There’s a reason why ‘data-driven recruitment’ has become a bit of a buzz word in recent years: It works.
Recruitment agencies and HR teams around the world are already using data to transform their hiring process by leaning into what they can see actually works for them. And now, the education sector is getting on the data bandwagon.
We’re in the midst of an education recruitment crisis, so you can’t afford to waste time and budget on strategies that aren’t bringing you quality candidates. With the right recruitment software to support you, your school can access invaluable data that will help you make your hiring process more efficient, less costly and bring you better results than you’ve ever seen before – even in the current market.
Let’s take a look at why data is so crucial for hiring in education nowadays and how to use it to massively improve your recruitment process today.
What is data-driven recruiting?
Data-driven recruitment is when you use data insights – like how many candidates clicked your job adverts, and how many applied – to better understand your recruitment strategy and how to improve it. So instead of making assumptions about what hiring strategies and platforms work for your school, you look at the numbers and mould your strategy around when they tell you.
Colleges that have a good grasp of their recruitment data invariably spend less money and resources to hire quality talent than colleges that don’t. This is because you reduce unnecessary spending (time, cost and effort) in areas that you can see aren’t bringing results.
Recruitment isn’t a one-size-fits all process – every institution is different, and has different hiring needs. A data-driven approach to hiring allows you to work out what objectively works for your college so you can lean in on what brings results and cut out anything that’s draining your resources.
How data-driven recruitment improves college hiring
Before we discuss how to bring data into how you hire FE staff, let’s first consider why, as a FE provider, you would want to invest in a data-backed recruitment strategy.
There are a few clear benefits to putting data at the heart of your school’s hiring strategy:
- See what recruitment strategies, channels, and platforms are actually working - Using your recruitment software reporting and analytics features, you’ll be able to get total visibility of your hiring process in real time. This gives you the information you need to lean in on what’s working well without relying on your gut or what ‘should’ be bringing you the best quality candidates.
- Identify hiring issues and bottlenecks - Recruitment processes are complex and involve taking candidate through various stages before making them a job offer. Tracking and monitoring your data will help you identify any hidden bottlenecks along the way that are slowing your process down or channels that aren’t bringing a return on your investment.
- Forecast and budget better - Tracking data and identifying trends in your process will help you work two steps ahead of yourself, forecasting your needs and where your recruitment budget would be best spent.
- Become more efficient - The longer you track your data, the deeper insights you’ll gain. Over time, as you continue to optimize your strategy based on what you learn, you’ll get continuously better results with less effort.
With all these clear benefits in mind, it’s hard to see why any college wouldn’t want to practice a data-driven recruitment strategy. But sometimes, knowing where to kick off is the hardest part. Let’s take a look at some ways to get started.
How to use your recruitment data to hire smarter for your college
There are a few things to to think about that will help you start bringing data into your hiring process today:
Collect data efficiently
There are so many ways you can collect recruitment data, but only one way to do it efficiently.
Every platform you use in your recruitment process – whether that’s LinkedIn, Job boards, or your ATS – will have their own analytics features where you can view the data that the platform deems useful to all users.
But the problem with this is that you’ll have access to far too much data, and lots of numbers that aren’t always relevant to hiring. And filling out spreadsheets with this data takes up a huge amount of time that no school hiring team can spare.
Education recruitment software, on the other hand, will have analytics and reporting features that are built with school hiring in mind. Link up all your platforms to the system and it will automatically track the recruitment metrics that actually matter – all in one place and without any manual work.
With a system that automatically tracks the most relevant recruitment metrics, you’re able to focus your energy on the data that matters, and not get overwhelmed by the numbers that don’t have any impact on hiring.
Adopt a multichannel approach
There are so many different channels and platforms to recruit from nowadays. But which ones actually bring you applicants that turn into interviewees and successful hires? A multichannel approach to recruiting isn’t just good practice nowadays – it’s also key to supporting data-driven recruitment.
Using source-tracking, you can determine what the best recruitment channels and platforms are that actually reach and engage your target candidates. A multichannel approach allows you to source widely and constantly learn from your data so you can adapt as you go.
Track the right metrics
Tracking and analysing the metrics that matter is hugely important to ensuring you keep your data-driven recruitment strategy effective and efficient.
For example, you might think a high applicant rate from one channel equates to success, but how many of those applicants convert to interviews? And how many are actually hired, and retained at your college?
Paying close attention to the right recruitment metrics and analysing what they actually mean will allow you to become super strategic and lean in on what tactics bring your school its best hires.
Action what you learn
There’s no point in holding all this valuable data if you’re just going to sit on it. The whole point in data-driven recruitment is to gain insights you can use to proactively improve your processes.
Should you drop a platform that you’ve been spending your budget on? Could you shorten your application form or reduce the number of interview rounds to prevent candidates dropping out of the hiring process before reaching the offer stage?
This is where you’ll actually start to see the benefits of a data-backed recruitment strategy – in the actions you take based on the data you hold.
Ready to start leveraging your data for smarter hiring? Get in touch to see how FEjobs will help you transform your hiring process using recruitment insights you won’t find anywhere else.
About the author
Katie Paterson
Katie Paterson is a writer and digital marketer specialising in recruitment, marketing, HR technology, and business growth. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
