A yield ratio measures the percentage of candidates who advance from one specific stage of the recruiting funnel to the very next adjacent stage, used to pinpoint exactly where a funnel is leaking candidates rather than judging the whole process at once.

Formula and worked example

Yield Ratio = (Candidates Advancing to Next Stage ÷ Candidates at Current Stage) × 100

If 500 candidates apply and 60 pass screening, the application-to-screen yield ratio is (60 ÷ 500) × 100 = 12%. Of those 60 screened, if 20 get invited to a phone interview, the screen-to-phone yield ratio is (20 ÷ 60) × 100 ≈ 33%. The key feature of a yield ratio is that it’s always stage-to-stage, calculated between one pair of adjacent stages, never end-to-end. Chaining every stage’s yield ratio together gives you the overall funnel conversion rate, but the individual ratios are what actually tell you where to fix the process.

Frequently asked questions

How is yield ratio different from overall funnel conversion?

Yield ratio covers exactly one stage pair. Overall funnel conversion is the cumulative result of every yield ratio multiplied together across the whole process.

Is offer acceptance rate a yield ratio?

Technically yes, it’s the specific yield ratio for the offer-to-accepted-hire stage pair, just given its own commonly used name.

What’s a “good” yield ratio?

It depends entirely on which stage pair and role type you’re looking at, there’s no single universal target, which is exactly why tracking your own ratios over time matters more than an external benchmark.

Calculate stage-by-stage conversion with the Recruitment Funnel Calculator.