I’m nervous to write about performance metrics and key performance indicators. I would rather rip off my toenails than have a conversation about performance metrics with recruiters.

Why do we recruiters hate to be measured and judged? I’m not sure but I can speculate. Many times it’s that I have a wrong perspective as it relates to KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Yes it is a tool for executive leadership to objectively measure the health of their company. KPIs can be more than that,  if I would just give them a shot.

One common objective we recruiters have to KPIs is that they don’t explain the complexity and art of recruiting. I’m starting to believe that’s mostly b.s..  I get that we want to believe that our debonair on the phone and in meetings just can’t be measured. I think we are wrong.

Somebody really smart, and I don’t want to Google who it was, said something like this …

genius is taking that which is complex and simplifying it. I’m not a genius. I’m really good at taking something simple and making it even more complex.

That’s what I did early in my recruiting career.  I made easy recruiting KPIs handed to me by a recruiting rock star and made them more complex. I did this because I felt Because measuring recruiting the simple way doesn’t take into account all the little nuances in art and complexity of skill into consideration.

I’m wrong. I’m usually wrong 99% of the time. I’m wrong so much that I’ve had to learn to grow from my wrongs. I’m now on this endless journey to simplify the complex. I don’t know why this principle resonates with me.

Steve Jobs, (every business person should refer to him at some point in their career) was a genius. He was the master of simplifying complexity. The examples are endless. Do you remember trying to figure out your mp3 player from the early 2000s. Yeah, it was brutal.

Drag and drop. Now that is genius.

I think measuring performance can be simple. Do a quick search for recruiting metrics at ERE.net or source.com and have fun reading through the life crushing white papers on recruiting metrics. I had to do it 6 months ago. It was horrible.

Recruiting performance is pretty simple to measure. I have to credit my colleague, Clay Alexander, for coming up with it.

Get Candidates + Interview Candidates = hire candidates

Wow. I’ll let you think about that for a little while I go get another cup of coffee.