How does Datapeople's Candidate Pool Size Estimator work?
Datapeople's candidate pool size estimator is based on how frequently we see jobs with similar attributes in the market in which the job is located.
Specifically, we use the combination of:
- Role type (i.e. Software Engineer)
- Responsibilities and qualifications (i.e. Perl, Python and Machine Learning)
- Market in which the job is located (e.g. Rochester, NY)
- Frequency of other similar jobs.
We use a 40 mile radius of the job location to define a broad market, with some adjustments for remote roles.
Our candidate pool estimator has a few key category types:
- Jobs with Large and Medium estimated candidate pool sizes are ideal. As denoted by its size, Medium may be on the margin, smaller than Large. However, these are typically not concerning.
- Jobs with Small Local estimated candidate pool sizes occur when the job attributes are rare in that specific market. That combination of job attributes can yield a larger candidate pool in a larger talent market.
- In contrast, jobs with Small estimated candidate pool sizes means that the requirements are highly specialized even in large talent markets (i.e. in the United States, in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago). These jobs are typically overqualified (their qualifications are not in line with the market trends / off-market).
When jobs have Small candidate pools, it is a good reminder to scan through the responsibilities and requirements of the job posting to determine whether any particular combination are not strictly required. Preferred qualifications are typically culprits for job over qualification.
On an aggregate basis, we typically recommend that the combined proportion of jobs that fall within the Small and Small Local candidate pool sizes should not be more than 20% of all open jobs.
For most companies, 20% of the jobs will be highly specialized and require a significant amount of effort to recruit. However, if a company's overall proportion of jobs with a Small candidate pool size is much higher, it's possible that hiring teams might be over-qualifying their jobs. In our experience, this will result in less (rather than more) qualified candidate pools.
You can see the proportion of your jobs for each category in your Content Snapshot report.