The Journey to Becoming Data-Driven
In recent years, Boskalis has embraced a data-centric recruitment approach to enhance their Talent Acquisition (TA) efforts. Recognizing this need for optimization, they started their collaboration with Starred. Their aim was to improve Candidate Experience, reduce costs, and gain real-time insights into their global recruitment activities.
“For us, the reason for becoming more focused on data, is because if you want to make good decisions for recruitment activities, it is necessary to underpin them with data.” –Thijs Wanders
Now, the TA team at Boskalis is an essential stakeholder in the company, playing a key role in shaping the company's future and business success.
How to Demonstrate Business Value
“I think the golden ticket to getting a seat at the decision-making table is to make the transition from the traditional Recruitment Department to becoming a Talent Acquisition Team.” –Thijs Wanders
They have transformed their approach to recruitment by utilizing data insights to provide valuable input at earlier stages of the hiring process. Traditionally, their involvement began only when a manager requested recruitment for a new position, often expecting quick results. Today, they have become a trusted advisor in long-term strategic planning, as they continue to demonstrate their value with concrete data insights that make the TA team a business-critical stakeholder.
“Because we became data-driven, now we have input that's also important for HR and the business for their long-term workforce planning, so they invite us in a lot earlier in the process.” –Thijs Wanders
Boskalis’ Data-Driven Tips
If you want to follow Boskalis' success in earning stakeholder confidence, we’ve gathered five tips they’ve applied in their TA team so far.
1. Automate the data collection with the right tools
Let’s start by answering one of the key questions: where to get the right data. The success of Boskalis’ TA team is rooted in two main pillars: an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) that meets their needs and Starred.
They use SmartRecruiters as their ATS to capture data on all stages of the recruitment funnel and Starred to get insights into their Candidate and Hiring Manager Experience. Besides these two systems, they rely on data from LinkedIn and Google Analytics for a deeper analysis of their candidate-sourcing efforts.
2. Understand which metrics are important for your business
As a large international company, it's crucial for Boskalis to stay on top of their recruitment metrics. This involves analyzing recruitment data to track performance, optimize processes, and make strategic decisions on how to best allocate their recruitment budget.
"Being data-driven means making decisions based on data and insights instead of assumptions." –Thijs Wanders
The TA team at Boskalis have identified the following metrics to prioritize:
- Open Positions: This number used to decide how to divide the workload and make decisions to scale up the team.
- Filled Positions: How many positions are filled on various levels (recruiter, organization, country, and function)?
- Time to Fill (TTF): The average time it takes to fill a position from the moment it opens.
- Requisition Age in Days: The average number of days a vacancy is open.
- Days to Recruit: How long is a candidate in the process from application to accepting an offer.
- Days in Application: The average number of days current applicants are in the recruitment process.
- Cost per Hire (CPH): The total cost involved in hiring, divided by the number of hires.
- Source of Hire (SOH): Tracking which channels or sources produce the most successful hires to see where to allocate the recruitment marketing budget.
In addition to tracking the standard recruitment metrics mentioned above, Boskalis places a strong emphasis on the Candidate and Hiring Manager Experience. They use Starred to measure NPS, gaining valuable insights into various aspects of the process. For example: the speed of responses, interview preparation, the relevance of questions asked, and the quality of feedback provided after phone screenings or job interviews. Another important metric when measuring Candidate Experience is Quality of Hire, which is measured through new hire performance metrics or retention rates after a specific period.
3. Establish a consistent reporting routine with the recruitment team
To ensure the data-driven approach remains a priority throughout the entire business, it is integrated into their work routine. Regular quarterly and annual reports, combined with team meetings to review insights, keeps everyone accountable. Each recruiter has access to their individual performance score, helping them identify areas for improvement.
Alongside these personal metrics, Thijs has implemented regular NPS reviews and ongoing sessions about results to foster a culture of continuous improvement and high-quality recruitment processes.As proof that these initiatives are a success, Boskalis has seen significant improvement in their Hiring Manager Satisfaction NPS, jumping from +16 (2023 Q1) to +54 (2024 Q1) (a whopping 238% in just one year!).
Furthermore, thanks to the Starred Comment Analysis feature, Thijs knew exactly where this high score came from and it’s all due to standardizing their recruitment process across the whole team globally, ensuring all recruiters follow the same approach.
4. Know your audience and personalize your reporting
“In my perspective, we have three different audiences for the data insights: our own recruitment team, HR in general (HR Directors, HR managers, etc.), and our business (hiring managers).”–Thijs Wanders
Thijs emphasizes a crucial point here: understanding your audience is key when presenting data insights. For the recruitment team, every piece of data is valuable. However, when sharing insights with HR directors, managers, or other business leaders, it's essential to tailor the focus to specific metrics that align with their strategic goals.
5. Make your reports digestible with data visualization
To make complex data more accessible and useful across the entire organization, Thjis recommends two things: effective data visualization assisted by a contextual explanation.
“Our reporting routine includes quarterly and annual updates where we share infographics paired with contextual narratives with the stakeholders.” –Thijs Wanders
Data Visualization: To ensure that data is digestible, using infographics, graphs, and charts can transform intricate numbers into clear, visually engaging formats that highlight the key takeaways. A one-pager with well-designed visuals and straightforward graphs often proves more effective than lengthy reports.
Contextual Explanation: Alongside visualizations, offering a narrative around the data is equally important. By providing context, stakeholders can interpret the insights more meaningfully, linking data points to actionable decisions.
