Basis and limits of this analysis
This analysis uses exclusively the four recruiting cases documented in the Peak Atlas register and backed by the clients’ campaign reports. They are not a sample of a market, but observed individual cases with different channels, target groups and metrics. You can learn from them how to read metrics – not what is “normal.”
The chain: six quantities that are not the same thing
- Candidate reach
- How many people the job posting reached – recipients of a newsletter, contacts of a campaign. Says nothing about whether anyone looked.
- Opens / open rate
- How many recipients opened an email, relative to the recipients of that email. Measured technically, imprecise depending on the email client, never transferable to the total reach across several channels.
- Clicks / click rate
- How often a link was clicked. Whether it is counted as clicks per recipient, per opener or as unique people differs by source – and often makes click rates from different campaigns incomparable.
- Responses
- Replies, follow-up questions, contacts. Not documented as a separate figure in the cases at hand.
- Applications
- Applications received for the position. Quantified in only one of the four cases.
- Hire
- The position was filled. Documented in two cases – as an outcome, not a number.
The four cases in full scope
| Case | Candidate reach | Opens | Clicks | Responses | Applications | Hire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLK-Kliniken Only source with quantified applications. Page views are not people. | two newsletter campaigns, number of recipients not stated; 1,574 page views | up to 52.9% (peak of a single send) | not documented | not documented | 13 active applications | not documented (applicant pool, no hire mentioned) |
| Universitätsspital Zürich The 5% is not comparable to the click rate of another case, because it's unclear whether it was counted per recipient, per opener, or as unique people. | 9,947 potential candidates reached (email + social media) | 36% (email) | 5% – reference base not specified in the source | not documented | not documented | Position filled (internal medicine) |
| MEDICLIN Two offers counted separately. A percentage would be clicks per recipient, not a unique click rate. | 7,192 recipients | not documented | 418 + 79 = 497 link clicks (clicks, not people) | not documented | not documented | not applicable (scholarship offers, no position) |
| Privatklinik Wyss Separate campaign with its own reference base – not to be offset against the 5% of the USZ case. | 9,404 potential candidates reached | 43 % | 3,2 % | not documented | not documented | Position filled (resident physician, psychiatry/neurology) |
The table shows what is documented per case – and leaves blank what isn’t. The gaps are the most important part of the table.
Four cases from healthcare, each with its own format, its own channel mix and its own period: this is a collection of observed individual cases, not a representative market study. There is no population, no random sample and no uniform data collection. You can learn to read from it – not to extrapolate.
What you must not compare
- The 5% click rate at Universitätsspital Zürich is stated in the source without a reference base. The 3.2% click rate at Privatklinik Wyss comes from a different campaign with a different format. Putting both values side by side and concluding “5 is better than 3.2” is not valid – the denominators are unknown or not identical.
- The 36% open rate (Zurich) explicitly refers to the email portion, not to the combined reach of 9,947 from email and social media. It can’t be set against the 43% (Wyss, newsletter sponsorship) or the up to 52.9% (SLK, two mailings) without knowing the campaign structure.
- The 497 link clicks at MEDICLIN are clicks, not people; multiple clicks and clicks on both offers may be included. A ratio to the 7,192 recipients is therefore not a unique click rate.
- 13 applications (SLK) are not hires. Two filled positions (Zurich, Wyss) are not application counts. Reach, application and hire are not available as an unbroken chain in any of the cases.
Metrics reading key
When someone presents you with a recruiting metric – an agency, a job board or your own team – ask these five questions before you judge it:
- 01What is the numerator? People, opens, clicks, applications – or events that can occur multiple times per person?
- 02What is the denominator? Recipients, openers, page views, total reach across several channels?
- 03What period? One mailing, one campaign, one quarter?
- 04Which stage of the chain is it – and which stages are missing between this number and a filled position?
- 05Was the number collected from the same source and with the same definition as the one it is meant to be compared with?
A metric that answers these five questions is readable. One that leaves them open is a number – nothing more. The article “Build your own benchmarks” describes how to build comparable values from your own campaigns.
