Let’s Talk About Metrics Please

“Let’s talk about Metrics please. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be…” Metrics. They’re as good as… yup, Salt n’ Pepa.

You know what’s not as good as Salt n’ Pepa? Hiring Managers saying “I haven’t seen enough candidates,” “I know they’re out there, you’re just not finding them,” or any other similar frustrating statement. They’re not actively sourcing. They have no idea what the market’s like. It’s just a bunch of made-up crap. “They’re really starting to #Push-it”

Use Sourcing Data to Tell the Story of Metrics

You know what’s also not as good as Salt n’ Pepa? Sourcers complaining because their metrics and KPIs are too hard to meet. That those candidates just aren’t out there. They look everywhere, they’ve looked at like “thousands of millions of profiles and stuff”. What do they even do all day, right? It’s not like their head is on the chopping block if these business units aren’t able to produce because they don’t have the manpower. And then we get the whole, “it’s #NoneOfYourBusiness”

But here’s the thing… both groups of people are just showing up to a conversation complaining about things that aren’t going the way they want them to, while providing absolutely zero data to support their cause. “Yup, it’s Bull #Shoop”

So, how do we solve this problem? We look at what data will tell the story of what we are doing and seeing, collect that data, and share it openly. As a sourcer, if possible (which it is), we should be tracking things like:

What platforms we found people on
What search strings we used on those platforms to find those people
How many people on each platform we found
How many of the people that we found made it through to the final list, or to messaging (whatever your process is)
And then start tracking things like: Open Rate, Response Rate, etc. etc.

Without those first 4 steps, however, we’re not able to actually tell the story of what we’re seeing in the market, the work we’re doing, and areas we could improve.

Record the Sourcing Data

Imagine a sourcer having their Hiring Manager fill out a physical intake form, so it’s all in writing, and in their words. Then imagine, that sourcer runs some pretty tight searches (because we’re all Boolean Badasses *Insert Shameless SourceCon Academy Plug Here*), and instead of going profile by profile, they just scrape the whole search into a spreadsheet. They mark the candidates by what platform they came from and what search string you used to find them.

This sourcer would do this a couple more times, scraping ALL search results into this one spreadsheet, or list. But probably a spreadsheet, because spreadsheets are awesome.

Filter through all the candidates in a quick high-level overview, first tagging people out (don’t delete them, but assign a Tag to them to denote why you’re passing – maybe with a Data Validation?)

Then, this Sourcer could click through the rest and look at the profiles one by one as they would’ve done in their original searches.

Prepare for “I Think We Need to See More Candidates”

So NOW… the Hiring Manager comes and says *Insert generic annoying phrase about not seeing enough candidates*, and this well-armed Sourcer can now say:

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, I’d love to calibrate with you. Do you want to pop on a Zoom chat?
This Sourcer can then confirm if the Intake Form the HM filled out is still accurate, or if there is anything they would add or take away.
They can also refer to the multiple sources they’re using to find people – asking the HM if there are any other sources they might know of to search for folks.
They can then show them the Boolean they used to find folks – and if they’re a super cool sourcer, they’ll explain what it means and ask the HM if there is anything else they should be searching for, or maybe if there is anything they shouldn’t be searching for that was in the string.
They can then show them the EXACT number of candidates that showed up in that search result. They can even go through every single one and show them why they passed on each one – and ask the HM, “is there anything I can change about my elimination process – am I being too strict or too lax?”

Finally, when the HM has admitted the following:

The Intake Form is Accurate
The Sourcing Platforms make sense
The Boolean Strings / Searches are on point
The Candidates are being filtered in/out for the right reasons

That Sourcer can PARTNER with the HM and ask them what else you can do together to identify different people, or to identify people differently. And that Hiring Manager would look at that Sourcer and go… “Wow, #WhattaMan”

In Conclusion

I will leave you with two things:

Number 1 – the quick summary of how YOU could be this awesome Sourcer:

Have your HM fill out an Intake Form – Wufoo is a free tool you can use
Run tight searches and scrape ALL results into a spreadsheet
Identify which candidates came from which platform and which search
Identify which search strings were used to bring back which candidates
Filter out the candidates in that spreadsheet using tags so you can clearly see why some of them aren’t good fits
If you feel super fancy, build a dashboard around it to help you tell your story

Number 2 – why was I referring to Salt n’ Pepa this whole time? Great question. First, because it was the first cassette tape I ever purchased. Second, and more relevantly, when people think of what could potentially be referred to as the greatest female hip-hop group of all time (much respect TLC, but sorry), they think of two people: Salt. and Pepa. Here’s the thing. There were 3 people in that group: Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella.

Sourcers and Hiring Managers may be the Salt n’ Pepa, but the Data is Spinderella. You may both tell a story that’s #HotCool&Vicious, but unless you’ve got a #VeryNecessary beat backing you up (the Data) – your ability to come together and collaborate, will be turned #UpsideDown.