5 Metrics That Actually Predict Engineering Hiring Success
Time-to-fill is the most tracked metric in recruiting. It's also mostly useless.
"We filled the role in 28 days!" Great. Is the person any good? Are they still there 6 months later? Speed isn't the variable that matters. Here are the five metrics that actually predict whether your engineering hiring is working.
1. Source Quality Rate
Of the candidates from each source, what percentage make it past the technical screen?
- Employee referrals: ~45% pass rate
- Sourced candidates (tools like Candyfloss): ~30-35%
- Inbound applications from job posts: ~8-12%
- Recruiting agency submissions: ~20-28%
If your team spends 60% of time on inbound applications and 10% on sourcing, the math is upside down.
2. Stage Passthrough Rates
The conversion rate at each pipeline stage. Healthy benchmarks for engineering:
- Recruiter screen to technical screen: 50-65%
- Technical to onsite: 30-45%
- Onsite to offer: 40-55%
When a stage drops below these ranges, it tells you something specific. Low recruiter-to-technical? Your sourcing criteria don't match what the technical team wants. Low onsite-to-offer? Your interview process might be testing for the wrong things.
3. Offer Acceptance Rate
Industry benchmark: 85-92%. Below 80%? Check compensation (is it below market?), process speed (every week past 3 weeks, acceptance drops 8-10 points), and candidate experience.
4. Six-Month Retention Rate
Healthy: 90%+. Below 85%, something is fundamentally off. Either the role was misrepresented, the assessment didn't evaluate relevant skills, or compensation wasn't competitive.
We see a pattern in our data: engineer accepts offer, updates profile within 60 days, shows "open to opportunities" signals within 90 days, leaves within 6 months. Almost always a comp issue.
5. Hiring Manager Satisfaction Score
Ask at 30, 90, and 180 days: "On a scale of 1-10, how well does this hire meet the needs of the role?" Target 7.5+ average.
This is the only metric that directly measures whether you hired the right person. Everything else is a proxy.
Track these five things. Just these five. You don't need a 47-metric dashboard. You need to know if you're finding the right people, closing them, and keeping them.