If hired as our next HR Consultant, what do you feel should be the single most important metric that we focus on for the next five years?

In this day and age, HR professionals have more workforce data at their fingertips than they ever had in the past. The ability to put that data into action is vital for an organization to be successful. With this question, your interviewer is looking to hear your take on the importance of data within Human Resources and what you feel is the most important metric to measure, analyze and take action on. This is certainly an open-ended question that you can feel free to be open and honest on. Just be sure that you justify your answer by explaining why you feel it is vital for this organization.

"Over the course of my career, I have found that measuring cost per hire and taking action on improving it can be extremely cost saving for an organization. By focusing on both internal and external recruiting costs like advertising, travel to recruitment fairs, recruiter time spent on a hire, referral bonuses, and interview costs, an organization can focus on putting their money to use in wise ways. I've tracked the effectiveness of different advertising campaigns to ensure we were getting the best returns for our dollars, and I've never hesitated to cut ties with methods that don't produce. It's also great for hiring managers to see hard data on the actual impact that turnover has on the overall bottom line of the organization."