7 ways recruiters will learn to love their KPIs!

KPIs! Metrics! Hit your numbers! Micro-Management!

These are some of the dirtiest words in the recruitment lexicon.

Yet, it’s a universal truth that all recruitment relies on certain activities, being done well, consistently.

In my experience, managers of recruitment teams adopt one of three approaches to KPIs. Two of them are disastrous, and then of course, there is the right way.

(I will be explaining this in detail during my Masterclass in South Africa next week)

KPI Disaster #1.

In this company we have no KPIs. Or if we do, they are never met, never managed, and seldom talked about. In fact, the business operates like a bit of a freewheeling hippie commune, and often extends to lots of ‘working from home’, and meetings that never, ever start on time. Sound familiar? Unless your recruiters are peak level, self-sustained top performers, who operate as businesses to themselves, (which can happen, but exceedingly rarely) this laissez-faire approach will fail. Badly.

Watch Greg talk about the secret to KPIs that work.



Watch video on YouTube.

KPI Disaster #2.

The company, and its recruiters, are slaves to the metrics. In fact, the weeks’ work becomes all about the KPI report. There are a whole range of KPIS that get measured, numbers are managed relentlessly, often the wrong activities are measured, and the inevitable result is resentful recruiters who feel stifled and bullied, and they start to ‘finesse’ the reports anyway, just to keep ‘the boss happy’. Productivity drops, while staff turnover increases. You can’t hire intelligent, motivated people and then treat them like robots.

So what to do?

The right way.

The fact is that activity is key to success. But quality is as important, and the targeting of activities, and with whom, is essential. It is also true that as a leader, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

So in my view, activity management is crucial to individual and business success. It’s how you implement and manage the KPI regime that makes all the difference.

Here is what works best.

• The KPIs actually serve as a ‘dashboard’ for recruiters to run their own desk. The recruiters use it to manage their time and to keep track of personal productivity, with the focus in the right place. It’s there to help the recruiter, not to ‘satisfy management’.
• To achieve this, it’s critical that the consultants help develop the KPIs in the first place. It’s done in collaboration, with the recruiter working out what they need to do to succeed. Of course the manager massages and debates this until all parties are happy. But if the recruiter is invested in the goals, they will achieve them.
• The consultant must understand why activity leads to the desired results. This is an assumption managers often make. Take the time to work out a ‘backwards plan’, which shows (for example) that to get a placement we have to have 5 jobs (we fill one out of five), we must make 4 interviews (It takes on average 4 client/candidate interviews to make a placement). Therefore we have to do so many client visits, to generate so many orders, and get so many résumés out etc. Spend as much time as it takes for the consultant to truly ‘get’ how activity, done well, flows on to results.
• Only measure the 4 – 6 key metrics. A massive spreadsheet of KPIs that the recruiter has to monitor is a distraction. Just the crucial ones are required for weekly time management. And those KPIs might be different for people doing different things, or working in different markets within the team.
• Relate activity to success, and ultimately to the consultants’ earning potential. Quality activity means placements, which means $, which means a bigger bonus for them.
• Change the metrics measured depending on the market, and depending on the state of the consultants’ desk. Got no jobs? Measure BD activities more. Got no candidates? Measure candidate acquisition activities. Flex the KPI report for the outcome desired. It’s a means to an end, not an end in itself.
• The management of the KPIs is key. A good manager will look not only at numbers, but also the quality e.g. ‘you interviewed 10 candidates last week, but none of them have been referred to clients’ or ‘good to see you sent out 25 résumés to clients last month, but that has resulted in only 4 interviews’. Dig beyond numbers.

The nirvana is when the recruiter takes ownership of the KPI report and understands how activity drives their business forward. They end up hitting the KPIs because THEY want to meet them, not because they are told to.

You want recruiters with high self-esteem, retaining a sense of autonomy, and hitting their activity numbers because they believe in them and they see the link between activity, quality, and success.

Please leave me a comment below with your opinion or idea.

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The Savage Truth Tour of South Africa starts next week! Two huge sessions. One for Managers, one for Recruiters. South African recruiters… get on it!

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