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How To Measure the Quality of a Hire: A Simple Guide

Are you looking to effectively measure the quality of recent hires? Learn the basics and how to establish a quality hiring system for your organization.

How To Measure the Quality of a Hire: A Simple Guide
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While workers are critical to business success, the costs associated with recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training team members are among most organization’s top expenses. Because of this, understanding and improving the quality of hires can have a significant, positive impact on your team’s performance and overall operational efficiencies.

Quality of hire is a measurement of a new worker’s performance and contributions to the business. Engaging high-quality workers can help your team boost productivity, collaborate more effectively, and achieve strategic business objectives. On the other hand, if your team brings in workers who aren’t the right fit, you risk falling short on business goals and may face additional costs related to extensive training and lost productivity.

In this guide, learn steps and best practices to measure the quality of a hire and ensure you engage qualified workers to drive successful outcomes at your organization.

If you have an immediate need to improve how you measure the quality of hires at your organization and are unsure where to start, consider engaging an experienced human resources professional on Upwork.

Table of contents:

Define quality hire criteria

Accurately and objectively measuring the quality of a hire can be complicated and varies from one organization to the next. An early step in the process is defining quality hire criteria.

Quality hire criteria may include:

  • Technical skills required to meet role expectations
  • Progress toward goals outlined during onboarding
  • Soft skills and competencies needed to collaborate with team members

Some roles may have different quality of hire metrics and criteria than others. For example, a manager may be evaluated based on their leadership skills, while a software engineer may be evaluated on how well their code functions. Additionally, each role will have different technical skills requirements. Aim to align requirements and criteria with initial expectations discussed during the hiring process and onboarding.

Once you define quality hire criteria, ask managers to fill out scorecards with a standardized scoring system to help your team effectively evaluate quality among new employees post-hire. In addition to the direct score for each criteria or category, leave room for managers to add open-ended comments and examples.

You can use the following example as a guide when creating your own scorecard to measure the quality of hires at your organization.

Quality Hire Scorecard
1 (Poor) 2 (Needs improvement) 3 (Fair) 4 (Good) 5 (Excellent)
Technical skills
Comments and specific examples:
Progress toward goals
Comments and specific examples:
Problem- solving
Comments and specific examples:
Teamwork
Comments and specific examples:
Communication
Comments and specific examples:
Adaptability
Comments and specific examples:

After a manager completes the scorecard, take the average across all criteria to determine the overall quality of hire score. When workers have a low average score, identify ways to offer additional resources or support as they continue to adapt to processes and expectations at your organization.

If you’re looking for additional support with defining and measuring quality hire criteria, consider engaging an independent performance management professional on Upwork. A performance management professional can help your team define and implement a process to more effectively measure the quality of hires.

Establish performance metrics

Each time a new team member joins your organization, establish and discuss performance metrics during initial onboarding. When defining job performance metrics, consider using the SMART framework to help ensure goals are clear and drive positive business outcomes.

SMART stands for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Without this framework or a similar approach, metrics may be vague, which can lead to challenges during future performance reviews in determining whether goals were achieved. Additionally, workers may be uncertain about expectations and their overall performance.

According to a survey of 1,000 full-time U.S. workers from Workhuman, 93% of respondents have a good understanding of where they stand with their performance. Among those who don’t know where they stand, 60% report feeling constantly stressed at work.

Examples of SMART goals include:

  • Sales representative. Increase the number of scheduled demos with prospects by 10% by the end of the next quarter.
  • Recruitment manager. Identify and implement a new recruitment tool in the first half of the year to decrease hiring time by one week.
  • SEO manager. Double organic website traffic year-over-year with a targeted keyword strategy.
SMART goals

When establishing metrics, also try to strike the right balance between making goals challenging and achievable. If metrics are too easy, workers may miss opportunities for growth in their career and your business may struggle to scale. On the other hand, if goals are too challenging, workers may feel demotivated.

Discuss progress toward goals during recurring one-on-one meetings and go into more detail about which goals were or were not met during more formal performance reviews. The timeline for performance review cycles varies by business; meetings typically happen annually, biannually, or quarterly.

Keep in mind, formal performance ratings and reviews are intended for in-house employees. When engaging independent talent, set expectations about the desired business outcomes for each project and share feedback at each project milestone and after the project concludes.

Assess team fit

Holding workers accountable to achieving performance metrics is only one part of measuring the quality of hires. Ensuring new team members fit well with the team is equally important. If a new worker doesn’t communicate, collaborate, or follow processes effectively with existing team members, this can have a negative impact on productivity, morale, and business outcomes.  

Here are some questions to answer as you observe new workers and assess team fit:

  • Do they understand and apply company values in their day-to-day work?
  • Do they communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing?
  • Do they follow established communication processes, such as knowing when to use synchronous versus asynchronous communication?  
  • Are they actively engaging with colleagues and contributing to team discussions?
  • Are they comfortable asking questions and seeking support when needed?
  • Do they share respectful, constructive feedback with other team members when necessary?
  • Do they meet deadlines and follow through on commitments?
  • Do they display effective time management and prioritization skills?
  • Do they regularly update project management software or follow other established processes to share work progress?

Acclimating to a new work environment can take time. If a new team member falls short of team fit expectations, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a bad hire. To set new team members up for success, document company values, team processes, and essential tools. Have a system during onboarding to ensure new team members receive essential information about how the team operates. Also check in about how they’re fitting in and have one-on-one conversations where you can answer any questions.

To increase the likelihood of success and a positive team fit among recent hires, also consider pairing each new worker with an existing team member as a buddy or mentor. An onboarding buddy can help new individuals get up to speed on the team, as well as with the broader organization. This mentor can answer questions in a more informal setting than a supervisor or manager check-in.

Collect feedback

Each organization has a unique process for evaluating worker contributions, and most in-house workers participate in some form of performance review cycle. However, while this process works well for established workers, waiting for a companywide talent review cycle may not be the most effective approach for evaluating the quality of new hires.

Rather than holding off until a performance review, collect feedback from supervisors and managers, peers, and new team members soon after they join the organization.

Supervisor and manager feedback

Leading up to performance reviews, consider encouraging direct supervisors and managers to schedule check-ins at each new team member’s 30-, 60-, and 90-day mark to give feedback and evaluate where they stand. During these meetings, managers can fill out the new hire evaluation scorecard and see how individuals progress over time.

More regular feedback sessions also enable new team members to ask questions and clarify anything they may be uncertain about, which can help them stay on track with acclimating to the team, accelerate ramp-up time, and meet or exceed performance metrics.

Peer and stakeholder feedback

To receive more comprehensive feedback, consider soliciting 360-degree feedback. This performance management approach goes beyond simply collecting feedback from managers by also asking an individual’s peers and other stakeholders to share insights about their performance.

If the worker is in an external-facing role, 360-degree feedback may also include input from contractors, customers, and others outside the organization. This feedback can help a worker and their supervisor understand successes or areas for improvement that they may not have known about otherwise.  

Implementing 360-degree feedback to measure the quality of a hire requires a defined process to ensure feedback is honest, effective, and constructive. Comments should also be kept anonymous to avoid creating a culture of blame and negativity. Consider developing 360-degree feedback guidelines and conducting and recording training sessions before beginning the process.

Direct feedback from new team members

Collecting feedback directly from workers can help create a more holistic view of overall performance and quality. Encourage individuals to complete self-evaluations leveraging a standardized feedback form to identify their strengths, accomplishments, and areas for improvement.

In addition to asking for feedback on their performance, ask workers about their experience to date on the team by distributing new hire satisfaction surveys. This step can provide valuable insights to help improve the new worker experience for existing and future team members.

Some questions to consider asking include:

  • To date, does the role align with your expectations based on the job description and discussions during the hiring process?
  • Is the onboarding process effective? If not, how can we improve the process?
  • Do you have a clear understanding of the requirements and goals for your role?
  • Does your manager provide the support necessary to succeed in your role?  
  • Do you have the resources to effectively adapt to the team’s processes and tools?

Analyze retention rates

Understanding worker retention rate, meaning the percentage of individuals who remain with the company after a specified period of time, can help your organization identify top causes of turnover and ways to increase workers’ tenure with your team.

The process for calculating retention rate can vary depending on a company’s recruitment, talent management, and overall business goals. Retention rate is typically calculated either annually or quarterly. While most track retention at the organizational level, other companies may also maintain retention benchmarks across teams or departments, or by specific talent sourcing channels.

Use the following formula to calculate retention rate. For example, if you had 50 employees at the beginning of the year and 46 remain at the end of the year, your annual retention rate would be 92%.

Retention rate

Focusing on employee retention is important because when team members leave your organization, institutional knowledge walks out the door. At the same time, your team risks lost productivity and disengagement among remaining team members. High turnover also leads to increased costs, as your team will need to recruit, onboard, and train new workers each time an individual departs.

In addition to directly calculating the retention rate, consider conducting formal exit interviews when team members decide to leave your organization. During these discussions, your HR or talent management team can ask individuals why they chose to leave (if turnover is voluntary), and request feedback on their overall experience on the team.

By collecting feedback, you can determine common trends that increase turnover rates. For example, if several workers leave the company from a specific team, the manager may not be leading the team effectively and need additional training. Or, if they leave the organization because the job wasn’t what they were expecting, you may need to rethink the hiring process and information you outline in the job description.

Review your hiring process

An effective recruitment and hiring process is key to attracting and engaging high-quality candidates. Understanding what’s working and what’s not with your hiring process can help you improve the quality of hires at your organization.

As an example, if your recruiting metrics show that some of your best workers consistently originate from the same talent sourcing channel, such as referrals, you may want to invest more in the channel and reduce your spending on channels that don’t drive results. Or, if you notice recent hires don’t align with your expectations, you may want to add additional steps to the recruiting process, such as evaluating soft skills or scheduling additional interviews before making a hiring decision.

Consider the following steps to improve your hiring process and worker quality as a result:

Continually update measurement strategies

As the labor market, in-demand skills, and business needs evolve, regularly refining and updating your strategies for measuring the quality of hires is essential to long-term success.

Some ways to update your measurement strategies include:

  • Rethinking your organizational chart based on shifting business needs
  • Rewriting job requirements and candidate evaluation criteria as skills needs change
  • Supporting cross-functional collaboration by encouraging HR and talent acquisition team members, hiring managers, team leads, supervisors, and other stakeholders to brainstorm new ways to measure the quality of hires
  • Redefining new hire performance metrics to align with strategic business objectives
  • Upskilling and reskilling existing workers and administering talent assessments to measure competence with new in-demand skills
  • Integrating new tools and technology, such as performance management software, a talent management system, or an employee engagement platform to better identify worker performance and behavior trends over time
  • Setting more ambitious worker retention goals

Hire top talent with Upwork

Effectively measuring the quality of hires can help your organization ensure you have team members with the right skills and competencies in place to drive long-term business success and growth. However, doing so is an ongoing, time-consuming process that requires thoughtful planning. Rather than measuring and identifying ways to improve the quality of hires on your own, consider partnering with a skilled talent management specialist.

Experienced independent talent management professionals are available on Upwork to identify and implement proven strategies to help you reach qualified workers and maximize the impact of your hiring efforts.

As you look to engage more high-quality workers, you can also access talent with more than 10,000 skills on Upwork to fill skills gaps, drive positive business outcomes, and reduce operational costs. Get started—search for skilled independent professionals today.

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Author Spotlight

How To Measure the Quality of a Hire: A Simple Guide
Beth Kempton
Content Writer

Beth Kempton is a B2B writer with a passion for storytelling and more than a decade of content marketing experience. She specializes in writing engaging long-form content, including blog posts, thought leadership pieces, SEO articles, case studies, ebooks and guides, for HR technology and B2B SaaS companies. In her free time, you can find Beth reading or running.

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