How Many Reqs Should a Recruiter Carry? A Recruiter Workload Calculator for Today’s Talent Teams

By Linda Brenner | June 09, 2023

The number of reqs a recruiter works has a direct impact on the speed, cost and quality of their hiring outcomes. Too many hiring reqs results in poor quality - skipped intake meetings, little or no sourcing of candidates, short-shrifting the screening of applicants, poor candidate management and so on. On the other hand, too few requisitions results in inefficiency.  Where's the balance for recruiters' workload? Like so many answers to difficult questions: it's complicated. But we intend to make it easier. 

Over the last decade, our talent consultancy has identified 5 external and 20 internal factors that have a direct impact on the number of requisitions an individual recruiter can effectively carry at a time. We used these factors to build a calculator that allows you to evaluate each and determine a general req load for executive, professional and hourly positions. Clients hire us to assess these factors and build a plan for prioritizing and improving them - but, now with this tool, you can assess them on your own and kick start a discussion about hiring efficiency and effectiveness. The factors are:

External Factors:

1. Company's Reputation
2. Competition
3. Economic Climate
4. Labor Market Conditions
5. Geography

Internal Factors:

1. Administrative Support
2. Candidate Quality
3. % of Passive vs. Active Candidates
4. Diversity Requirements
5. Employment Brand Accuracy
6. Processing Efficiency/Cycle Time
7. Offer/Acceptance Ratio
8. Hiring Manager Relationships
9. Hiring Manager Responsiveness
10. Hiring Urgency
11. Job Clarity (Requirements/Comp)
12. Jobs Mix
13. Number of Geographies
14. Number of Hiring Managers
15. Recruiter Training & Experience
16. Sourcing Assistance
17. Sources Used
18. Marketing Budget
19. Technology Effectiveness
20. Management Support / Partnership

We have concluded that these 25 individual factors are each significant enough to significantly impact a recruiter's workload.  From this insight, we developed what we refer to as the "Efficiency Factor" that should be applied to the ideal number of requisitions a recruiter would carry to increase or decrease the target, realistic workload. The tool is organized and is intended to be used with respect to hiring for executive or senior roles, professional or mid-level roles, or high volume hourly roles.

This analysis also serves to provide a framework for improving efficiency and can become the basis for determining ROI on talent acquisition investments. The tool can be used to rate an individual's or an entire team's recruiting environment.  All of these factors can be accurately assessed through a disciplined audit of internal and external conditions and, ultimately, how a company is able to perform its recruitment work.

Once this analysis has been completed, organizations can assess their current levels of efficiency and effectiveness and determine which factors merit the most significant improvement efforts.

Need help increasing the capacity or your recruiters or the speed and quality of hiring? Email us at info@talentgrowthadvisors.com

Click here to access our Recruiter Workload Calculator - free!

For more information about talent acquisition process improvement, org design or recruiter capability-building, drop us a note.

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