Time to Hire

Ep 29 Jenna Hinrichsen on Data Analytics: Strategic Effect on Talent Acquisition

• Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA)

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In this episode, Jenna Hinrichsen, Director of Recruitment Strategy and Labor Market Analytics at Advanced RPO, joins Lamees Abourahma to share strategic insights on leveraging data analytics for effective talent acquisition. They explore how organizations can move from reactive hiring to proactive workforce planning through market intelligence and competitor analysis. Jenna outlines a framework for developing data-driven recruitment strategies that align with market realities while delivering greater hiring success. Jenna highlights compensation benchmarking, experience requirement optimization, and the critical importance of acting on data insights rather than merely collecting them. 

This episode helps talent acquisition leaders build sustainable hiring processes by embracing market data, even when it challenges existing assumptions. 

The conversation covers:

  • Talent competitor analysis
  •  Salary benchmarking
  • Flexibility strategies 
  • Change management challenges
  • Best practices for integrating analytics into talent strategies

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Lamees Abourahma: 

Hello, and welcome to the Time to Hire podcast from the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association. I'm your host, Lamees Abourahma, and today, I'm joined by Jenna Henrytson, director of recruitment strategy and labor market analytics at Advanced RPO. In our conversation, Jenna shares insights on how data and analytics are transforming talent acquisition strategies. We discussed the power of data in helping organizations move from reactive to proactive workforce planning, as well as the key challenges and best practices for effectively integrating analytics into talent strategies.

Jenna also provides the RPO perspective, highlighting the value that external partners can bring in terms of data -driven expertise and execution. We touch on the ongoing debate around remote work and the importance of flexibility in attracting top talent.

Let's listen to the conversation and hear Jenna explain how data is shaping the future of talent acquisition. I hope you enjoyed that conversation. 

 We are talking about the strategic impact of data and analytics. My first question to you is: how can data help organizations move from reactive hiring to more proactive workforce planning?

Jenna Hinrichsen:  

I think the key is really understanding the talent and competitor landscape around you. So, coming in and looking broadly at the market around you and knowing what you're up against. For example, is your pay competitive with the market and your talent competitors? If not, what can you do to offset that to attract talent? There's got to be something that you have that you can share with candidates.

Also, what is the supply and demand for the specific talent in your market? We get this a lot at Advanced RPO, where clients are asking for data, but they're looking specifically at industry competitors. When you're looking at hiring data, you've got to look at it from the perspective of talent competitors as well as industry competitors.

For example, if you're in the manufacturing space or the healthcare space, and you're hiring a production worker or an accounting individual, it doesn't mean that your only competitors are the ones in your same industry. It means that any company in your area that's hiring for those types of skill sets are going to be your talent competitors, and that's who you really need to be looking at in terms of supply and demand and what's available in the market.

I think also being flexible is important. Can you be flexible in the required skills and experience? If not, is there another location? Do you have other offices? Do you have the ability to allow workers to work from home? If the market that you sit in currently is too expensive to hire people in, do you have the ability to hire people in different locations?

So I think from a workforce planning perspective, coming into that session or planning, you'll want to know all of these things up front.

Lamees Abourahma: 

Can you give me some examples of data-driven insights that have significantly improved hiring outcomes?

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

Sure. Aligning your pay with the market and with your talent competitors is key. It's one of those things that companies just don't want to hear about. They don't want to hear that it's about money; there are other things that companies have to offer. And I get that. The reality is that most people work for pay. Some people work for fun, but the large majority of people are working for pay. And so that's really what's going to make the biggest impact.

So is your pay aligning with the market and with your talent competitors? And then also, if you can't be as competitive with your pay, where can you compromise? Going back to what we were talking about before, can you have an individual work from home? Would that be an incentive to have somebody in a different location where you can be more competitive with your salary? Or can you offer a sign-on bonus? Or is there in-house training, so you could maybe look at a less skilled individual and provide internal training to get into that pay range that's more competitive?

So, it's not always black and white. It doesn't have to be that you have to pay what your competitors are paying or you're not going to be able to get talent, but you do have to be able to look at it from different angles and see where you can be flexible.

Lamees Abourahma: 

Anything else you want to add around examples for data-driven insights? You talked about pay. Are there other aspects where data insights can be useful?

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

Yeah, looking at years of experience is important. Often, hiring managers or companies will come to us and ask for someone with a specific number of years of experience. If you don't understand the labor market that you're sitting in today, you may have a misunderstanding of what's available in your market.

For example, if you're looking for an accountant and you say, "I want 10 years of experience in this role, and I want them to have specific experience in this software and this software," and so on. When you look at the labor market data, if it does not align with a pool of talent in that range—maybe the people in that market are more in the zero to four-year range, that's where the bulk of the talent is, or maybe it's in the 11 to 20-year range but you don't want someone too senior—you have to look at how you can align your expectations to get the right hire along with the market data.

Lamees Abourahma: 

Very good. Let's explore some of the challenges and best practices for data analytics. Can you tell me what are the biggest challenges that you see companies face in implementing a data-driven talent acquisition approach?

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

I want to be very honest here. I think the biggest challenge is that companies don't necessarily embrace the data. It's one thing to say, "I want to see the data and look at it and understand it and analyze the data," and it's another thing to actually make changes. Making those changes is what moves the needle.

So you can't just look at the data and say, "Well, this is what our company offers, and this is what we have." You have to be able to make changes in certain areas. Again, going back to it's not black and white. You don't have to change everything. But what can you change?

If you want to overcome some of those challenges, there are going to be moves that a company or hiring manager has to make on their end to be able to be competitive in that space. Just having the data is not enough. It's really acting on the data that is the biggest challenge that companies face.

Lamees Abourahma: 

I hear you, Jenna. It's more of a change management issue sometimes, and that's probably what organizations need to work on before they actually make use of the data.

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

Yeah, being prepared to make changes going into it. Not so much from the mindset of, "This is how we do it at XYZ company," as if it's set in stone. You're really looking at it from the lens of, "How can we evolve as an employer and be competitive?" Because ultimately, you're going to have to make some changes or sacrifices in certain areas to get the right talent.

To be competitive, you've got to look at what places you can be flexible. There are going to be places and areas in your process and your organization where you can't be flexible, and that's fine, but knowing the spots where you can be flexible is really key.

Lamees Abourahma: 

I feel I shouldn't say this, and it probably needs to be edited. I think it's ironic when organizations ask for data, and then they don't use that data, like you said.

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

I think many times when companies ask for it; they want to see what they want to see. Or they want to prove that the data is saying what they're saying or seeing. And so if it doesn't say that, then it's easier to kind of walk away from it. But they've quote-unquote "asked for the data" and looked at it. A lot of times, they just don't want to hear the reality of it, unfortunately.

Lamees Abourahma: 

Makes sense. So, let's close with this: let's talk about best practices for organizations to follow in effectively integrating analytics into their talent strategies.

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

I think the first one is data—data first before anything else. When you're kicking off a search, whether it's a recruiter in your organization or you're looking at adding a role in your organization, the very first thing you should be doing, the foundation of that, should be understanding the market. What is happening in that market? What are the realistic expectations?

So if I'm a recruiter working with a hiring manager, before I do anything to start sending candidates or reaching out to candidates, I want to look at the data and have a conversation with the hiring manager and say, "Here's where we sit today. Here's what the market is doing. Here's what we have as far as competition. Here are some things we need to be aware of." And then really look at how that changes the talent pool and hiring landscape.

Because the hiring manager or the hiring organization may have in their mind that they're hiring you to come in, or it's your job to come in and find talent, regardless of the situation. So they're expecting you to come to the table with 30 candidates or 10 candidates that have all of this experience. But when you really look at what a client is looking for and then show them in the market where they're sitting, how does that affect the talent pool?

I think if you align out of the gates, you have a much better success rate. A lot of times, recruiters or hiring managers will go back and do that after a few weeks. Maybe you're recruiting for a role, and you're having some challenges, so the hiring manager or the company may say, "Well, we haven't seen candidates. What's going on?" So then you go back and start looking at things, and you uncover all of these challenges.

Ultimately, you're going to have to look at it either way. It's a better practice to be proactive about it and align up front. So going into it, you know that the hiring manager or the client may not have a lot of flexibility, and that's fine, but as long as you're setting the stage and setting the tone for what we're up against in the landscape of this market, I think everybody's expectations are aligned going into that search.

And then I think another best practice, probably the second most important behind data first, is really analyzing and refining your approach every two to three weeks in a search. Hopefully, you fill the job within the first 30 days, but a lot of times, you don't if you're looking for very specific talent. And so what you start with isn't necessarily where you're going to end.

So you start with the labor market data and look at what is happening in the market around you. But then once you get in there and start recruiting, it's important to look at whether your data is aligning with the market. Are you seeing the same things that the market was saying? Can you have that conversation with the hiring manager, or are you seeing different things? Are you seeing candidates that actually are in certain ranges, or they are in that location? You want to make sure your data is aligning.

Also, look at what's working and what isn't, because a lot of times what works in one market doesn't work in another market, and you don't really know until you try. So your strategy needs to be coming in with a clear plan. But then every couple of weeks, two to three weeks, being able to be flexible and looking at what's working, what's not working, and what changes do I as a recruiter—or do I need to recommend to the leadership team—to make for us to ultimately get this role filled?

Lamees Abourahma: 

That's fantastic, Jenna, and I love the conversation. Your insights for TA leaders also provide that RPO perspective because you work with a variety of clients across industries, geographies, and so forth. You alluded to this in our conversation, but can we perhaps expand on what an RPO provider brings to the table in terms of analytics and data?

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

An RPO provider can really bring all of those tools to the table for you. If you are an organization where you're doing your own hiring and have your own hiring team, you need to be prepared with tools that allow you to analyze the market, optimize job postings, look at who your competitors are in various markets. And then not just having the technology or the tools to see that, but how do you piece it together and tell the story?

That's where I think RPO can be great partners, in that we come to the table with those tools, and we come to the table with expertise in executing on those strategies. It's a value-add in that you don't have to be prepared to have that, and you don't have to have that expertise within your organization. We will bring that within the partnership.

Lamees Abourahma: 

Thank you. Anything else we missed or any final thoughts you want to share?

Jenna Hinrichsen: 

I don't think so. I think just starting your search with data, always looking at the data, and then really embracing it—it's reality. It's a lot of times stuff we don't want to see, but having our eyes wide open and looking at it is really what's going to allow hiring managers and companies to really get to that end result, which is making the hire.

So if you truly want to make the right hire and have the best talent in your organization, you have to be willing to embrace data, and sometimes that's not going to work in your favor. But what can you do as an organization or a hiring manager to offset that? I think those are the biggest points.

Lamees Abourahma

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. It's been fun. 

Jenna Hinrichsen

Yeah, agreed. I love it. 

Lamees Abourahma

That's wonderful. I'm happy to hear that. Thank you so much.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Time to Hire podcast from the Recruitment
Process Outsourcing Association. Give us a review wherever you listen to the podcast and always stay connected, stay engaged, and stay informed of what's happening in the talent and recruiting world by tuning into the RPOA, the place to go for RPO™.