply).

View robust reports tied to Sources, Workflows, and Timing 

On top of providing real-time pipeline updates, AVR also offers intuitive, data-rich visuals tied to:

• Sources: Learn which specific sourcing avenues help you get high-quality candidates to apply for open roles and find passive prospects whose background and expertise fit the bill for openings. (“Quality” is basically based on how far into the hiring cycle a given job seeker advances.)
• Workflows: JazzHR customers set up unique workflows for different roles, teams, and/or locations, given the recruiting process tends to feature distinct stages and interviews based on the parameters of a given position or team’s hiring needs. With this report, hiring managers and requisition owners can see how candidates progress through each hiring workflow.
• Timing: Find out how long it typically takes your team to hire top talent from the moment they apply or are proactively engaged for an open position to when they sign an offer letter.

Your HR team likely has a workforce analytics function that uses human capital management software to identify top performers and boost employee engagement. Similarly, you need to assess HR analytics in a leading ATS to make better business decisions tied to your recruiting.

By doing so, your team can become talent analytics leaders who make increasingly smarter hiring decisions

Use granular filters to dive deep into real-time recruiting data 

Our unique form of talent analytics also empowers SMBs to “drill down” into data related to:

• Previously and currently engaged candidates
• The status of past and active recruiting processes for certain openings
• The efficiency of each hiring workflow to ensure jobs are being filled speedily

Regarding this latter AVR filter type, JazzHR customers can get an in-depth look at the entire end-to-end recruitment process for past requisitions to see the average time to hire and fill over a given time frame (e.g., the last month, six months, or year, or even custom date ranges).

This helps HR teams with our ATS identify fast and slow hiring cycles — and learn how to fix the latter.

How your SMB recruiting team can take advantage of our enhanced talent analytics solution

Those are the core use cases for Advanced Visual Reporting. The pros of AVR are fairly straightforward. With our out-of-the-box talent analytics for SMBs, your entire HR and hiring team can: 

• Create a culture of data transparency and collaboration to modernize your hiring 
• Leverage an easy-to-navigate user interface to discover data in a matter of seconds 
• Determine which open requisitions require the most attention by your recruiters 
• View recruiting and hiring performance data by job, team, and location with ease 
• Ensure you fill critical roles “intelligently” (i.e., in a timely and efficient manner) 
• Pinpoint recruiting delays and bottlenecks that can inform hiring process changes 
• Centralize all your candidate data — and move away from manual data-tracking 
• Share reports with key hiring stakeholders to provide recruitment strategy visibility 

Simply put, having leading ATS in your HR tech stack is essential to track your progress with achieving workforce planning goals and ensuring your daily recruiting tasks are completed as quickly and efficiently as possible and boost hiring team collaboration. 

And a talent analytics solution like Advanced Visual Reporting is just as vital to your SMB’s long-term success, given the rich, real-time recruiting insights it produces for your company. 

Take the tour of Advanced Visual Reporting and the rest of our top-rated ATS today. Schedule a custom demo with our team to learn how JazzHR can help you build a data-driven hiring strategy.

For recruiting professionals and HR decision makers, getting a handle on key metrics and understanding where any bottlenecks may exist is essential for improving hiring performance.

Based on data from the 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report, below are a few notable benchmark metrics across the recruiting funnel that companies can use to compare to their own talent acquisition efforts, and improve recruiting funnel health, efficiency, and performance.

Applications Per Job

Nearly 7 in 10 talent acquisition professionals report that their current volume of hiring is greater compared to last year. This is supported by Employ’s proprietary database of more than 21,000 customers. During the last 12 months, the average number of applicants has climbed across all company sizes, including enterprise, and small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

With higher numbers of applications, the percentage change of applications submitted over the last 12 months is also up, indicating a positive trend for employers.

Time to Fill

Time to fill represents how long it takes a company to fill a job opening, from the date a job requisition is posted until a candidate accepts an offer. Simply, it’s the time it takes to find and hire a new employee.

The average time to fill for companies of all sizes is 47.5 days. While time to hire for most organizations has historically hovered around 40 days, during the last 12 months, this number has been higher. 

Because hiring is a game of speed, it is critical to determine areas where you can reduce time to hire overall, including shortening feedback loops internally and moving candidates quickly through each step of the hiring process.

Breaking it down by company size over the last 12 months, time to fill for SMBs typically is a few days longer than at enterprise companies, at 49 and 46 days, respectively. This makes sense, given that it can be more challenging for growing companies to attract qualified candidates if they have a lesser-known employer brand or lack the right mix of tools to streamline their hiring process. 

Benchmarking time to hire based on industry is also critical for talent teams because it tells them how quickly companies in their own sector are hiring.  Media, manufacturing, and education have experienced the highest times for filling open roles, while healthcare, retail, and professional services, have the lowest time to hire during the latest 12-month period.

Applicant to Interview Ratio

The conversion rate from applicants to scheduled interview is what is known as applicant to interview ratio. Based on Employ data, enterprise companies have a higher number of total applications received compared to SMBs for each interview offered. This is consistent over the last 12 months. 

When looking at the conversion rate from applicants to scheduled interview, enterprise companies have a much lower applicant to interview ratio than SMBs. With considerable competition for open jobs in certain industries, and large numbers of applicants, especially in the technology sector, it can be challenging for recruiters to manage the high volume of applications. In the case of SMB companies, they could be receiving more qualified applicants or fewer applications overall for open roles.

Interview to Offer Ratio

Interview to offer ratio is the number of candidates on average a hiring manager must interview to make an offer. Typically, a strong interview to offer ratio is around 33%.

However, looking at the interview to offer ratio for enterprise versus small-and medium-sized businesses, it is clear that during the last 12 months, Employ customers within the enterprise segment have seen historic highs in this conversion metric, ranging between 70% – 80%. SMBs, however, have seen a much lower interview to offer ratio , which could mean a higher number of quality candidates are given opportunities for interviews or employers want to widen the field when it comes to candidates reaching the interview stage.

Most Valuable Metrics to Track

So, what are the most important or most valuable metrics to track? Almost one-third (31%) of recruiters rank quality of hire as the most valuable metric they use to track recruiting success. This is followed by time to fill (14%) and cost per hire (12%). Diversity of talent pipeline is ranked as the least valuable metric to track recruiting success by one-fourth (25%) of HR decision makers.

Most Valuable Sources of Hire

One quarter of HR decision makers ranked job boards as their most valuable sourcing channel, followed by internal hires (16%), social media (14%), employee referrals (13%) and their career website (9%).  This gives employers insight into the types of channels and sources that other companies are looking to when it comes to filling open roles in their companies.

When it comes to social channels used for sourcing, 41% of recruiters and talent acquisition professionals report that their company currently uses or plans to use LinkedIn as their primary social channel to find candidates, followed by Facebook (20%), and Twitter/X (10%).

LinkedIn outperforms other social media channels in terms of candidate quality, with more than half (52%) of HR decision makers ranking LinkedIn with the highest quality.

Start Measuring What Matters Most to Your Business

Bringing data together all in one place to see up-to-date recruiting funnel metrics, including sourcing effectiveness, application conversion rates, applicant flow, time to fill, and other key hiring metrics, enables talent acquisition professionals to help their business understand how to improve and drive efficiencies across the recruiting function.

Remember, recruiting is about speed, and knowing how to make faster, smarter decisions is how to stay competitive in an unsteady hiring environment.

Go deeper on recruiting metrics and the latest insights. Download the 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report: Moving Forward in Uncertainty.