Evaluating Recruitment Campaigns

Previously I'd posted on the best IT job sites and given some tips for getting the best value for your money. This post is an update to the method used to evaluate which site performed the best. Even though I'm looking at IT job boards here, it could work just as well for any other industry or if your using multiple recruitment agents.

How The Scoring Works
I've tweaked the scoring system slightly since the last post, to make it a bit fairer.
The formula is this:



E = Effective Applications
P = Phone Interviews / 1st Interview
I = Face-to-face Interview / 2nd Interview
S = Successful Applicant
See the Key Factors from my previous post for more detail on these.

=(E*1)+((P-I)*3)+((I-S)*4)+(S*5)

This formula makes sure a candidates isn't counted in each category. I.e. you get 5 points for a successful candidate not 12 (5 + 4 + 3).

Explanation of the Data

Remember to count an offers rather than acceptances.

1. Website Name: Name of the job site.
2. Via: Name of job site actually posted on if a cross posting.
3. Applications: Real number of applications.
4. Duplicates: Number of duplicate applications.
5. Dummy: Number of dummy applications. Sometimes an advert might appear and I'm not sure how it got there. So I apply for it and see where the application comes from. These are dummy applications.
6. Agency Applications: Number of applications that have come from recruitment consultants.
7. Effective Applications: Real number of applications minus duplicates, dummies and agencies.
8. Phone Interview / 1st Interview: Number of phone interviews offered (some might not accept an interview).
9. Interview / 2nd Interview: Number of face-to-face or 2nd interviews offered, Not included in this table. But here for reference for future posts.
10. Successful Applicants: Number of applicants the job was offered to (some might turn it down)
11. Score: Testing this out still. At the moment its: =(effective apps*1)+(phone*3)+(successful*5)

I prefer to interview over the phone first then face to face. But this could just be 1st face-to-face then 2nd face-to-face.

Example Campaign 1

Website	Cost	Applications	Duplicates	Agency Applications	Effective Applications	Phone Interview	2nd interview	Successful Applicants
CWJobs	£400.00	13	2	2	11	1	1	1	16
Job Serve	£290.00	11	2	0	9	2	0	0	15
Planet Recruit	£450.00	12	0	0	12	0	0	0	12
LinkedIn	$250	4	0	0	4	1	0	0	7
Direct	£0.00	4	0	0	4	0	0	0	4
Other	£0.00	3	0	0	3	1	1	1	8
MediaC2C		1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Job Site	£99.00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1239	48	4	2	44	5	2	2

Example Campaign 2

Website	Via	Cost (£ inc VAT)	Applications	Duplicates	Dummy	Agency Applications	Effective Applications	Phone Interview	2nd Interview	Successful Applicants	Score
Job Serve		526	17	4	0	0	13	4	0	0	25
Drupal.org		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Headhunt		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Recruitment Genius		226.8	19	0	0	0	19	2	1	1	27
Trinity Mirror / Plant Recruit / Fish 4 Jobs	Jobserve	0	4	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	2
Direct		0	6	0	0	0	6	1	0	0	9
Job Centre Plus		0	4	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	4
Total		715	50	4	2	0	44	7	1	1

You can find the average scores on the best IT job sites post.