4 Steps to Streamline & Accelerate Your Hiring Process

Hi, I’m Yuan Hou, Director of Customer Success at Included! After years leading People Analytics, I’m passionate about helping HR teams cut through the noise and get the right people data to the right decision-makers at the right time. At Included, we leverage AI to streamline data-driven HR, making insights more actionable and impactful.

Welcome to The Included BYTE, our biweekly newsletter for HR leaders, talent teams, and data advocates!

In this edition, we take a deep dive into getting more value from your ATS recruiting data.?

Learn how to:?

1. Quickly spot bottlenecks in your hiring funnel?
2. Simple questions to help you identify areas for process improvement?
3. Take action to coach recruiter performance

Stay ahead with smarter, data-driven HR. Let’s dive in!

Recruiting is a fast-moving, outcome-driven function, which means these teams tend to be data-hungry. They want to know: Where are the roadblocks? How can we move faster? You don’t need to be a data expert to use analytics effectively in recruiting. It’s all about asking the right questions and looking at the right numbers.

For most of my career, I’ve had great experiences applying for jobs and working with recruiting teams. I’ve also spent a lot of time supporting those teams with people analytics, helping them make sense of data to improve hiring outcomes.

One of the easiest ways to spot problems in your hiring pipeline is to focus on your most critical open roles. Here’s a simple method that works:

1. Make a short list of your most urgent job openings—the ones that really need to be filled.
2. Look at how long each job has been open compared to how long similar roles typically take to fill.
3. Pay attention to the ones taking longer than average—these are your problem areas.
4. Dig into the hiring funnel for those jobs. Are enough candidates making it to the interview stage? Are offers being accepted? This helps pinpoint exactly where things might be getting stuck.

At Included, we’ve seen customers use this approach with great success. It doesn’t require a fancy dashboard or deep analytics knowledge—just a focused look at the right data. And the best part? It helps teams move faster, make better hiring decisions, and get those critical roles filled. As a bonus,, we’ve built AI insights to make it easier to dig deeper to each of your critical jobs,?

Coach Recruiter Performance with Precision Analytics

In sales, your reps are the engine that drives better outcomes. In recruiting, recruiters play the same role for talent acquisition. If they’re struggling, hiring slows down, and the whole system gets stuck.

At Included, our custom-view Data Stories make it easy to spot recruiters who may be having trouble meeting hiring goals and ensure workloads are balanced so everyone can work efficiently.?

By looking at a few simple metrics like:?

1. Hires made per recruiter
2. Job openings per recruiter
3. Time to fill

–it becomes clear who might need extra support.

These numbers don’t have to be perfect, but they give a strong signal of where challenges might be. When you can quickly identify and assist recruiters who need help, overall productivity improves, and hiring moves faster. Here’s an example of a custom view, by recruiter:

What's Coming Up

We’re continually inspired by how HR leaders like you use data to build more inclusive, engaging workplaces. In the coming editions of The Included BYTE, we’ll highlight success stories from our community, share expert tips to maximize Included’s capabilities, and explore how emerging tech like Generative AI is revolutionizing people analytics.

Plus, stay tuned for an exclusive preview of upcoming product updates designed to make your people analytics journey even more impactful. Your insights and feedback drive our innovation; we’re building this future together!

Do you have a success story about how you’re using Included to create meaningful change? We’d love to feature it! Drop me a note at [email protected]—I’d love to hear from you.

Here's to partnering in creating workplaces where data empowers every people decision!

Best,

Yuan Hou,

Director of Customer Success, Included

Ps. Have a question about how to get best value out of Included? Email me: [email protected]