Recruitenomics - Redefining Talent Attraction Strategy

By Mark Stephens

Recruitenomics defines the 'art to improving outcomes at every stage of the recruitment cycle'

We are constantly asked by customers, competitors and recruiters to explain what it is that we are doing differently to other fixed price recruiters, ATS and recruitment management solution providers, to generate the consistently outstanding results which have now set the benchmark for the rest of the online recruitment industry.

Our philosophy and OM is best defined as Recruitenomics.

Recruitenomics is defined as the art of establishing recruitment processes that are influenced by research, data, analysis and human behavioural science, which can subsequently influence outcomes at pivotal stages within the recruitment lifecycle.

If we know that a particular set of outcomes are proven to be more likely to occur, based on statistical evidence, and then a subsequent course of action can be taken that would ultimately influence that outcome, then this would comply with a Recruitenomics methodology. S

Recruitenomic strategy is not necessarily constant either, as geographic, cultural, topical, economic and seasonal influences will ensure that the data and subsequent human behaviours are susceptible to constant influence and change.

Recruitenomics occurs in the intersection between the technology (representing the client) and the applicant.

Here are a couple of very easy to understand examples of very basic Recruitenomics that you probably already use:

Example 1: If we know that job-related searches for a specific job title, made via search engines, and this results in the majority of prospective candidates clicking through to a specific media channel, then the rational recommendation would be to post any relevant job on to that channel, as that would present the highest probability for success.

Example 2: If we know that applicant pre-screening incurs around 70% drop-off and loss of the best applicants, then we can look at solutions that can overcome this issue.

These of course, are very simple Recruitenomics and although these are two very obvious examples, we have deduced that by adopting this approach at every pivotal stage in the recruitment lifecycle, we can have a significant impact on eventual outcomes.

Our primary influences in adopting this approach came from many years recruiting within the engineering sectors where I became familiar with a Japanese philosophy called Kaizen. Kaizen has influenced the way that cars are now manufactured everywhere across the world and has subsequently found its way into the manufacturing processes of most other industry sectors.

Its foundations are derived from the Japanese word that means ‘improvement’. The foundations of this theory are to evaluate every stage of the manufacturing process, in order to eliminate waste and establish areas for improvement, no matter how small that improvement might be.

Some people may be more familiar with 'marginal gains theory', which applies similar rules to Kaizen, in order to obtain a compound interest and is applied in many aspects of a business.

When you think about it rationally, recruitment is a fluid process with multiple stages and pivotal moments, where either the recruiter or the applicant can gain or lose interest. If we become more aware of the statistical evidence that supports following a particular strategy, then we can influence the potential outcomes at each of these key stages.

Our company, Smart Recruit Online, has dedicated significant time over the last 10 years to performing surveys, researching data, evaluating what they mean and deploying tactics to test whether we can influence outcomes at each stage of the recruiting lifecycle and complimented this with improvements to the technology and tools that we embrace.

As part of this research, we have established partnerships with several universities, who have assisted us with our analysis, specifically from a big data analysis, looking at correlations and trends and from a human behavioural science perspective.

This has resulted in significant improvements to all key metrics, such as application numbers derived from increased conversions, advert views into actual applications, better retention of passive applicants throughout the process, improvements to time to offer and most importantly with achieving more successful outcomes, particularly from first time advertising response.

We have complemented this methodical approach with significant investment into development, acquisition and partnerships with the very best technology solutions available in the world in order to create the SRO Talent Acquisition Platform and suite of tools.

The by-product of this approach has included; significant improvements to the applicant experience, more recruiter efficiency, better retention of new employees, reductions in cost and ultimately better hiring decisions for our users, reflected in improved productivity and better retention.

We can now boast the best fill rates from direct applications in the online recruitment industry at 94%, taken from more than 8000 recent campaigns and from across all industry sectors, without the need for 3rd party (Agency) involvement.

We have also measured significant reductions in administration time (typically over 60%), improved time to offer metrics (under 16 days), offer acceptances and importantly for medium to long term, serious improvements to staff retention, particularly in the first year of employment.

The most important objective to any recruiter should be defined by eventual outcomes and that is what we are dedicated to delivering for our clients.

Find out more about Smart Recruit Online and how our platform can transform your recruitment process by booking a demo with one of our consultants.

About the author

Mark has established a reputation for his passion and enthusiasm over twenty years working in the recruitment industry, both client and agency side. For the last ten years, he has been researching the recruitment landscape from both a technology and people perspective. His insights into market trends are often used and quoted across the industry’s leading publications.

His company, Smart Recruit Online, has been the winner of 5 international awards for technology innovation and Recruitment Technology in the last 18 months. And currently holds the accolade of filling more jobs from direct applications for their clients than any other online recruitment service in the UK.