When a Chief asks, “How is recruiting going?”, the usual answer is a vague anecdote: “We got a few good ones at the job fair last week,” or “Applications seem a bit slow.”
In an era of multimillion-dollar budgets and critical staffing shortages, anecdotal evidence isn’t enough. Better recruiting data is needed. For command staff and city councils, hard data is needed to justify expenditures and to adapt strategies. Yet, the agencies have zero visibility into their recruiting funnel metrics.
If you don’t know where your best applicants are coming from, or at what stage you are losing them, you are flying blind. It’s time to adopt a data-driven approach to public safety staffing.
Better Recruiting Data
The Metrics That Matter
Modern recruiting software, like the platform offered by Safeguard Recruiting, tracks data points that spreadsheets can’t. Your agency should be monitoring:
- Source of Hire: Are your best candidates coming from Facebook ads, Indeed, college job fairs, or your agency website? (Stop spending money on sources that don’t yield hires).
- Cost Per Lead/Hire: How much marketing spend does it take to get one qualified applicant to walk through the door?
- Funnel Drop-Off Rates: Where are you losing people? Do 50% of applicants ghost you after the physical agility test? Do 30% fail the written exam? Knowing where they drop off allows you to fix the specific leak in the bucket.
Moving from Reactive to Proactive
Without better recruiting data , you only know you have a problem when the academy class is half empty. With real-time data dashboards, you can see leading indicators months in advance.
If you see top-of-funnel applications dip in March, you know you need to increase marketing spend immediately to fill a September academy. Data turns recruiting from a guessing game into a predictable science.
Justifying the Budget
When it’s time to ask the city manager for more budget for advertising or recruiting software, data is your best friend. Being able to show, “We spent $X on digital ads, which resulted in Y qualified applicants and Z final hires at a cost of $A per hire,” is far more compelling than simply asking for more money because you’re short-staffed.
Stop guessing about your staffing strategy. Safeguard Recruiting provides the software dashboards and analytical expertise to give your command staff clear visibility into your hiring funnel.
Conclusion
Anecdotes don’t staff academies. In today’s hiring environment, you can’t run a multimillion-dollar public safety organization on “we think it’s going okay.” You need better recruiting data the same way you need better crime data: to see what’s happening, understand why it’s happening, and make decisions before the problem becomes visible on the street.
Better recruiting data turns recruiting from a mystery into a measurable pipeline. When you know exactly which sources produce hires, what each applicant costs, and where candidates drop off, you stop wasting time and money on tactics that feel productive but don’t deliver officers. You also stop guessing why applicants disappear because the numbers tell you where the friction is and what needs to be fixed.
Most importantly, better recruiting data makes your staffing strategy proactive instead of reactive. You can spot declines in applications early, adjust marketing and outreach before the next academy is at risk, and walk into budget meetings with proof instead of frustration.
If command staff wants predictable hiring outcomes, they need better recruiting data to drive predictable decisions. Safeguard Recruiting provides the dashboards and analytical expertise to give leaders clear visibility, stronger accountability, and a recruiting process that actually scales.
Schedule a demo to see our analytics in action.
