2026 March- TLIX Leaders-Only Connect
Benchmarking TA metrics and methodologies was the focus of our latest TLIX: Talent Leader Information Exchange Leaders-Only Connect. When examining the pace of recruiting, the member with the clearest metric definitions uses Time to Offer, Time to Hire/Offer Acceptance, and Time to Start. That seemed helpful given the lack of consistency around a Time to Fill definition, and having these variations also helps with showing the impact of unfilled roles on the business. One leader shared that they monitor 'Dwell Time' – the length of time a candidate sits in a particular status in the funnel. High dwell times signal an issue either with a recruiter, a manager, or a process step.
Next, key takeaways from our source of hire discussion included considering both quantity and quality metrics, as well as different goals based on top or bottom of recruiting funnel objectives. We then move on to the typical discussion regarding Quality of Hire with every company using different metrics and philosophies around how much ownership TA should have for various QoH metrics and employment durations. A few leaders noted that the most objective measures – which are also typically the only ones allowed by corporate legal departments – are attrition, performance ratings, and promotion velocity. But, by the time you can examine those metrics, many factors are at play in influencing the ROI of the hire and thus the degree of recruiting accountability.
Finally, intern to full-time conversions varied based on the industry, entry level role types, junior/other class standing, and the size and degree of focus for the internship program. One member also shared how their company runs high school internship programs. Next, we didn’t see much consistency around hires expected per year from TA managers given the uniqueness of everyone’s operating models and industries. But we were able to calibrate across companies when discussing TA teams internal/external candidate hiring ratios, with a 25-32% internal fills range.