Recruitment KPIs: which indicators to track, how to calculate them and how to build your dashboard

A recruitment KPI is a numerical indicator that measures one stage of recruitment and triggers a decision when it moves outside its normal range. The most useful ones, stage by stage: cost per application and share of qualified applications (attraction), prequalification time and interview rate (selection), time to fill, offer acceptance rate and cost per hire (decision), retention at the end of the probation period (quality). A recruitment dashboard keeps 5 to 8 of them, calculated by role and by channel.

Recruitment indicator or KPI: what is the difference?

A recruitment indicator describes a fact: 240 applications received, 41 days to fill a role. It becomes a KPI when it has a written definition, a target, and an owner who acts if the target is missed.

Counting applications is not enough. According to APEC, the French executive employment association (Recruitment practices for managers and professionals, 2025 edition, 2024 data, in French), among companies that struggled to recruit managers and professionals, 69% of SMEs and 78% of mid-sized and large companies cite the mismatch between the applications received and the profiles sought.

To put the stakes in context: France Travail, the French public employment service, counts 2.275 million recruitment projects for 2026, 43.8% of which employers consider difficult (BMO 2026 survey, published on 21 April 2026, in French).

Attraction KPIs: volume, cost and relevance of applications

Job offer views and offer conversion rate

Formula: offer conversion rate = applications submitted ÷ offer views × 100.

Views are found in the statistics of job sites, your careers page and your distribution tool; applications, in the ATS. Many views for few applications: the offer attracts clicks but does not convince, or the form puts people off (too many fields, CV mandatory on mobile, account creation required). Compare each offer with your other offers for the same job.

Number of applications and cost per application

Formula: cost per application = cost incurred over the period (distribution, sponsored ads, subscriptions attributable to the role) ÷ applications received over the same period.

Amounts come from invoices and the distribution credit consumed, applications from the ATS, filtered by source. No French public statistic publishes an average cost per application: your benchmark is your own history, job by job (see our analysis of the cost of a hire in France). Be wary of a cost per application that falls at the same time as the share of qualified applications: you are paying less for files you will not keep.

Share of qualified applications

Formula: share of qualified applications = applications that meet the role’s criteria ÷ applications received × 100.

This indicator requires a definition set before distribution: the knock-out criteria (regulated qualification, driving licence, language, location) and the expected criteria, validated with the manager. The data is found in the ATS statuses or in the score of your prequalification tool.

Across Seeqle campaigns, the share of qualified applications is 53% on average. It varies a lot from one role to another: at LCL, it reaches 51.3% across all roles, 58.7% for bank advisers and 42.4% for private banking advisers (see the LCL case study). So compare a role with itself, never with an overall average.

From this, work out the cost per qualified application (cost incurred ÷ qualified applications). This is what tells you whether a channel is worth its price. If the qualified share drops as volume rises, the targeting is too broad or the job title too vague.

Selection KPIs: speed and accuracy of screening

Prequalification time

Formula: prequalification time = date of the first status set (shortlisted or rejected) − date the application was received.

Both dates are timestamped in the ATS. Track the median: a few forgotten files inflate the average. Set a target time, for example 48 working hours to set a first status, and track the number of applications that exceed it.

Interview rate

Formula: interview rate = candidates interviewed ÷ qualified applications × 100.

The data is in the ATS stages. Many qualified applications and few interviews: your definition of “qualified” is not the manager’s. Go back over the criteria with them before relaunching distribution.

Decision KPIs: time, acceptance and cost

Time to fill and time to hire

Formulas: time to fill = offer acceptance date − role opening date. Time to hire = offer acceptance date − application date of the person hired.

The first measures the whole organization, from approval of the need to the interviews; the second, how fast a good candidate is processed. The dates come from the ATS. Benchmark: APEC measures an average of 12 weeks for the most recent managerial or professional hire, stable since 2022. If time to fill gets longer while time to hire stays stable, the delay is upstream: role approval, distribution or a lack of applications.

Offer acceptance rate

Formula: acceptance rate = offers accepted ÷ offers made × 100.

A declined offer wastes the entire process that preceded it. In the same APEC study, 27% of SMEs and 37% of mid-sized and large companies struggling to recruit managers and professionals cite candidates they had selected withdrawing. Record the reason for each refusal (salary, timing, counter-offer, mobility): without a reason, the rate does not tell you what to fix.

Cost per hire

Formula: cost per hire = (external costs + internal costs) ÷ roles filled over the period.

External costs: ads, distribution, tools, agency fees. Internal costs: screening and interview hours multiplied by the loaded hourly cost of recruiters and managers. Abandoned recruitments stay in the numerator. The full method is in our guide to the ROI of a recruitment campaign.

Quality KPIs: did the hire work out?

Retention rate at the end of the probation period

Formula: hires still in post at the end of their probation period ÷ hires in the same cohort × 100.

Start dates, leaving dates and reasons are in the HRIS or payroll. Calculate it by quarterly cohort and by source channel: a cheap channel whose hires leave after two months costs more than it seems.

Manager satisfaction

Formula: average score out of 5 given by the manager at 30 days and then at the end of the probation period, on two or three fixed questions (fit with the role, autonomy, willingness to hire again through this channel). The trend matters more than the score.

Candidate experience KPIs

Candidate experience weighs directly on the acceptance rate. In the CareerPlug study published in 2024, conducted in the United States, 52% of candidates say they have already turned down an offer after a poor recruitment experience. Three measures are enough:

• the form abandonment rate: (applications started − submitted) ÷ started, in your careers page analytics tool;
• the response rate: candidates who received a reply, positive or negative, ÷ candidates, in the ATS;
• candidate satisfaction, through a question sent after the interview or the rejection.

Summary table of recruitment KPIs

Worked example, with fictitious figures

The figures below are made up to show the calculations. They are not a client’s results.

A company opens two maintenance technician roles on 1 March. In six weeks, its offers are viewed 4,000 times and receive 240 applications, for €3,600 spent on distribution. The recruiter keeps 108 qualified applications, interviews 18 candidates and makes 3 offers, 2 of which are accepted on 12 and 26 April. Screening took 4 minutes per application, and each interview 2 hours of combined recruiter and manager time, valued at €40 per loaded hour.

Reading: only one qualified application in six makes it to interview. Before increasing distribution, the recruiter reviews with the manager what “qualified” means. The 16 hours of screening, for their part, are paid whether or not the role is filled.

Building your recruitment dashboard

1. Keep 5 to 8 KPIs, at least one per stage. Beyond that, nobody reads it. Starting set: share of qualified applications, cost per qualified application, prequalification time, time to fill, offer acceptance rate, retention at the end of probation.
2. Write down the definitions. Qualified application, role opening date, scope of costs: a definition that changes during the year distorts comparisons.
3. Break down by role and by channel. An overall rate mixes unrelated jobs. Record the source of each application in the ATS as soon as it arrives (UTM parameters, source field): cookie-based attribution misses part of the journeys, as our article on evaluating recruitment campaigns explains.
4. Measure for three months before setting thresholds. Your history becomes the benchmark, and the alert threshold is set against it, for example a 20% gap from the median.
5. Name an owner and a review slot for each KPI. Weekly review of attraction and selection with recruiters, monthly review with managers, quarterly quality review with senior management.

Reading the warning signs

Frequently asked questions about recruitment KPIs

What are the most important recruitment KPIs?

Six cover the whole process: share of qualified applications, cost per qualified application, prequalification time, time to fill, offer acceptance rate and retention at the end of the probation period.

How do you calculate time to recruit?

Offer acceptance date minus role opening date, in calendar days, role by role. For managers and professionals in France, APEC measures 12 weeks on average (2025 edition).

What is the difference between time to fill and time to hire?

Time to fill starts when the role opens, time to hire when the person hired applies.

What is a good rate of qualified applications?

No public statistic measures it. Across Seeqle campaigns, it is 53% on average, with clear differences from one job to another. The right benchmark remains your own rate for the same role.

How many KPIs should a recruitment dashboard include?

Between 5 and 8, including at least one per stage (attraction, selection, decision, quality), calculated by role and by channel.

Measure the qualified share from the moment applications arrive

Seeqle acts on attraction and selection indicators. The Attract Agent distributes your offers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and Spotify, on job sites such as Indeed, then on 2M+ sites and apps in total, with 400,000+ targeting criteria. The Match Agent prequalifies every application and gives it an explained score out of 5, sent back to the candidate record depending on what your ATS allows. The decision stays human. Across our campaigns, 53% of applications are qualified on average.

Take the free Talent Attraction Diagnostic: 7 questions, a score and your 3 action priorities.