What are recruitment yield ratios?

A recruitment yield ratio indicates the percentage of candidates who pass from one stage of the hiring process to another. They can help employers understand how efficient and effective their recruitment funnel is.

For example, you might want to determine the percentage of candidates who received an interview invitation after completing a phone screening.

Recruitment yield ratios can be useful for:

• Measuring the success of different sourcing channels

• Identifying bottlenecks in the hiring process

• Improving recruitment strategy and forecasting

How to calculate a recruitment yield ratio

To calculate the yield ratio formula, take the number of quality candidates from one stage and divide it by the number of candidates who entered the stage.

For example, of 20 candidates entered the phone screening stage and five received interview invitations, your yield ratio would be 25%, or five divided by 20.

You can use this formula to determine the percentage of candidates who moved through various stages of the hiring process. Here are a few examples:

• Application to initial screening call

• Screening call to pre-employment assessment

• Pre-employment assessment to interview

• First interview to second interview

• Second interview to job offer

How to use yield ratios to guide decision-making

Recruitment yield ratios measure the efficiency of your hiring process. They can also help you identify delays or determine which recruiter may be most effective. Here are a few examples of how you can use these ratios to improve your hiring efforts.

Reduce time-to-fill

In recruiting, time-to-fill is the average time it takes to fill a job opening within your organization. You might reduce your time-to-fill metric by using yield ratios to adjust your recruitment process.

For example, if you typically hire one person for every 200 applications received and your time-to-fill stays low, that yield ratio may indicate your hiring practices are successful.

However, if it suddenly starts taking twice as long to fill an opening, you might need to adjust your recruitment strategy, by advertising the opening in more places, using different sourcing strategies or inviting more applicants to do an initial phone screening.

Identify effective recruiters

Tracking general yield ratios is helpful, but you can typically get more information by calculating these ratios per recruiter. This is especially important if you use third-party recruiting agencies.

If your company pays for third-party recruiting services, tracking recruitment yields is a good way to determine if these services are worth the investment. For example, if a recruitment agency sends you 300 applications but only 10 meet your criteria for an initial phone screening, you may need to make sure your goals align with the agency’s hiring strategy.

You can also use yield ratios to determine the effectiveness of your in-house recruiters. Perhaps one of them has a yield ratio of 25% for candidates who move from the application stage to the phone screening stage, while another has a yield ratio of 15%. The first recruiter might use more effective sourcing methods or take other steps to ensure you have a steady supply of potential hires.

By assessing recruiters’ individual success, you can potentially improve your hiring efforts and connect with more professionals with the necessary skills for your open positions. Since recruiters’ connections and sourcing methods can affect your candidate pool, it’s important to choose one with a high yield ratio.

Assess recruitment sources

Depending on the role, some recruiting sources are more effective than others, especially for positions requiring specialized knowledge and skills. It’s important to identify these sources, as it can help you reduce overall hiring costs.

To determine which source yields the most candidates, calculate the yield ratio for candidates who pass from the initial application to the phone screen . For example, if you’re hiring administrative professionals, an online job board may give you a yield ratio of 22% compared to a ratio of 12% for advertisements posted at a local university.

Identifying effective recruitment sources can also help you conserve nonmonetary resources. If you typically spend a lot of time partnering with colleges or third-party agencies but your yield ratios indicate those partnerships aren’t as fruitful as you’d like, you may choose to spend more time on other activities.

Frequently asked questions about yield ratios

How can job descriptions improve yield ratio?

If you determine your yield ratio is lower than expected, you might reevaluate your hiring strategy, including your job descriptions and whether the role’s requirements and needed skills are attracting quality candidates.

For example, your company might require all illustrators to use Adobe. However, if your illustrator job description doesn’t specify familiarity with that specific software, you may attract candidates who have only used Procreate and can’t continue onto the interview stage.

How does the candidate experience influence yield ratio?

The candidate experience can affect how many candidates choose to move forward with your company. This can involve several aspects, such as communication frequency throughout the process, an accessible careers page and inclusive hiring process.