Recruiting metric: Offer Acceptance Rate (OAR)

You have found your ideal candidate and can't wait for him/her to accept your job offer. It would be a perfect world where all offers are accepted, but unfortunately this is not the case. This is why Offer Acceptance Rate (OAR) is an important metric in recruiting. It shows how successful your recruiting team is at converting offers into new colleagues at the end of the application process.

The Offer Acceptance Rate is the ratio between the offers made to candidates and the employment contracts signed: Recruiting KPI

OAR = number of contracts signed / number of job offers made

A good Offer Acceptance Rate shows that your recruiting team can effectively convert offers into employment contracts that candidates proactively and intensively manage. This means that your recruiting team is able to work out the priorities, needs and motivators of the candidates. Based on this, offers are calculated and proactively communicated to candidates.

As a recruiter, how can you improve your Offer Acceptance Rate?

Listen carefully

You conduct the interviews with the candidates and certainly bring up the topic of the salary package. In most cases, this is already done during the first (telephone) interview with the candidate. At this stage, recruiters obtain the candidates' general conditions for a move to you in order to be able to pass this information directly on to the hiring department manager.

In doing so, don't simply record numbers and notice periods. Listen actively and try to find out what would motivate the candidate to start with you by asking specific questions. Make notes about the motivations, because this information is worth its weight in gold during the offer phase. It is often the little things that are decisive and ultimately decide whether your offer is accepted or rejected. Recruiting KPI

Be a team with the hiring manager

The recruiting process tells candidates a lot about your company culture. Show that you are a team and aligned with the hiring manager. Share any information you have about candidates with the appropriate manager. Candidates are excited to meet their potential future manager. If they then proactively address motivational points in the interview that they have previously told you, it shows true interest in who they are and good, aligned communication within the company.

For some years now, the application process has actually been more of a sales process for companies. Recruiting and the departments present their company to interested candidates and specifically try to win the candidates for the employer. If in the first (phone) interview with Recruiting the candidate might have mentioned only casually that he/she would like to do a certification for XY IT solution next year, for example, the manager should proactively include this information in the conversation. Show that you are interested in the candidate and be appreciative.

Candidate Experience

Don't underestimate candidates' gut feelings. Good candidates will be continually contacted by your peers. Stand out from the crowd and prepare an interview experience that candidates will tell their friends about. Stick to agreed feedback times, work proactively with candidates. If candidates feel well taken care of during the application process, your chances as a recruiter to actually attract them to your company in the end are much higher.

Win the candidate for your company

After the last interview, don't wait long to tell the candidate the good news. Call him and tell him that the interviews were very positive and that you will make an offer. Even if you have not yet prepared the offer. Recruiting KPI

Once the quote is in place, don't just email it. You wouldn't believe how many companies simply email offers. This is where employers lose about 30% of their final candidates.

Because no matter how the application process went up to that point, how good the candidate's experience was - it's not appreciative. Call, arrange a short-term appointment where you present the offer to the candidates and answer questions. Address information regarding the candidate's motivation to change, which you received at the very beginning of the application process. Show that the candidate is important. Afterwards, send the offer by e-mail, with explanations if necessary (additional benefits, answers to questions the candidate asked in the offer call, any open points that are still being clarified, etc).

Closing

As a recruiter, you are in a sales job. So the closing, the offer phase is also part of your job. This is the end of the application process, but it's where you can take credit. Work hand-in-hand with candidates, customize the offer - where possible - and be very active in communicating towards the final candidates. Your efforts will be rewarded with a higher OAR.

For reasons of readability, we have only used the masculine form when referring to candidates, managers and recruiters. Of course, all genders are meant (f/m/d).

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