The recruitment funnel is your most important tool in the whole hiring process. It is a simple tracking of a) the number of candidates from – Profiles considered → Profiles shortlisted → Initial screening/selling → Interview rounds → Offer discussion → Offer → Accepted → Joining over a period of time. b)Turn around time (TAT) at each of these steps.
The funnel can be different from the one illustrated based on the nuances in your hiring process.
As a leader, you can define the funnel + reporting frequency and let your recruitment team manage data collection and reporting.
At a tactical level, funnels help with –
- Identify stages where you are losing candidates – for example, if you had an assignment as part of the process, the chances are that you could lose candidates in this stage for various reasons
- The agility of your team – It is not uncommon where a candidate is made to wait for many days because people involved in the decision-making process are busy. Or few interviewers keep rescheduling their rounds because he/she always has something “urgent” to attend to. All these internal inefficiencies can be discovered and fixed while digging into the funnel.
At a strategic level, when tracked over a period of time, funnels help with –
- Understanding if your company’s brand has improved over time (all other things remaining same, offer acceptance rate tracks brand equity of your company)
- Understanding movement in the job market – talent availability, shifts in compensation range, etc.
Even if there is just one role to hire for, it is advisable to maintain and review the funnel. It can provide valuable insights and also get your house in order.
