The Ultimate Recruiting Metrics Dashboard-A Review of Visier’s Talent Analytics Add-on

I’ve already confessed my obsession with analytics on this website in previous posts so it should be no surprise that I am writing another article on the topic. I shared in a recent post the convergence of Data Analytics and Recruiting based on my experience using the Visier platform. I had the opportunity to participate in a demo of Visier’s Talent add-on so I thought I would share my review of the ultimate recruiting metrics dashboard.

Simplicity with Everything at your Fingertips

One of the first things that appealed to me was the simplicity of the dashboard. This is a hallmark of the Visier platform design.

I like how Visier will pose questions and provide the answers once you click on the icon. For instance, rather than trying to leverage the platform to do a deep dive into your turnover, the platform will have questions like:Where is my highest turnover? What makes someone stay or resign?

From this simple yet powerful dashboard you can begin digging into the critical levers within talent acquisition. So let me show you some of the features I liked the most.

What does the candidate journey look like?

In August of last year, I spent roughly an entire weekend tracking our candidate journey. I had to download the information from the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) into an excel worksheet, scrub the data for duplicates and for accuracy,then hours building complex if/then formulas.

Once I had the information, I then had to work through graphs, charts and other graphics to try to find the answer to two basic questions:

1. How long is the candidate journey?
2. Where are our roadblocks in the process?

So when I saw this screen during the demo, I was a little pissed off that there was a program that could have done this for me with such ease. An entire weekend of my life could have been given back to me if I had a tool like this.

This particular screen allows you to set parameters or stopping points for your candidate journey, specific to your firm. Based on this information, Visier analyzes the candidate flow and tracks where candidates drop off. You can analyze not only the amount of time it takes to progress through each stage but also who is dropping out and why.

Visier’s built in filter function allows you to go deeper into this information. You can review this information by job, job family, generation and diversity. This is critical for me since I really want to understand how committed my organization is to diversity. Now, with maybe three clicks, I can review critical jobs and answer two important questions in diversity recruiting:

1. Are we attracting and recruiting enough diverse talent for our open jobs?
2. Are the diverse candidates in our pool being treated equally throughout the process?

Additionally, this screen will allow you to better understand where your roadblocks are in the process.

Are your recruiters taking too long to review and interview candidates? Are your managers providing timely feedback? Do candidates get frustrated or disengaged because of the length of your recruiting process?

Each of these questions are vital to any recruiting strategy. Needless to say, this was one of my favorite features of the demo.

Laser Focus on Diversity

Companies tout their commitment to diversity and inclusion, however, few know exactly how diverse candidates enter into the organization. Visier’s platform gives great insight to several layers of diversity in the recruiting process.

The first is the number of diverse candidates entering the funnel. Sure, there are a number of ATS platforms that can tell you how many diverse candidates apply but few can tell you whether these candidates were interviewed by a diverse panel.

This particular module is critical for someone like me who really wants to understand the candidate experience of our diverse pool. The snapshot above is already built into the platform so I don’t have to waste time trying to build something. Just point, click, and analyze.

If your organization really wants to understand what is going on in their diversity recruiting efforts, Visier’s product allows you to spend more time finding and addressing any gaps and less time trying to put all of the information together.

Are you successful or only treading water?

I recently tried to build a report in Google’s Data Studio to show me trend lines of our recruiting activity. I know I am not the only one who has weeks when we close a ton of jobs, only to see the total open requisition number move by one or two jobs.

With this module, I can drill down from the organizational level and analyze which lines of business are crating the most havoc in my tranquil garden of recruiting. The filter options will also allow me to look at year over year trends and limit the scope to a job group or line of business.

One of the key benefits in Sprint Recruiting is the ability to allocate resources biweekly according to the priority and workloads of the sprint. I have been doing this process manually over the last year, leveraging Google Data Studio. I am curious to learn how I could use this simple interface to better allocate resources, predict trends in the lines of business we serve and work closer with my HR partners to understand why certain groups are more volatile than others.

Finally-A FUNNEL!

This funnel is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Visier’s funnel includes cost of hire and other key metrics in one simple module for me. Sure, there are some applicant tracking systems out there that tout their ability to create a funnel but it’s rarely something I would use. I’m a sales/relationship management guy and recruiting is a sales/relationship management business. So why wouldn’t I want a funnel to help me understand how many candidates I should search for to find my rock-star?

This particular snapshot shows the progress in college recruiting. The demo allowed me to use their data to drill down to particular jobs, segments of candidates and just about any other quality I could dream of. This type of interface would take me hours to recreate in an ATS. Visier’s platform has this report prebuilt at a macro level but offers the ability to zero in on any subject my heart desires.

How are we doing?

I’m obsessed with knowing where the team’s productivity numbers are. I like to be able to quickly see how we are doing as a team and identify any potential gaps in service levels or candidate flows.

Visier’s TA Scorecard gives me just that.

Although the scorecard is editable, the demo module showed me much of the information I manually track. The only difference is that I can’t drill down into time periods or other key metrics like I can with Visier.

Another key feature you’ll see on this snapshot is the cost to replace. Many recruiters look at the cost of hire but do not take into consideration the loss of productivity an open position creates. I find there is a significant disconnect between hiring managers and recruiters on priority of roles because recruiters are only looking at one of the cost levers associated with the recruiting process.

Visier’s TA Scorecard helps recruiters and recruiting managers keep a finger on the pulse of their business with simplicity and ease.

Applicant and Hire Analysis

Sure, I can pull hire data out of my ATS but Visier’s platform makes it interactive. I can review the applicant flow from the macro level but also drive down into the details by simply hovering over a point in the trendline data.

Another feature I like about this slide is the ability to see where our applicants are finding our jobs. Currently, the ATS we work with does not allow us to track this vital piece of information, so the recruiting team has to manually update a google sheet indicating where they found each hire. This module helps me see quickly where my candidates are coming from so I can spend more time and investment in those platforms.

One screen shot I did not get was the trend analysis of where applicants come from. This will help me as we A/B test various marketing ideas on LinkedIn and some of the career boards we work with. I can easily see the impact of the marketing campaigns on candidate flow with only a point and a click.

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There are some more powerful features in Visier’s Talent Module that I liked but these are my top snapshots. The demo seemed to answer my top three concerns as a recruiting manager:

1. Where is my talent coming from and what does their journey look like?
2. What are the recruiting trends of my organization so I can plan and allocate resources on my team?
3. What’s the real story with our diversity recruiting and on boarding?

You may have different questions you want answered for your organization’s recruiting strategy. Based on the demo I participated in, I would be willing to bet Visier’s Talent Module wold be able to answer them not only quickly but with an interface you’d actually become addicted to!