Overview

The Recruitment Effectiveness Dashboard gives Talent Acquisition leaders and recruiters a single view of hiring speed, funnel health, offer performance, and where your candidates are coming from.

This guide walks through every metric on the dashboard — its definition, how it's calculated, and anything you should know when interpreting the numbers.

Metrics

Filled Positions

Definition: Filled Positions measures the count of distinct job positions successfully closed through the hiring of a candidate within a given time period. A position is considered filled when it has a recorded hire, indicating the recruitment lifecycle has reached a successful conclusion. This metric is filtered by hire date, meaning the reporting period is determined by when the hire was completed — not when the position was opened or when the candidate entered the pipeline.

How It Is Calculated: Filled Positions counts each distinct position that has at least one recorded hire. Each position is counted once regardless of how many candidates were evaluated against it. Positions that remain open, were cancelled, or have no hire recorded are excluded.

Note:

• Each position is counted once — a position with multiple hired applications still counts as one Filled Position. For the total count of hired applications, refer to the Total Hires metric.
  
• The reporting period filter is applied to the hire date, not the position open date. A position opened before the selected period is included if a hire occurred within it.

Total Hires

Definition: Total Hires measures the total number of candidates who were successfully hired within a given time period. Unlike Filled Positions — which counts distinct positions — this metric counts at the applicant level, making it useful in scenarios where a single position may result in multiple hires (e.g., bulk or volume hiring roles). A candidate is considered "hired" when their application has a recorded hire date. The metric is filtered by hire date, meaning only hires completed within the selected reporting period are included.

How It Is Calculated: Total Hires sums every application that has a recorded hire, counting each hired application individually rather than grouping by position.

Note:

• Total Hires counts applications, not positions. A single position with three hired applications contributes 3 to this metric — compared to 1 in Filled Positions.
  
• The date range filter applies to the hire date. Candidates who applied before the reporting window but were hired within it are included.
  
• This metric is the base for Hires by Source Category, Talent Network Hires, and Referral Hires.

Time to Fill a Position

Definition: Time to Fill a Position measures the average time (in days) taken to fill a position. It is filtered by the first hire date of each position.

How It Is Calculated: The metric is computed in two steps. Step 1 — for each position, the median time to fill is derived from the time-to-fill of all hires against that position. Step 2 — the median time to fill from Step 1 is averaged across all closed positions. This two-step approach (median per position, then average across positions) reduces the distortion effect of outlier positions with unusually long or short fill times.

Things to Note:

• The position creation date must be accurately configured in your source system for this metric to calculate correctly. If it's absent or misconfigured, the sync execution time is recorded as a fallback, producing near-zero or incorrect values.
  
• The metric uses the median per position before averaging — a position with one unusually slow hire does not disproportionately inflate the overall average.
  
• Any retroactive corrections to hire dates will recalculate this metric for the affected positions.
  
• The date filter is applied to the first hire date of each position — not the position open date.

Time to Hire

Definition: Time to Hire measures the average number of days from when a candidate applied to when they were hired. It is filtered by hire date, meaning only hires completed within the selected reporting period are included. This metric reflects recruitment speed at the candidate level. A lower average indicates a faster, more streamlined hiring process, while a higher average may point to delays in decision-making or candidate progression.

How It Is Calculated: Time to Hire averages the number of days between a candidate's application date and their hire date, across all hired candidates in the period.

Things to Note:

• Time to Hire is measured at the candidate level, not the position level. If one position had three hires with different application dates, all three contribute independently to the average.
  
• The date filter applies to the hire date, not the application date. A candidate who applied before the reporting window but was hired within it is included.
  
• Unlike Time to Fill (position open to hire), Time to Hire measures from candidate application to hire — the two metrics reflect different parts of the recruitment cycle.

Offer Acceptance Rate

Definition: Offer Acceptance Rate measures the proportion of candidates who received a job offer and subsequently accepted it, resulting in a hire. It is expressed as a percentage and filtered by offer date, meaning the reporting period is determined by when the offer was extended — not the application date or hire date. This metric is a key indicator of offer quality and competitiveness, reflecting how effectively the organization converts extended offers into confirmed hires.

How It Is Calculated: Offer Acceptance Rate divides the number of hired candidates by the number of candidates who received an offer, expressed as a percentage.

Things to Note:

• The reporting period filter is applied to the offer date, not the hire date. An offer extended in the selected period is counted even if the hire is completed in a later period.
  
• The offer date is recorded from the "Offer" step in your hiring process. This step is customer-configured — if it's renamed or not mapped, the offer date won't populate and the denominator will be 0.
  
• If the offer date is sparsely populated across applications, the denominator will be small — making the rate appear higher than it may truly be. Review the volume of offers recorded alongside the percentage.

Average Match Score

Definition: Average Match Score measures the mean match score (expressed in stars) of candidates who were successfully hired, restricted exclusively to positions that have been calibrated. It is filtered by hire date, meaning only hires completed within the selected reporting period are included. This metric reflects the quality of hires relative to role fit. A higher average score indicates that hired candidates are closely aligned to the requirements of their roles.

How It Is Calculated: Average Match Score averages the match score of hired candidates on calibrated positions only — where "calibrated" means at least 4 of the 5 calibration attributes are set: location, skills, title, work experience, and similar candidates.

Things to Note:

• Only calibrated positions are included. A position with fewer than 4 of the 5 attributes configured is excluded from the average — even if hires occurred.
  
• Scores are cached at the time of scoring and are not automatically updated when a position is recalibrated. Historical scores may not reflect the latest version of a position's criteria.
  
• Candidates with limited profile data are excluded from scoring. These candidates appear in Total Hires but not in Average Match Score.

Hires by Source Category

Definition: Hires by Source Category breaks down the total number of successful hires by the channel or source through which the candidate originally entered the pipeline. It is filtered by hire date, meaning only candidates hired within the selected reporting period are included. This metric provides visibility into which sourcing channels are producing the most hires, helping recruitment teams assess the effectiveness and return on investment of each channel. Source categories typically include recruiter-led sourcing, internal mobility, career site applications, and employee referrals, among others.

How It Is Calculated: Total hires are grouped into source categories, applied in priority order: Internal (candidate identified as a current or former employee), Referral, Talent Community (application originated from Eightfold's talent pool), and Other (job board, career site, or unlabelled source).

Things to Note:

• Tracking internal applications requires the "Internal Candidate" feature to be enabled in your configuration. If not enabled, internally-transferred candidates appear under other source categories.
  
• Source grouping uses case-insensitive matching to handle referral labels consistently.
  
• UTM and campaign tracking is only available for applications submitted through Eightfold's career site. For applications submitted directly via your source system, source attribution is limited to the label it attaches.

Avg Time Spent in Stage Group + Match Stars

Definition: This table shows the average time spent by the candidate in each stage group before moving to the next stage, and the average match score of the candidates reaching that stage group. It is filtered by position creation date.

How It Is Calculated: Average time in a stage group is the average number of days between the timestamps of two subsequent stage groups. The average match score for a stage group averages the match score of calibrated positions only.

Things to Note:

• This metric is filtered by position creation date, not hire date. Positions created within the selected period are included regardless of when the hire was completed.
  
• Stage names in your source system are customer-defined. Any stage name not mapped to a standard stage group will be excluded from this table.
  
• If a candidate skipped a stage, a synthetic placeholder with an estimated timestamp is inserted.
  
• The match score sub-metric is restricted to calibrated positions — at least 4 of the 5 calibration attributes must be configured.
  
• Stage data before January 2023 is excluded from this metric.

Recruitment Funnel

Definition: Recruitment Funnel tracks the volume of distinct candidates at each stage of the hiring pipeline, restricted to filled positions. It is filtered by position creation date, meaning positions are included based on when they were opened, allowing teams to analyze the full pipeline journey for a cohort of requisitions created within a given period. This metric provides a stage-by-stage view of candidate progression and drop-off, making it one of the most diagnostic tools in recruitment analytics. By visualizing how many candidates enter at the top of the funnel and how that number narrows at each subsequent stage, it helps identify where the pipeline is performing efficiently and where candidates are being lost at a higher-than-expected rate.

How It Is Calculated: Application counts are broken into the standard stage groups, in order: New Applications (all candidates who submitted), Phone Interviews (advanced to phone or video screening), Post Onsites (under review following onsite), Onsites (invited for in-person or virtual onsite), Offers (received a formal offer), Background Check (in pre-employment verification), and Hired (successfully hired). Each stage reports its own independent application count.

Things to Note:

• Each stage count is independent — a candidate counted at stage 4 (Onsites) is also counted at stages 1, 2, and 3. Funnel counts can only decrease as stages progress.
  
• This metric is filtered by position creation date, not hire date. A position created within the selected period is included even if the hire occurred outside of it.
  
• Stage names must be mapped to standard stage groups. Any stage name not in the mapping defaults to "Others" and is excluded from the funnel.

Talent Network Hires

Definition: Talent Network Hires for Filled Positions measures the total number of candidates hired from the Eightfold Talent Network for roles that have hires against them. It is filtered by hire date, meaning only hires completed within the selected reporting period are included. This metric reflects the effectiveness of re-engaging known talent. A candidate is considered part of the Talent Network if they had a pre-existing application within Eightfold for at least 28 days; any subsequent application is then classified as a Talent Network application.

How It Is Calculated: Talent Network Hires sums hires where the candidate is flagged as part of the Talent Network, ensuring that only returning talent successfully placed into filled positions is counted.

Things to Note:

• A candidate qualifies as a Talent Network hire if they had an existing Eightfold application for at least 28 days before submitting the application that resulted in a hire.
  
• This flag is determined entirely by Eightfold based on application history — it isn't a field sourced from your ATS.

Referral Hires

Definition: Referral Hires for Filled Positions measures the total number of candidates who were successfully hired through referral channels for roles that have hires against them. It is filtered by hire date, meaning only hires completed within the selected reporting period are included. This metric highlights the effectiveness of the referral program in filling positions. By focusing on filled positions, it provides a retrospective look at the quality and volume of the referral pipeline for completed recruitment cycles.

How It Is Calculated: Referral Hires sums hires where the source category is Referral — determined either by a referral flag on the application or by the source label containing "refer."

Things to Note:

• The referral classification uses a case-insensitive match to handle variations in how the referral source label is recorded.
  
• Referral Hires is a subset of Total Hires and of the "Referral" bucket in Hires by Source Category. Numbers should be consistent across these metrics for the same period.
  
• An application is counted as a Referral only if the source label or referral flag is set at the time of the application. Retroactive source updates do not affect historical counts.

Open Positions

Definition: Open Positions measures the count of distinct job positions that are actively open at any given point in time. Unlike most recruitment metrics, this metric carries no date or time filter — it reflects a snapshot view of all unfilled requisitions currently in the system, regardless of when they were created. This metric is a core indicator of outstanding hiring demand, representing the organization's current recruitment workload. It is most useful for workforce planning, recruiter capacity management, and identifying departments or locations where hiring needs remain unmet.

How It Is Calculated: Open Positions counts each distinct position currently marked as open in your source system.

Things to Note:

• This metric has no date filter. It reflects the current snapshot of open positions at the time the report is run. Running the same report on different days may produce different results.
  
• Evergreen requisitions that have been open for an extended period remain in the Open Positions count even after previous hires have been made against them.
  
• If a position's status field is blank, the position is treated as closed and excluded from this count.
  
• Positions with a status of "Sourcing Pipeline" are excluded from Open Positions regardless of the open flag.

Open Positions by Ageing

Definition: Open Positions by Ageing segments open positions by how long they have been open, measured from the position creation date to the current date. This provides a real-time snapshot of the current requisition backlog categorized by duration. This metric is critical for identifying stagnant requisitions and understanding hiring bottlenecks. It allows talent acquisition teams to prioritize roles that have exceeded standard time-to-fill benchmarks and require immediate attention.

How It Is Calculated: Open positions are counted and grouped by position age — the number of days between position creation and today — bucketed as: 0–30 days | 31–60 days | 61–90 days | 90+ days.

Things to Note:

• Position age is calculated from the position creation date to today's date. The ageing bucket for a given position increases each day the report is run.
  
• The position creation date comes from a custom field in your source system. If this field is absent or misconfigured for a position, the age calculation will be inaccurate for that position.
  
• Evergreen requisitions that have been open for an extended period will permanently appear in the 90+ days bucket.

Open Positions by Recruiter

Definition: Open Positions by Recruiter distributes open positions across assigned recruiters, providing a direct view of individual workload and capacity. Positions with no assigned recruiter appear under a null/unassigned category.

How It Is Calculated: Open positions are counted and grouped by the recruiter assigned to each position. Recruiters with no open positions are not shown.

Things to Note:

• Recruiter assignment is an optional field. Positions without a recruiter assigned appear under a null or unassigned category.
  
• Recruiters with no currently open positions are not shown in this view.
  
• One position can only be assigned to one recruiter at a time. If ownership changes, the position appears under the current recruiter after the next sync.

Open Positions by Department

Definition: Open Positions by Department breaks down open positions by the Job Function associated with the role, providing visibility into which departments or functions have the greatest outstanding hiring demand.

How It Is Calculated: Open positions are counted and grouped by Job Function. Departments with no open positions are not shown.

Things to Note:

• Job Function is the field used for this breakdown — it maps to what is displayed as "Department" on the dashboard.
  
• Departments with no open positions are not shown.
  
• The Job Function field must be consistently populated across requisitions for this breakdown to be reliable.

Open Positions by Country

Definition: Open Positions by Country breaks down open positions by the country associated with the role, offering a global view of geographic hiring demand and regional recruitment priorities.

How It Is Calculated: Open positions are counted and grouped by country. Countries with no open positions are not shown.

Things to Note:

• Country is an optional field. Positions without a country value may appear ungrouped or be geocoded from the location string.
  
• Countries with no open positions are not shown.
  
• Multi-country positions may appear under each applicable country.

Open Positions by Site

Definition: Open Positions by Site provides a more granular geographic breakdown than Country, grouping open positions by specific office or site location to support location-level workforce planning.

How It Is Calculated: Open positions are counted and grouped by site location. Site locations with no open positions are not shown.

Things to Note:

• Site is a required field on the job requisition — positions must have a location value to be indexed and appear in this view.
  
• Site locations with no open positions are not shown.
  
• Fully remote positions or positions covering multiple sites may appear inconsistently.