Measuring Early Careers campaigns, the right way

The demand for proof of success in Early Careers has never been greater. Budgets are tighter, leaders are asking harder questions, and "ROI" has become the shorthand for value. The problem is, we often talk about ROI as if we're measuring a sales campaign, where the customer sees an ad, clicks, and buys. Yet in recruitment, and specifically Early Careers, it's far more complex. The return isn't a transaction, it's a person. A person who joins, learns, performs, and hopefully stays. So how do we know if what we're doing is actually working?

Metrics are only part of the story

In many Early Careers campaigns, the proof that we're provided with to show a campaign's success, is often graphs showing impressions, clicks and career site visits trending upwards. They reassure us that everything looks like it's working, but these numbers show activity, not success. They tell us that people saw something. They don't show persuasion or influence. They don't tell us anything about quality or advocacy. And that's where things start to get complicated, because often the things that really matter are the hardest to measure.

What should you measure?

To measure success properly, we need to be clear about the kind of change we're trying to create. In Early Careers, most activity aims to influence one of three things: awareness, attractiveness, or preference.

• Awareness: How much visibility do you have? Do the people you want to reach know who you are and what opportunities you offer?
• Attractiveness: When people learn more about you, does it feel like somewhere they'd want to work? Is your proposition attractive?
• Preference: This is about intent. Have they been persuaded to apply? When they have the option, do they choose you?

Each of these outcomes connects to different parts of the process. Early outreach builds awareness, the candidate experience shapes attractiveness, and the pre-offer and onboarding experience influences preference. The key is alignment. Success should be measured against the change an activity was actually designed to make, not by a single universal metric.

Choosing the right metrics

Once we're clear about what we want to influence, we can think about how to measure it. Here's the trade-off: the easiest metrics to collect are often the least meaningful. The metrics that really matter - quality of hire, retention, performance - are much harder to capture, take longer, and often live in different systems which are hard to track across. The goal is to have a balance of the quicker metrics that are easy to find, with the valuable ones which help you learn something useful.

5 tips for better measurement

#1 Define success up front

Be explicit about whether your activity is driving awareness, attractiveness or preference before choosing metrics.

#2 Choose measures that matter

Start with the ideal thing you'd love to measure for impact and then work out what you can realistically track as a substitute.

#3 Always add context

Campaigns don't happen in a vacuum. When you share data, remember to contextualise it. Explain any changes in the market or organisation that may have influence performance.

#4 Connect what you can

Link campaign activity and hiring and onboarding data wherever possible. Even if it's not perfect tracking across the funnel, connecting data where possible is the key to revealing useful patterns and gathering insights.

#5 Take a longer view

If the goal is better hires who perform and stay, don't judge success only by short-term volume metrics. Make sure you revisit the outcomes months and years later.

At the end of the day, good measurement isn't about proving you were right, it's about learning what makes a difference, so you can do it better next time.

Ready to create Early Careers campaigns that really hit the mark? Get in touch - hello@thirtythree.co.uk and we'll help you get started.