3 ways to get more from talent market research

August 16, 2022

 

iCIMS Staff

5 min read

How often do you look at market research? 

More than 73% of enterprises dedicate 20% of their technology budgets to research and data analytics. (Source: Forbes) 

Whether it is for a one-off presentation or detailed plan, market data can help validate assumptions, provide context, and drive strategic actions.  

Regularly performing market research can also help businesses learn about target customers or competitors.  

Now how often are you able to apply that market research to your own business?  

It’s hard enough to find trusted sources that are relevant to your business model but locating topics that are specific to your team needs and knowing how to apply those insights can be even more challenging. 

iCIMS Insights program uses propriety data to evaluate talent landscapes, compile themes, and articulate consumable recommendations for hiring and mobility teams. After performing thousands of hours of research to serve Insights through workforce, industry, and “State of” reports – iCIMS is ready to offer even more personalized translations of business-critical information.  

New to iCIMS Summer Release 2022 is Insights + and Insights Advisor. These new offerings take Insights to the next level, helping talent leaders uncover and analyze trends that impact hiring and mobility. Below are three ways to get more out of market research through these offerings and other business tactics.  

1. Take a deep dive into metrics that impact your industry  

Take one look at the news and you will see high-level information about your industry. However, sourcing consistent KPIs specific to your sector and department may be harder to come by.  

Measuring your business’s KPIs can help you get more candidates. Consider continuously evaluating industry-specific metrics like:  

• • Platform indicators 
  • Time to fill 
  • Applicants per opening 
  • Applicant conversion rate 
  • Applications by gender 
  • Applicants by age demographic 

Keep your organization’s KPIs in mind while performing market research to help you validate or flag findings.  

Insights + reports cover industries like health care, finance, manufacturing, education, retail trade, technology, and sub $15/hour.  

Research findings for industries outside of your own can also benefit talent practices, as overlaps frequently exist in job functions and department focus. 

For example, a report covering retail can resonate with a hospital hiring café workers, typically categorized as a retail role. 

2. Network with peers 

Sometimes seeing how other companies, even outside of your industry, are evaluating internal and external data can help you with your market research strategy. Networking with peers can take place via events, think tanks, or community programs. Below are examples of questions to pose in conversations.  

Ask your peers:  

• • What sources do you evaluate for research metrics? 
  • What metrics do you record from your hiring and mobility platform? 
  • How big of a role does analytics play in your talent acquisition and mobility strategy? 

Answers to these questions can help align your team on ways to improve or focus. Sharing information (depending on your organization’s legal restrictions and competition policies) helps others, too. Remember, we are all looking for ways to innovate!  

3. Seek expert advice 

Companies analyze only about 12% of their entire collected data. That leaves about 88% of the opportunities and threats unnoticed. (Source: Leftronic) 

One of the biggest challenges in performing market research is getting consistent and accurate information. By seeking advice from Market Research Experts or Data Analytics Professionals, you can glean best practices on data capture, research tactics, and talent analytics.  

Consultants can often take a closer, less biased, look at your hiring and mobility platform to indicate gaps in reporting and provide guidance on benchmarking for the future.  

With Insights Advisor, you receive all the benefits of Insights + (industry deep dives, community events, and think tanks) as well as advisory engagements which provide custom and bespoke analysis covering critical trends and topics.  

Find out more about Insights + and Insights Advisor offerings on our Summer 2022 release resource page.