Tracking the quality of hire isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a must. Whether you’re filling a few roles a month or running large-scale hiring efforts, knowing how your new hires perform over time is one of the most important parts of recruiting.
It’s not enough to bring people in. You need to know if they’re sticking, growing, and helping your company move forward.
Why Quality of Hire Matters
At the core, quality of hire is about understanding how well your hiring choices work out. Are new employees helping the business? Are they a good fit? Do they last? Or are you hiring fast and losing talent just as fast?
These are the kinds of questions smart recruiting teams ask. And they use real data to answer them.
What Is Quality of Hire?
Let’s start with the basics.
What is the meaning of quality of hire?
It’s a measurement of how successful your hires are after they join the company. It looks at both short-term performance and long-term fit.
You might measure:
- Time to full productivity
- Job performance reviews
- Team feedback
- Retention after 6 or 12 months
- Hiring manager satisfaction
Each company may have a slightly different mix. The key is to use quality of hire tools that help collect and track these insights easily.
How Do You Track Quality of Hire?
Tracking means more than just collecting feedback once. You need a system. Here’s how to do it the right way:
1. Use Scheduled Surveys
Send surveys to hiring managers at key points in time—30, 90, 180, and even 365 days after hire. Ask simple questions like:
- Would you rehire this person?
- Are they meeting job expectations?
- Are they growing in the role?
This is your quality of hire questionnaire. Keep it short, direct, and easy to complete.
2. Use a Quality of Hire Index
A quality of hire index combines several metrics into one score. For example:
- Performance score
- Time to productivity
- Retention
- Manager satisfaction
Average them out or weight them if needed. This gives you a quick view of hire performance over time.
3. Segment the Data
Break your data into views using a quality of hire dashboard. Look at quality by:
- Department
- Recruiter
- Job type
- Hiring manager
This helps you see what’s working and where things need attention.
Tools That Make It Work
Using email to send one-off surveys works—for a little while. But it’s slow, manual, and hard to manage at scale. You’ll spend more time chasing responses than analyzing data.
That’s where quality of hire software comes in.
Platforms like Survale automate the full process:
- Send sequenced surveys at set intervals
- Tie results to ATS data
- Deliver results to your dashboards
- Track response rates and performance metrics
You don’t have to chase managers for feedback. The system does that for you. You just review the data.
What to Measure Over Time
A strong quality of hire measurement plan covers all key points in a new hire’s early lifecycle.
At 30 Days:
- Did onboarding go well?
- Is the new hire adjusting?
At 90 Days:
- Are they meeting basic expectations?
- Is there early feedback on culture fit?
At 180 Days:
- Is the employee fully productive?
- Any performance issues?
At 1 Year:
- Are they still with the company?
- Would the manager rehire them?
This is where the full value of a hires track process becomes clear. It’s not about a single snapshot. It’s about seeing progress—or problems—over time.
Make the Data Useful
All the surveys in the world won’t help unless you can act on what you learn. That’s why your quality of hire dashboard should let you:
- Compare different teams or departments
- Filter by job level or hire date
- Spot trends in poor-fit hires
- Match recruiting data with performance outcomes
With this view, you can fix problems quickly. Maybe a certain recruiter is pushing through hires that don’t stick. Maybe one hiring manager gives poor interviews. Now you know.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Waiting Too Long
Don’t wait six months to gather feedback. Start early—at 30 or 60 days—and continue checking in.
2. Survey Overload
Don’t send 20-question surveys. Keep it short. Ask only what you’ll use.
3. No Follow-Up
If you see low scores, act. Follow up with hiring managers. Review the hiring process.
FAQs
How do you track quality of hire?
Use timed surveys, performance data, and retention metrics. Automate this with a quality of hire tool or dashboard.
How to measure employee quality?
Track manager feedback, performance scores, and retention. Use structured forms and scorecards.
How to track and measure the quality of work?
Set clear job expectations. Compare performance reviews, team input, and output metrics over time.
What is the meaning of quality of hire?
It’s how well a new hire performs and fits after joining the company.
How do you measure quality of hire?
Use a mix of performance, retention, and satisfaction data—then combine them into a quality of hire index.
How to measure feedback impact on new hires?
Check if early feedback leads to faster improvements or higher retention. Compare feedback scores with long-term outcomes.
Final Thoughts
Tracking quality of hire isn’t just a data project. It’s how you build a smarter, stronger hiring system. When you know what’s working—and what’s not—you make better hiring decisions.
With the right quality of hire software, you can automate surveys, collect feedback, and use dashboards that show you the full picture. You don’t have to chase hiring managers or build spreadsheets from scratch.
You just focus on what matters: hiring people who succeed and stay.
Whether you’re just getting started or fine-tuning your process, the key is to start tracking now. Every hire tells a story. The sooner you start listening, the faster you improve.
