How to Make Data-Driven Decisions When Recruiting?

Data is our friend, not our enemy. Reading this article will make you understand why. The data gathered from measuring the candidate experience is the most certain source of information about your recruitment process. Why would you base your decisions on any other sources of information?

If you think about it, there is no better way of knowing what organizational move that is right or wrong than to base it on feedback in form of true numbers. Measuring the candidate experience is one step of starting your journey towards making data-driven decisions in your organization. Though, only measuring candidate experience data does not by definition improve your recruitment process or your organizational performance. What you do with the gathered data is what really has an impact.

This logic can be put into many different contexts. If you want to become a professional golf player it is not enough to go and buy a new set of equipment and start to read golf magazines. You have to practice! The same goes for an organization’s recruitment process. If you want to improve the candidate experience, your recruitment process and business performance, it is not enough to gather candidate experience data. You have to analyze and take actions based on the data.

Measuring, analyzing and taking actions

A fairly simple 3 step process that may have huge impact on your business performance!

1. Start measuring the candidate experience. If you already do that, you are one step closer to improving your business performance.
2. Analyze the results. What do candidates think about you and your process? Do you have the same perception of how things work? Is there a specific part in your process that lacks routine? Many different questions can be asked when analyzing the gathered data.
3. Figure out how you can improve your process based on the analysis of the data. How can you take action from the feedback you gained about your process and candidate experience? Which part or parts of your process could be improved and what actions would increase your CNPS (Candidate Net Promoter Score)?

What ingredients are needed to make it through the process?

Candidate experience data

Since the candidate experience data lay the foundation for the process, it is the most important building block. Without the actual data, it is impossible to implement data-driven decisions.

Courage by the decision makers

The step from gathering the data towards taking actions based on it requires courage from the decision-makers. Changing and developing organizational processes can imply everything from small improvements in the work of one employee to the implication of a whole new routine. Depending on the size of the change, different levels of courage are needed by the decision-makers in order to take action towards a new way of working.

Dedicated employees

It is not only the decision-makers that need to be on board. The employees need to be open to new ideas and routines as well as dedicated to performing their work in the best way possible. If the employees are not on board with the improvements, it does not matter that you gathered the candidate experience data or that the decision-makers have taken the initiative towards improvement.

By analyzing and taking actions based on data you not only base your decisions on actual facts. You also have the ability to measure what impact your data-driven decisions has made. Therefore, it is a simple and effective way of making decisions that can improve your business performance.