Know Your KPI's

If you are a candidate and looking for new opportunities, you need to be prepared to clearly discuss your current and past achievements. There is a lot to be said about having a well rehearsed 30 second elevator pitch that provides a macro view of your company and role. You also need to be able to elaborate and provide your Key Performance Indicators / KPI’s.

The top performers in any field all know their statistics or KPI’s and more importantly, can discuss and articulate them. Whether you are a MLB baseball coach trying to put your team in the best position to win by using a past performance of a particular match-up or a Global Procurement Manager analyzing the best vendor to select using an established criteria scorecard; you need to know your KPI’s. Could you imagine a pilot flying without using KPI’s?

Recruiters are not immune to this either and should know their KPI’s – 5 to 1 resume to placement ratio, 4 to 1 job order to placement ratio, $20k average placement fee, 21 days to fill, etc. This information is vital to running a productive desk and can serve as a barometer of success of a given period of time. Recruiters need to know their KPI’s and use them while talking with hiring authorities.

Good data and statistics are hard to argue and professionals need to be able to identify the most critical success factors / KPI’s, track them and work towards your goals. I like to refer to this as ‘finger tip’ knowledge and when used properly is very powerful. If you are not already using KPI’s, I would highly recommend establishing them. In today’s competitive job market, having a well rehearsed elevator pitch and being able to articulate the scope of your role is paramount.