Hiring · HR glossary

Recruitment Funnel

A recruitment funnel shows how candidates move through successive hiring stages. It tracks the number entering each stage and the proportion progressing to the next.

Example

Of 200 applicants, 40 are screened, ten interviewed and two hired. The overall applicant-to-hire conversion is two divided by 200, or 1%.

What to keep in mind

A lower conversion is not automatically poor performance. Examine suitability, fairness and candidate withdrawals at each stage before deciding whether a channel or assessment needs to change.

Further reading

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