Using Data to Shape Your Post-COVID Hiring Strategy

by Revelio LabsSeptember 25, 2021

COVID-19 impacts will be felt long after the pandemic is gone. However, the goal is to leverage workforce data even as businesses look to revamp and recover from the dynamics that left many workplaces deserted.

4 Ways to Use Workforce Data for Better Hiring

There’s no doubt about the role of data in recruitment planning. Data has immense potential in the employment process. In addition to identifying the most qualified people for the job, data can help organizations meet other goals, like diversity and workplace composition.

Understanding talent trends and workforce dynamics requires massive data. More importantly, businesses must find the best way to convert the data into helpful insights to influence decision-making. Here are four ways you can use data to shape the hiring strategy.

1. Data Driven Recruiting

Data is at the core of ensuring a high quality of hire. It streamlines the recruitment process and relies on accurate statistics and tangible metrics to inform the hiring plan and candidate selection. What's more, data-driven strategies are more efficient.

You can analyze recruitment data to determine the channels that supply qualified candidates, which is essential when allocating the hiring budget. Data also allows you to track emails, conversion rates, turnover, and job acceptance.

Involving data in your process will help unearth recruitment issues, set a benchmark, forecast, and achieve realistic goals and hiring decisions. However, there's a caveat. It's vital to choose the right metrics, collect data efficiently, analyze, and create action plans.

Fortunately, recruitment teams have access to resourceful databases and analytics platforms for exploring workforce dynamics. For instance, you can work with a staffing agency that allows qualified candidates to search jobs with custom filters and save their searches.

2. Optimizing Workforce Composition

Companies have distinct workforce compositions. Some use a 50/50 approach for gender diversity and inclusion, while others have different frameworks. Once you determine the goals, you can use data and analytics to find qualified candidates in line with your objectives.

Diversity and inclusion are one of many goals when it comes to workforce composition. Recruiters constantly face skill gaps, which are bound to heighten during post-pandemic. With accurate data, recruitment teams can guide the process to get the right talents.

HR departments should analyze trends to determine the success recipe, and none of that is possible without access to measurable data. Investing in talent analytics technologies is a good start for companies looking to stay competitive in the post-pandemic marketplace.

The priority is to streamline the hiring process to get highly qualified candidates. Recruiters must also fill the gaps left by retiring employees, leaves, and resignations. By analyzing the data, you can determine the required skills and diversity to fulfill company objectives.

3. Tracking and Analytics

Acting early on the information is crucial, and there are many aspects to review. Data won’t reveal why you are experiencing low offer acceptance rates or explain the high turnover for your most recent job offers. It has limitations, so it is upon you to act on what you collect.

What’s more, objectivity isn't always guaranteed when analyzing your data. Information grading done by software is often more reliable than relying on individuals. However, computer-generated numbers still require the insight of experienced recruiters to interpret.

Data is useless if you cannot analyze and convert the information into insights. There are various ways to quantify the recruitment data to help you find candidates that match your objectives. You can also track performance across all levels to streamline the hiring process.

For instance, if your business goes through an extended time-to-hire phase, you can review the sourcing, screening, and interviewing methods in place. Tweaking a few things, such as polishing the questions and leveraging technology for remote interviews, could be all you need.

4. Planning for the Future

Recruiters must face current challenges and plan for the future simultaneously. The post-pandemic world comes with uncertainties that require data to inform recruitment strategies that align with current and prospective demands, which is essential for business continuity.

Hiring teams in the modern age can’t rely on intuition alone. Data is vital in evaluating what worked in the past, what didn't work, and the changes required for success in the future. HR departments can also analyze data from past processes to refine budget allocation.

Analytics offers a reference for recruiters looking to improve the hiring process. Every process comes with a unique opportunity to analyze data and refine the process. Tracking metrics will also ensure the company is never short of qualified candidates in all positions.

Reliable Workforce Intelligence and HR Data

While there are various ways to collect labor force data for internal decisions, recruiters rely heavily on external sources. Global databases, software, archives, studies, review sites, and consumer platforms are excellent data sources.

Whether you are an investor, HR staff, or corporate strategist, you need accurate, quantifiable data. You should use reputable HR databases like Revelio Labs, which ingests and standardizes millions of employment records, offering a new approach to workforce data analysis.