ASML transforms hiring with talent acquisition analytics

Challenges

ASML, the world’s supplier to the semiconductor industry, has employees that are highly skilled in optics, lithography, and engineering. Heather Flynn, former Head of U.S. Talent Acquisition for ASML, oversaw more than 1,100 hires a year with blended model of an internal team and an RPO partnership with Cielo.

The first step for ASML in building out the reporting function was to start collecting actionable data. Improper and inconsistent usage of the ATS across the organization left talent acquisition analytics efforts with little usable data, making it difficult to gain relevant insights and find areas for improvement.

Solutions

Standardized reporting measures

To give the business better insights into time-to-fill and other standard recruiting measures, ASML defined global metrics and started holding the recruiting team accountable for getting results within defined timeframes. After the team began gathering usable information, it then set up a dashboard in an analytics tool that pulled data from the ATS.

"The dashboard has taken the recruiting team out of pulling reports," Flynn said. "It's a huge win." With accurate data on the amount of time each recruiting stage takes, ASML can now identify and solve the issues that lengthened time-to-fill. "High-quality talent doesn't keep looking for very long," said Flynn.

Optimized sources of hire

ASML and Cielo prioritized paying more attention to data relating to sources of hires. Having senior-level recruiters work with hiring managers who previously had preferred to work with agencies proved to be an effective way to save on agency fees. 

In addition, analytics proved the viability of creating a talent community for optics professionals, which the team then set up. Finally, analysis of data on applicant flow from job boards revealed which ones offered greater return on advertising spend.

Talent acquisition analytics for internal mobility

With less than 10% turnover in the U.S., the company focused on internal mobility. About 20% of positions are filled every year (outside of internal promotions). A talent acquisition analytics project using AI demonstrated how people move through the company and what skill sets were intertwined, with results displayed on heat maps and other visualizations.

"Because we have so many hard-to-fill roles, this data can help the business make more strategic decisions about how to move our talent internally," Flynn said.

Survey data for process improvement benchmarks

Participation in the 2019 Candidate Experience Awards (CandE) gave ASML its own baseline of candidate satisfaction metrics by which to improve the hiring process going forward. The company had recently gone through a Kaizen (a method of continuous improvement) training that, when combined with the CandE data and a year's worth of accurate reporting data on recruitment metrics, offers a path for continuous improvement to the recruiting function.

Results

• A renewed focus on source of hire led to increasing investment in employment branding & sourcing and reducing agency spend from 25% of hires to less than 10%.
• The talent community for optics professionals attracted over 300 potential candidates.
• Developed an AI-powered talent acquisition analytics system to optimize internal talent mobility for hard-to-fill roles.

Several years of increased focus on reporting and analytics were transformational for talent acquisition at ASML. Looking ahead, the team plans to roll out business leader dashboards, conduct a closer examination of recruitment spending by platform, and build the talent pipeline based on market analysis. Accurate reporting data proved the value of ASML's investment in marketing and attraction, improving talent experiences for everyone.

“We'd like to get to the place where everyone who comes to us is qualified because we did such a good job of telling our story of who we are, what the job was, and why you'd want to work for us," Flynn said.