Candidate relationship management — benchmarking your CRM maturity
This blog provides a framework that companies can use to assess the effectiveness of their CRM strategy and processes compared to industry leaders.
Introduction
Candidate Relationship Management often abbreviated as CRM, has become a core function for recruiting and talent acquisition teams in today’s competitive hiring landscape. With unemployment at record lows in many regions and skills shortages persisting across multiple industries, attracting and retaining top talent requires more than just posting jobs online. Organizations need strategic, well-executed CRM processes that foster ongoing engagement and relationships with both active and passive candidates.
However, the adoption of CRM best practices varies widely between companies. While some talent teams have highly mature CRM capabilities, others are just getting started or lack direction in this area. This blog aims to provide a framework for benchmarking your organization’s CRM strategies and tactics against industry leaders. By assessing strengths and weaknesses, you can prioritize improvements that impact key metrics like time-to-fill, candidate experience, and passive candidate conversion rates.
Defining CRM Maturity Levels
To begin benchmarking, it helps to define different levels of CRM maturity based on common characteristics and capabilities. Here are some representative levels from least to most mature:
- Ad Hoc: CRM is not a strategic focus. Activity is sporadic and disorganized with no formal processes or metrics in place. According to one survey, 23% of companies describe their CRM as ad hoc or episodic.
- Developing: CRM importance is recognized but implementation is still in early stages. Basic practices like thank you emails and candidate surveys have begun but consistency is lacking. A 2020 study found that only 49% of companies have a documented CRM strategy.
- Consistent: Robust CRM processes are defined and consistently followed enterprise-wide. Activities span the full candidate life cycle from sourcing through interviewing to alumni outreach. Metrics are tracked but room remains for improvement. In a survey of over 500 recruiters, 66% said their CRM processes were consistent.
- Strategic: CRM directly aligns with overarching talent acquisition and business objectives. Insights are used to continually refine strategies, automate workflows, and deliver excellent candidate experiences. Benchmarking informs ongoing evolution. One report showed only 8% of companies have reached strategic CRM maturity.
By classifying your current state, you can assess how far your CRM maturity may need to progress. The descriptions above are necessarily broad — within each level, capabilities can vary greatly between high-performing vs. baseline programs.
According to one survey, 23% of companies describe their CRM as ad hoc or episodic.
Conducting a CRM Maturity Assessment
With maturity levels defined, you can evaluate your organization across key dimensions using surveys, interviews, and data analysis. Some indicative assessment areas include:
- CRM processes — Map the end-to-end candidate experience against best practices. Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and areas ripe for automation. A 2020 HCI study found top-performing companies were 67% more likely to map and document CRM processes.
- Technology support — Evaluate how well your applicant tracking system (ATS) and other tools support strategic CRM goals versus being used reactively. According to LinkedIn’s latest research, 75% of talent leaders say CRM technology is critical for success.
- Metrics & reporting — Audit the CRM metrics monitored and analyze how insights are applied. Mature programs closely track metrics like conversion rates throughout the funnel. Best practices recommend tracking at least 10 essential CRM metrics.
- Resources — Assess staffing levels, training, and executive support dedicated to CRM. Industry leaders typically have dedicated CRM or talent marketing teams. Top companies are 2.3x more likely to have in-house CRM expertise per a 2020 Bersin report.
- Personalized engagement — Benchmark personalized outreach based on candidates’ profiles, interests, and previous interactions versus one-size-fits-all messages. Studies show personalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates and engagement.
By gathering candid input from candidates and recruiters, you’ll develop a clear-eyed view of your organization’s CRM strengths and opportunities relative to leading practices. Aggregating the findings into a formal report allows for discussing priorities to accelerate maturity.
Conclusion
Regularly benchmarking your talent acquisition operation fosters continual learning and progress on a journey towards CRM excellence. While this may feel uncomfortable, viewing strengths and weaknesses objectively is key to targeted improvement. With dedicated work to elevate practices, any organization can lift its CRM maturity over time. Staying attuned to evolving strategies used by high performers ensures you’ll keep pace with tomorrow’s hiring challenges today.
