Electronic Recruiting Exchange president David Manaster reports on a recent study comparing recruiter requisition loads to “quality of hire” and “time-to-fill” results, two metrics I often hear hiring managers cite as most important to a successful recruiting partership.

It is pretty common-sense – as workload increases, quality of hires (AKA quality of the product that recruiters create) decreases, and it takes longer to fill the positions (AKA production time increases).

What’s interesting is that the survey shows a pretty clear point at which these lines diverge. 

It would seem that (on average) the optimal workload for a recruiter is between 11 and 20 open positions. 

I’m not surprised at all, but I know of few software companies which allow their recruiters to carry a req load of 11-20 open positions. 

Next time you meet with your recruiter, ask how many reqs your company’s recruiters carry.  If increased quality of hire and quicker time-to-fill results are necessary for your team’s hiring success, ask yourself (and your recruiter) how you can bridge the gap.  A few obvious solutions … open only the most critical positions at a time, prioritize your existing open reqs, hire additional recruiter resources … and/or learn how to fish for yourself.  :)

gretchen