Beyond the Basics: 18 Essential Metrics Driving Quality of Hire

This post about quality of hire metrics was originally published in January 2016. It was updated in October 2024 with new information.

Filling vacant roles is a great feeling. Your hiring and recruitment teams worked together to source candidates, vet them thoroughly, and extend an offer to the best-fit candidate. But what if your new hire quits after a few weeks, or their performance lags far behind what’s expected? You won’t have any idea — unless you measure quality of hire (QoH).

Quality of hire metrics can give you insight into whether or not your talent acquisition process is bringing in qualified candidates. They can tell you if your hiring teams are choosing candidates who are productive, identify with your company values, and stick around. LinkedIn research shows that 54% of recruiters say improving 

But which metrics should you factor into your QoH calculations? 

Let’s take a look at eighteen of your talent data points that can tell you the most about the efficacy of your recruiting strategies and the quality of your hiring choices. 

Hiring high-quality talent isn’t just luck — it’s strategy. 🎯 Check out the top Quality of Hire metrics to refine your hiring process and bring in the best! 

What Is Quality of Hire?

Quality of hire is an HR metric that tells you how much value each employee brings to your organization. It tells you if they meet, exceed, or fail to meet expectations for job performance and indicates whether or not they’re on the right track to be productive employees who contribute to business success. Quality of hire measures the effectiveness of your talent management strategies, too, so you can optimize every process from candidate sourcing to onboarding to performance management. 

The overall quality of hire is determined by evaluating a combination of important metrics rather than a single calculation or formula. You can also track distinct metrics for measuring pre-hire quality and post-hire quality. That allows you to hone in on the specifics of the recruiting process, the hiring decision-making process, and your approach to onboarding.

Track QoH by considering a combination of metrics from before and after you’ve chosen a candidate:

• Recruiting initiatives: How many qualified candidates applied, and how many were interviewed? What were your best candidate sources? Were you able to hire your first-choice candidate? 
• Hiring efficiency: How long did it take to begin interviews after posting the open role? How quickly did you fill the role? What was the average length of time between new hires signing their offer letter and their start date?
• Performance review scores: Did the new hire meet their onboarding goals? Are they on track to meet their performance goals?
• Cultural fit and/or add: What kind of feedback has the new hire received from managers and colleagues? Are they having a positive impact on team dynamics? How did the new employee answer a self-assessment or new hire survey?
• Retention rate: Did the employee quit before the end of their onboarding period? 
• Productivity: What was the new hire’s output during onboarding? Is their productivity on target with their goals as a fully ramped employee? 

There’s no one-size-fits-all for what makes up your company’s quality of hire score, but there are many metrics you can choose from. But which metrics will yield the greatest insights? 

8 Metrics for Pre-Hire Quality

Recruiting metrics — data about the process before a hiring choice is made — can tell you if your recruitment process runs smoothly and attracts the right candidates. Looking at metrics like these can help you spot and solve issues holding you back from hiring top talent.

1. Application Completion Rate: Tracking the number of job seekers who started the application process vs. the number who completed can tell you if your application is too long or appealing to the wrong audience. Tactics like shorter job applications and adjusting ad audiences can improve this metric. 
2. Candidates per Hire: This metric represents how many job candidates are interviewed by the hiring manager before a hire is made. Ideally, hiring managers will only need to interview a handful of candidates before reaching a decision.
3. Source Quality: Keep track of your top candidate sources to ensure you’re putting time and budget into the right places. 
4. Pre-Hire Assessment Scores: Some roles require assessments like skills or personality tests during the application or interview process. Monitor these scores to be sure your assessments are reliable indicators of future employee performance. 
5. Candidate Experience Score: Send a survey to top candidates and new hires and ask them to rate their experience to get honest feedback. Candidate experience can make or break their decision to accept your job offer, so don’t put it on the back burner. 
6. Referral-to-Hire Ratio: Did you know 88% of companies say employee referrals are their candidate source with the highest ROI? They have a lower turnover rate and reduced hiring costs compared to traditional candidates. This metric tells you if your employee referral program is working or needs attention. 
7. Offer Acceptance Rate: Attracting a plethora of outstanding candidates doesn’t mean much if they’re not accepting your job offers. This metric shines a light on both candidate quality and the attractiveness of the offer and role. 
8. Diversity of Candidate Pipeline: Track the diversity of candidates at each stage of the hiring process to ensure a varied pool of high-quality candidates and minimize hiring bias.
9. Passive candidate conversion rate: Passive candidates are those who aren’t actively looking for a new job — in other words, high-quality prospective employees. This metric gives you a sense of your organization’s competitiveness as an employer, the strength of its employer brand, and the efficacy of its talent acquisition team. 

Is your hiring strategy paying off? 💡 Track these Quality of Hire metrics to understand how your new hires contribute and succeed.

9 Metrics for Post-Hire Quality

Post-hire quality can be measured by looking at several different metrics in areas such as productivity, performance, and engagement. These metrics help determine if your team is making good choices about who to hire and how well your company supports its newest team members after they’re hired. 

1. New Hire Performance Ratings: See how your new hires are doing and give them a preview of the performance review process with 30-, 60-, or 90-day reviews. These reviews help you quickly identify potential issues — either with individual performance or with onboarding or training — and empower new hires to do their best. 
2. New Hire Retention Rate: Retaining new hires is no walk in the park — about 20% of employees quit in their first 45 days at a new job. This metric can signal how well your candidate experience matches the employee experience. Compare it to your overall retention rate for more insight. 
3. Absenteeism: Frequent unscheduled absences among new hires might point to engagement or company culture-fit issues. Tracking this metric can also tell you if those problems are department- or manager-specific. 
4. Ramp-Up Time: To measure ramp-up time, set specific goals for new hires during onboarding. For example, you might require new hires to complete a short project before they’re considered fully ramped. Ramp-up time can offer insight into your processes and into the potential of your new hires. 
5. Time-to-Productivity: This metric tells you how long it takes for a new hire to take on the full responsibilities of their roles. It can tell you how quickly new hires adapt and help you understand if employee onboarding and training are preparing new hires for their roles. 
6. Hiring Manager Satisfaction: Get hiring managers' feedback on what new hires bring to the team. On top of rating their performance and productivity, this can include feedback about their work style and how they impact the team dynamic. 
7. Employee Engagement: Measure new hires’ engagement levels with a short survey after they complete their onboarding program. Assessing how connected and motivated they feel in their new role can ensure you provide what they need to be successful. 
8. Cost per Hire for Quality Hires: Look to your top performers to understand the costs of hiring quality employees. This helps you understand the ROI of your recruiting efforts and how to be more cost-efficient. 
9. Quality of Hire Index (QoH): While all of the metrics listed contribute to QoH, you can track this Index score to get a quick picture of your talent acquisition initiatives. The QoH Index combines new hire retention, new hire performance ratings, and hiring manager satisfaction to provide an overall quality of hire score.

High-Quality Hiring With AI-Enhanced Talent Acquisition Tools

Tracking quality of hire is one thing, but making data-driven decisions about who and how to hire is another. You need the latest and greatest in recruiting technology to get the most out of your talent data and optimize your process — and that’s where ClearCompany comes in. 

ClearCompany’s AI-enhanced Applicant Tracking System makes it possible for you to monitor your metrics and step up your hiring game:

• Write job descriptions, candidate communications, and offer letters in record time with AI Content Generation
• Increase applications and save recruiters time with Virtual Recruiter
• Find more qualified candidates with the AI Sourcing Engine
• Get in touch with the top candidates faster with AI Talent Match
• Leverage your employee data for better decision-making with ClearInsights, your talent analytics sidekick 

Schedule a demo and ask about how you can improve quality of hire with the ClearCompany ATS and AI.