Understanding interviews per offer and interviews per hire KPIs
Understanding "interviews per offer" and "interviews per hire" KPIs is crucial for measuring recruiting efficiency. These metrics reflect the number of interviews conducted to extend one job offer and to make a hire, respectively. They provide insights into the time investment in the hiring process and can help identify areas for improvement.
Recruiting metrics help you invest your recruiting budget in ways that bring the highest return to your business. Knowing what to measure is the first step to getting the most value out of your recruiting data. To help you decide, we’re taking an in-depth look at several key performance indicators (KPIs) we think are worth tracking. In the last of our series, we examine “interview to offer ratio” and “interview per hire.”
Contents:
Contents
What is the definition of “interview to offer” and “interviews per hire”?
DEFINITION: INTERVIEWS TO OFFER
The number of interviews your hiring team conducts with candidates to extend one offer.
DEFINITION: INTERVIEWS PER HIRE
The number of interviews your hiring team conducts with candidates before a hire is made.
For example, if you conduct 10 interviews to extend one offer, then your interview to offer ratio is 10:1. The difference between this metric and interviews per hire is that interview per hire doesn’t take into account rejected job offers. If your offer acceptance rate is high, then the two metrics will be roughly the same. But, if candidates reject your job offers often, the two metrics may differ. You can ensure that your job offers are competitive and effective, but candidates may still reject them for reasons outside of your control. This means it’s doubly important to track what you can control, like your own recruiting efficiency and throughput, which you can find in Workable’s Reporting Suite.
In general, these two metrics are useful because they show you the average number of hours spent on interviewing in the hiring process. They’re also key metrics in revealing how much time senior members of the team are spending on making a hire. The interview per hire ratio provides a more spherical view of your recruiting efficiency and should, within reason, remain stable.
What is a good interview to hire ratio?
Unlike our previous metrics (Time to hire, time to fill, and Qualified candidates per hire) there is no wide variance by location or industry in the number of interviews per hire. This reflects the relative absence of external factors influencing this part of the hiring process. And as such this is the recruitment metric that tells you how well your process is working.
What should you do if you find your average number of interviews per job is starting to climb?
- Break down your average interview to hire ratio report into individual roles and see if one problem hire is responsible for skewing your figures. Do the same by hiring manager and department to see who is struggling.
- Break it down by down by stage using a hiring velocity report to see whether the numbers are increasing at the screening stage or at the initial interview stage or at a final executive interview.
- Review your approach to screening calls, it could be that your internal recruiter or hiring managers need support to better understand the roles that are being hired for.
- Revisit your hiring plan to include a more thorough briefing for the hiring team on the roles being recruited. Spend more time on job descriptions that give your hiring team a complete picture of open roles.
- Review your recruiting budget to ensure that you’re spending in the most effective recruiting channels.
More: FAQs about time-to-fill and time-to-hire
The top 4 recruiting KPIs
Our series on the recruiting metrics that matter:
• Time to fill: The planning metric
• Time to hire: The efficiency metric
• Qualified candidates per hire: The sourcing metric
• Interviews per hire: The process metric
Frequently asked questions
- What is the definition of “interview to offer” and “interviews per hire”?
- "Interview to offer" refers to the number of interviews your hiring team conducts with candidates to extend one job offer. "Interviews per hire" refers to the number of interviews conducted before a hire is made. These metrics help measure recruiting efficiency.
- What is a good interview to hire ratio?
- A good interview to hire ratio varies depending on the company and the role. However, it's important to monitor this metric and take action if the average number of interviews per job starts to climb, as this could indicate inefficiencies in the hiring process.
- How can I improve my interview to hire ratio?
- Improving the interview to hire ratio can involve breaking down the metric by role, hiring manager, and department to identify any issues. It may also involve reviewing the screening process, improving job descriptions, and ensuring effective use of recruiting channels.
- What is the difference between "interview to offer" and "interviews per hire"?
- The difference lies in whether rejected job offers are taken into account. "Interview to offer" doesn't consider rejected offers, while "interviews per hire" does. If the offer acceptance rate is high, these metrics will be similar.
- Why are these metrics important?
- These metrics are important because they show the average number of hours spent on interviewing in the hiring process. They provide insight into the efficiency of the recruiting process and the time investment of the hiring team.
