Key Talent Acquisition Metrics You Should Track in 2024

If you’re not already tracking your talent acquisition metrics and analytics, now is a great time to start. 

After all, if you’re one of the many employers planning to accelerate hiring in 2024, you need every edge, especially since finding the right candidate fit remains an ongoing challenge. 

Monitoring your recruitment metrics will allow you to continually improve your hiring process—and, in turn, make more brilliant hires. 

Understanding Hiring & Recruitment Metrics

HR talent acquisition metrics are data-based measurements that quantify various elements of your recruitment process, so you can monitor your progress and spot opportunities for improvement. 

It’s a given that recruitment metrics are of great interest to HR, but they’re also linked to your organization’s greater goals. For example, if one of your company’s 2024 objectives is to increase sales—and that’s dependent on hiring more gifted salespeople—your employee acquisition metrics will play a key role in achieving that goal.   

12 Best Talent Acquisition Metrics & KPIs to Monitor

While there are many hiring KPIs to choose from, these are our top 12 HR talent acquisition metrics for gauging overall recruiting performance.

1. Time to Fill

Time to fill measures the number of days it takes to hire a new employee. To determine it, count the number of days between the time a job is posted or requisitioned (your choice, just be consistent) and the time a candidate accepts your offer. Obviously, the shorter, the better!

2. Time to Hire

Time-to-hire measures the speed with which you convert candidates into new hires. To calculate it, count the number of days from when a candidate submits their application or resume to when they accept your offer.

3. Applications per Requisition

Also called “Applications per Opening,” this recruitment metric reveals jobseekers’ levels of interest in specific posts/openings. To determine it, count the number of job applications received for each job post. This not only indicates the demand (or lack thereof) for certain positions but may reflect the effectiveness of your posts.

4. Offer Acceptance Rate

This hiring KPI measures the percentage of candidates who accept your offers. To calculate it, divide the number of offers accepted by the number of offers made during a given period. Low acceptance rates indicate that you may need to improve your candidate experience or compensation rates.

5. Cost per Hire

This hiring KPI reveals how much you spend on talent acquisition. To calculate cost per hire, tally all recruiting expenses (posting fees, recruiter fees, interview expenses, onboarding costs, etc.) for a given period. Then, divide by the number of hires for this period.

6. Source of Hire

This talent acquisition metric identifies your most effective recruiting channels—i.e., job boards, your website, social media, etc. To measure it, track where all your new hires are coming from, then determine which channels deliver the greatest number of successful new hires. Now you know where to focus your posting efforts!

7. Onboarding Program Completion

This metric determines the turnover rate of new hires. To calculate it, divide the number of new hires who complete your onboarding program by total participants. If your onboarding completion rate is low (per one study, 33% of new hires quit within 90 days), consider enhancing your onboarding experience.

8. Application Completion Rate

This talent acquisition metric provides insights into the ease and speed of your application process. To obtain it, divide the percentage of candidates who completed the application process by the total number of individuals who started an application. If a large percentage of candidates are abandoning their apps midstream, it may be time to simplify your application process.

9. Turnover Rate

Chances are, you already track this essential HR metric—a prime indicator of workforce stability and satisfaction. To determine your turnover rate, divide the number of employees who left the company during a set period by the average number of employees for that period.

10. Candidate Job Satisfaction

This hiring KPI measures how applicants feel about their candidate experience—i.e., how well the actual job, cultural fit, and skills match lived up to expectations. Obtained by gathering feedback through surveys and/or interviews, it offers valuable insights for improving candidate fit, as well as your overall recruiting experience.

11. Diversity Metric

This measures the representation of various demographic groups in your applicant pool and/or workforce. Measuring it consists of tracking candidates and/or employees by race, gender, ethnicity, and age over time, allowing you to monitor your progress toward achieving your DEI goals.

12. New Hires by Department

Tracking the number of new hires made by each department will verify that you’re delivering on your strategic HR plan—and that HR is helping your organization meet its greater 2024 objectives.    

Use Recruitment Metrics to Improve Hiring in 2024

As the saying goes, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. By monitoring key talent acquisition metrics and analytics, you can enhance your hiring process and better support your employer. 

At Namely, our HR analytics solution makes it easy to collect many essential HR metrics. If you’re not taking advantage of it, get started here. And for more ways to jumpstart the new year, check out our 2024 HR calendar.