College recruiting ROI

When considering return on investment (ROI) in college recruiting, it’s best to look beyond short-term measures and to consider long-term distal measures. Talent acquisition leaders must really look at the big picture; they can’t lose the vision of the forest for the trees.

This series of four videos, hosted by College Recruiter’s Content Manager, Bethany Wallace, features The WorkPlace Group experts Dr. Domniki Demetriadiou, Partner and Director of Assessment Services, and Dr. Steven Lindner, Executive Partner.

 

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This series is one set of videos in a larger series featuring WPG experts posted on College Recruiter’s YouTube channel highlighting best practices and a timeline for developing a college recruitment program.

What are the best ways to determine the return on investment in college recruiting? Is it cost per hire? Recruitment cost ratio? Number of hires made? Retention of employees? Number of job offers to acceptances?

There are multiple factors to consider; ultimately, it comes back to “I spent a certain amount of money to achieve a certain result. So where did I start with college recruiting? Why did I start this in the beginning? Am I achieving what I set out to achieve?”

This brings recruiters back to their objectives. If objectives are big-picture oriented, recruiters will want to use distal measures when determining the effectiveness of their college recruiting programs, not just cost measures or efficiency measures based on the current calendar year.

In the next video, WPG experts share a powerful real example of determining the ROI of college recruiting.

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If you spent $5000 to hire a student from a particular university, and that hired individual made a great discovery which added value to your organization, you would probably agree that the $5000 individual was a better investment than many other individuals you hired who cost your college recruiting program much less.

Thus, return on investment is a broad concept which encompasses much more than ratios and efficiency measures. Recruiters should thoroughly examine their objectives for their college recruitment programs. It’s not just about short-term costs.

The third video discusses the importance of considering both efficiency and effectiveness when determining the ROI of college recruitment programs.

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Efficiency is measured by short-term standards; it can be measured by ratios. How many resumes did I obtain from the university? How many candidates were interviewed? How many did we hire? Efficiency measures help recruiters determine whether to adjust the recruiting process or not.

When considering effectiveness, you’re finished with proximal data and are ready to look at distal data and long-term measures. Most HR and recruiting professionals lack patience when it comes to measuring effectiveness. However, sometimes waiting to monitor effectiveness is very important. Defining clear objectives on the front end is crucial, and deciding how to measure and track your objectives at the beginning is just as important. If you don’t, you will not wind up gathering reliable data.

The WorkPlace Group also features an article on its website entitled “Backwards is Forwards” with more information about the ROI of college recruiting.

The final video in this series provides recruiters with final tips related to measuring ROI in college recruiting.

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WPG experts recommend checking out The National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) website; it has some tools for assisting employers with measuring the effectiveness of their college recruiting programs.

As time goes on, employers learn that students who excel when hired are not the students they might have expected to excel. As time goes on, data provides expectations wrong. This is one reason it’s important to follow data and use it in the planning process. Study the data and measure long-term effectiveness (distal data). This will improve your college recruiting program and overall effectiveness.

For more tips on college recruiting from The WorkPlace Group, subscribe to our YouTube channel and check out all 15 videos featuring experts Dr. Domniki Demetriadou and Dr. Steven Lindner.

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Dr. Steven Lindner is the executive partner of The WorkPlace Group®, a leading “think-tank” provider of recruitment services assisting companies ranging from small, fast growing businesses to multinational Fortune 500 companies. He is an expert in Talent Acquisition and Assessment, has appeared in many radio and TV interviews and a frequent presenter at HR conferences.  He writes weekly employment articles for the NY Daily News and holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology.

 

 

 

Dr. Domniki Demetriadou, is a partner and director of assessment services of The WorkPlace Group®, a leading “think-tank” provider of recruitment services assisting

companies ranging from small, fast growing businesses to multinational Fortune 500 companies.  Demetriadou is an expert in Talent Acquisition and Assessment, and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American National Standards Taskforce. She is a frequent presenter at HR conferences and has led many multinational recruiting programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Graduate Center at Baruch College, CUNY.