There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Massive nerd alert – one my favourite things is analysing data, spotting trends and using it to make key decisions on how to best operate OX Seven. I guess that is why I am so good at Fantasy Football games.

When you are a start up this is relatively hard to do, as you have virtually no data to draw on.

At OX Seven we are now at the stage where we have enough data to begin to make observations on trends that we are witnessing on a seemingly daily basis.

I feel one of the most useful ones is the engagement of the candidate throughout the recruitment process – as this will benefit clients and agencies directly.

As a recruiter in this process, we are sometimes relatively limited to how much we can control things, at certain touch points. We can try to influence this by being organised and proactive with our clients, but fundamentally we cannot move our client’s diaries around (as much as we would like to!).

This is what we found with our data:

Firstly, we define the process as:

Candidate application > Candidate screening conversation > CV Submission > CV feedback from client > Interview date > offer date > candidate start date

18% of candidates do not respond to calls and e-mails after applying for a job.

5% of candidates drop out between CV submission and interview feedback from client when the response is within 7 days. This rises to 24% when the response is over 7 days.

8% of candidates drop out between CV feedback and the interview date when it is under 7 days. This rises to 18% when it is over 7 days.

6% of candidates drop out within 7 days of their first interview. When feedback is not provided within 7 days this increases to 31%.

82% of candidates accepted a job when offered within 7 days of the final interview. 41% of candidates accept an offer if it is made over 7 days from their final interview with a client.

So, what can we hypothesise from all of this real-life data?

Firstly, that the figure of 18% not responding to a call or e-mail (we attempt 3 times before leaving the ball in their court) is extremely high. I put this down to how easy it is to ‘1 click apply’ through the different job board channels.

Secondly, that momentum is key in the hiring process. Unnecessarily elongating the recruitment process causes a far higher drop out rate at each touch point. It is completely understandable that the right people have to be in the right place, at the right time – but making sure the candidate is informed and updated will again increase their engagement levels and decrease the likelihood of a dropout.

We are in a period of very low unemployment, with reports showing 3 vacancies to every one candidate at the moment. Candidates have options, great candidates have multiple options. Capitalising on their interest is so crucial to keeping them engaged and increasing the chance of offer acceptance.

We have invested in video technology which improves engagement with candidates through every stage of the process and gives much stronger buy-in from them to the process. Nearly every client we use our technology with have seen lower dropout rates, quicker times between CV sent (as we include a video interview) and first interview  and higher ratios of CV’s received to offers.

Another point which I also think is interesting is the acceptance rate. For a long period, I think there was an unspoken assumption that an offer would lead to an automatic acceptance. Which is clearly no longer the case. Ensuring you are doing everything you can to increase the likelihood of a candidate accepting your offer is incredibly important go getting the right people in your business and this goes way beyond the numerical figure you offer as a salary.