Organic candidates isn’t a metric used widely in recruiting yet, although it’s important to diversity, equity, and inclusion. If you’ve read some of our other articles about recruiting metrics and analytics, in general, you may already be familiar with it. Something you’re probably not familiar with, however, is the proportion of organic candidates recruiting metric.
Organic candidates are job seekers who enter your talent pipeline organically. In other words, through your company’s careers page or common online job boards like Indeed or Monster. The proportion of organic candidates metric is the proportion of your candidates that come through those channels. These are separate from candidates who come from other sourcing methods such as referral programs or third-party recruiters.
Why proportion of organic candidates matters
Common online job boards and your company’s careers page are the most democratic of candidate sources. Why? Because all anyone needs to apply is a resume and internet access to find and apply to an open job.
Compare that to a referral program where a job seeker has to know someone at the company to apply. Or third-party recruiting firms where applicants need to be in that firm’s pipeline. Or even targeted sourcing on LinkedIn where someone needs to have a solid profile and be active on the platform.
Each of these sourcing methods requires something above and beyond a resume and internet access (e.g., an ‘in’ with the company or recruiting firm). That requirement narrows the net you cast when looking for applicants. A narrower net, in turn, limits the size, quality, and diversity of your candidate pool.
Organic candidates and proportion of organic candidates are two very important recruiting metrics to track, along with other candidate-centered metrics like candidate job satisfaction. Not only for getting qualified applicants into your pipeline, but also for improving your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts overall.
Bottom line: A higher number of organic candidates indicates a more equitable hiring process, often resulting in more diverse candidate pools. Which makes the proportion of organic candidates metric an important one. Particularly for your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
