How to measure the efficiency of your recruitment process

You cannot read a candidate’s mind. So how do you know whether they found your recruitment process intriguing or disappointing? There is only one solution: a satisfaction survey.

With the arrival of generation Z to the job market and the development of new technologies, the expectations of applicants and their vision of the recruitment process continue to evolve. Companies need to find a way to keep pace with these changes and to come up with ever more innovative recruitment practices to attract the best and most talented individuals. It is important for a company to get input from applicants and new recruits if it is to continually improve the recruitment process and measure the impact of its efforts. That’s because taking constructive criticism into account is the best way to progress.

Why measure the impact of the recruitment process?

Many companies use satisfaction surveys to show interest in their employees and to improve the efficiency of their internal HR processes. That is exactly what Microsoft does. For many years now, this digital giant has systematically surveyed its new recruits at the end of the onboarding phase. This allows Microsoft to identify areas that could be improved and also to reduce staff turnover.

It is worth sending a survey at the end of the onboarding phase to measure the efficiency of the onboarding arrangements, but it is just as important to do so shortly after hiring the candidate. That way you can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your recruitment strategy. This can have several advantages for your company. It can:

• Improve the recruitment process - Sending a survey to new recruits allows you to evaluate and develop the recruitment process. You can find out, for example, what the most efficient recruitment channels are and how you can use them to your advantage.

• Enhance the candidate’s experience - Collecting the opinions of new recruits also helps the company to improve the process so that it aligns with the expectations of applicants. For example, applicants might prefer to be given shorter forms to fill out.

• Maintain contact - Sending a satisfaction survey before the new recruit starts can be a good way of staying in touch with them and showing that the company values and listens to its future employees.

• Get feedback early - It is better to survey any new recruit soon after they have been hired because they probably will remember much more about the recruitment process. They will be able to provide a more detailed and precise description of their experience than they would if asked the same questions later on, such as at the end of the onboarding process.

• Discover why you were refused - Thanks to the satisfaction survey, you will be able to discover why some candidates refused an offer to join the company. For example: If they had to wait too long for a callback after the interview, it gave them more time to apply elsewhere.

To sum up: The more your company is aware of how well your recruitment process works, the better you become at examining your ways, adapting to the expectations of applicants and developing a more efficient long-term strategy.

Now that we know why it is important to measure the impact of the recruitment process, let’s proceed to the serious stuff: drafting a satisfaction survey.

How to carry out a satisfaction survey?

Before you start to draft the survey, consider what questions you would like to ask the candidates, and how you will phrase and organize them. This is a crucial phase if you are to collect opinions properly, gather as much useful information as possible and optimize your recruitment strategy.

Here are the rules you need to follow when forming and structuring questions:

1 - Choose the major topics. This may vary depending on the company’s recruitment process. When it comes to the classic recruitment system, we can divide our questions into four main themes: online application, scheduling a meeting, interviews, and overall impression.

2 - Define the evaluation criteria. The questions you ask should allow you to measure the quality of the applicant’s experience. Among the main criteria that should be met are:

• Simplicity: Did the candidate have the option of applying easily, such as by phone or social media, and attending the interview remotely?

• Transparency: Did the candidate get a truthful and sufficiently comprehensive description of the position and the company from the job description and during the interviews?

• Feedback/responses: Did the recruiter get back to them shortly after the interview with personalized feedback? Were candidates updated regularly about the status of their applications?

• Confidence: Was the recruitment conducted in a confidential manner? Were the applicants’ conversations with the recruiter meaningful and respectful?

3 - Select the question types. It is important to choose the kind of questions that correspond to the criteria you have set.

• Open questions - Focusing on more general questions, such as, “What did you think of the recruitment process?”

• Closed questions - Targeting specific points, such as, “Was the amount of information provided in the job offer description sufficient?” “Yes/ No.”

• Multiple-choice questions - These work the same way as closed questions, but the respondent can choose more than one answer. For example: “On which website did you find out about this company? Company website/ Welcome to the Jungle/ social media/ other.”

• Rating scale questions - These are used to evaluate the level of a candidate’s satisfaction. For example: “How would you rate our recruitment process on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very efficient and 5 very inefficient?”

Here is an example of a survey

1 - Research

• How did you find out about this job offer? Social media/ recruitment webpage/ your professional network/ company website/ recruitment agency.

• Which web pages did you visit to learn more about the company? Company website/ social media/ Welcome to the Jungle/ other.

• Did the job offer description provide sufficient information? Yes/ No.

2 - Application

• What website did you use to apply for this job? Social media/ Welcome to the Jungle/ company website/ other.

• Which device did you use to apply? Computer/ phone/ tablet.

• How long did it take you to fill out the application form? Less than two hours/ about two hours/ more than two hours.

• What did you think of the application form? Too long/ reasonable / too short.

• How long did it take before you received a response after you had applied? Several days/ several weeks/ more than a month.

3 - Scheduling the interview

• How did the company get in touch with you to schedule the interview? Automatic email/personalized email/ phone conversation.

• In the event that you could not come to our office, were you offered the possibility of a remote interview? Yes / No.

• How did you find the invitation(s) to the interview(s)? Very satisfactory/satisfactory/unsatisfactory / very unsatisfactory.

4 - Interview

• How would you describe the way you were treated during the interview(s)? Very satisfactory/satisfactory/unsatisfactory / very unsatisfactory.

• What was your first impression when you arrived at the location? Very nice/ nice/ quite bad/ bad.

• How would you rate the quality of the interaction during the interview, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst?

• Did the information you received during the interview match the information in the job offer online? Yes/ No.

• How long did it take before you received a response after the interview? Several days/ several weeks/ more than a month.

5 - Overall impression

• How did you find the recruitment process on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst?

• Were you updated regularly about the status of your application throughout the recruitment process? Yes/ No.

• Was your view of the company different after the recruitment process? Better/ same/ worse.

• In your opinion, which areas could be improved? Communication, interview, job description, etc.

• Would you recommend our company to a friend? This is an open question.

Now you understand. Carrying out a satisfaction survey close to the hiring process has many advantages. It has a positive effect on the employer’s brand and it helps HR management to review their strategy and to gather practical information that can guide them in making decisions on what to do and where to invest. What’s more, this feedback is a mine of information that allows companies to stay up-to-date with trends and expectations in the professional world and to use the information to improve their recruitment process. So, did we manage to convince you? Ready, steady, survey!

Translated by Hana Furmánková

Photo: Welcome to the Jungle

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