Decoding quality of hire: What recruiting teams need to know.

Did you know top-performing employees generate 400 percent more output than your average employee? 

This statistic sounds great but comes with a downside — one in five high-performing employees will likely leave the company in the next six months. 

Often, an employee leaving is just a natural cycle for high-performers who are leaving the company to take a different opportunity and there isn’t much you can do to prevent it.

Sure, you can (and will) work on your employee experience, onboarding process, and developmental programs to keep the employees happy and in your company, but that won’t completely solve the problem of high-performers leaving. 

However, there is something you can do to prepare for the departure of your best employees: finding new talent that will perform at a high level. This leads us to a term you need to understand if you want to prioritize the recruitment of high-performing individuals — quality of hire (QoH).

What is quality of hire?
Quality of hire refers to the contribution a new hire adds to the company. In other words, it’s about quantifying the value a new employee will create once onboarded. Value is usually measured through one of the following: 
•    The company’s long term success
•    The employee’s performance
•    The employee’s productivity
•    The employee’s support of their coworkers

Mirae Lee, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at TestGorilla, believes that ensuring quality of hire is all about being intentional during the interview process.

"Every piece of information gathered during the interviews should be aligned with how the company measures the performance of its employees," Mirae explains.

This approach helps with hiring success and finding the best candidates who are a good fit for the company.

Why is quality of hire important and why hiring managers should care

Quality of hire is a crucial metric for businesses because it measures the value new employees bring to the organization. 

A high QoH indicates that new hires are well-suited for their roles, perform at a high level, and contribute significantly to the company's success. On the other hand, a low QoH suggests that new hires struggle to meet expectations, leading to productivity losses, increased turnover, and higher costs.

Here's a closer look at why hiring managers should consider candidate quality. 

1. It helps enhance productivity and performance

When you hire high-quality talent, you gain employees who can quickly make significant contributions to their teams. These individuals possess the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to excel in their roles, resulting in increased productivity, improved efficiency, and better outcomes.

2. It can reduce turnover and retention costs

High-quality hires are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and feel engaged in their work. This leads to lower employee turnover rates, which saves companies significant costs associated with recruitment, training, and lost productivity.

3. It can help improve company culture and morale 

A workforce composed of high-quality individuals fosters a positive and productive work environment. Employees who feel valued, respected, and challenged are more likely to be engaged and motivated, contributing to a more collaborative and supportive company culture.

4. It can foster innovation in the workplace

When companies hire talented and diverse individuals, they bring fresh perspectives, new ideas, and innovative approaches to problem-solving. This diversity of thought in the workplace can lead to breakthrough innovations, improved decision-making, and a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

5. It helps promote customer satisfaction and a positive brand image

High-quality employees often have a direct impact on customer satisfaction. When employees are knowledgeable, helpful, and passionate about their work, they create positive customer experiences that enhance the company's reputation and brand image.
In short, investing in quality of hire is an investment in the long-term growth and sustainability of your organization. 

Can you measure quality of hire?

Quality of hire, by definition, is a qualitative metric. This means it is data “that approximates and characterizes.” It can be difficult to quantify qualitative results because they don’t have associated concrete metrics. Instead, you'll have to track metrics like turnover, performance, promotions, and engagement, which means that it takes a longer period of time to assess quality of hire.

In addition, quality of hire can be subjective. 

"Quality of hire is a topic that has been discussed in the industry for nearly a decade but it has remained a challenging metric to implement in each company because the definition of good hire varies per company as well," shares Mirae Lee.

Quality of hire is a holistic term that currently encompasses the entire hiring process, candidate experience, and time to hire.

We consider the following questions when we want to measure the Quality of Hire :
1. What is our average time to hire and how can we improve it?
2. What touch points do we want to create for our candidates during the hiring process? 
3. What information is accessible to candidates vs what they require to have a fair, inclusive and equitable hiring process experience? 
4. Which best practices are we utilizing to ensure to remove any bias and assumption from our process? 
5. Which efficiencies can we create in our talent acquisition process, to ensure we can focus on engagement and not administrative burden. 
6. Most importantly: how can we continue to align with our value of "talent first"?