Hiring in 2026: Turning Recruitment Data into Better Hiring Decisions

Both point towards a similar challenge: when identifying the right candidates becomes harder, recruitment teams need better ways to surface, engage and evaluate talent.

In this second blog, we focus on two practical opportunities highlighted throughout the webinar series with Hubert and the findings from Eploy's 2026 UK Candidate Attraction Report: making better use of existing talent pools and measuring the effectiveness of candidate attraction activity. 

Together, they offer recruitment teams a way to improve candidate quality without simply adding more stages to the hiring process.

Your next great candidate could already be in your ATS

The series also highlighted another potential opportunity: making better use of candidates you've already found. 41% of recruiters say talent pooling is a priority, yet only 28% search their ATS or CRM as part of their regular workflow. That's a significant gap between intention and action.

Consider the candidates who made it to the final stages of a previous vacancy but weren't ultimately hired. There may have been one position and several impressive candidates. Rather than allowing those "silver medallists" to disappear into the database, recruitment teams can categorise them appropriately, nurture the relationship and make them easier to rediscover when another suitable opportunity appears.

It changes the starting point for recruitment. Instead of beginning every vacancy with a blank page, organisations can build an increasingly useful pool of candidates who have already engaged with their employer brand, and, in some cases already demonstrated relevant skills. Technology can help make that activation part of the recruitment workflow rather than an afterthought.

Measurement turns sourcing activity into insight

Recruitment teams invest significant time and budget into attracting candidates, but the series highlighted a significant gap between using sourcing channels and measuring how effectively they perform.

Eploy's survey found that 93% of enterprises invest in career sites, yet only 20% measure their effectiveness. Similarly, employee referrals have consistently performed strongly for candidate quality in Eploy's research, but while 69% of enterprises have a referral scheme, only 34% measure its effectiveness. 

Knowing where candidates come from is only part of the picture. Connecting sourcing activity to recruitment outcomes can help teams understand which channels deliver quality candidates and make more informed decisions about where to focus their time and investment.

When improving quality of hire is the goal, measurement provides the visibility recruiters need to understand what's actually working.

So, what does hiring in 2026 look like?

If there was one overarching message from the three conversations, it's that recruitment processes need to evolve alongside candidate behaviour. 

AI isn't disappearing.

Rising application volumes aren't necessarily becoming easier to manage.

And adding more stages to an already stretched recruitment process won't automatically result in better hires.

Instead, recruitment teams can focus on a few fundamental questions: 

• Are we assessing the things that genuinely matter for success in the role? 
• Are unnecessary stages creating friction for good candidates? Are we using our existing talent pools effectively? 
• Do we know which sources and processes actually result in quality hires?

Ultimately, hiring in 2026 isn't simply about attracting more candidates or adding more technology. It's about helping the right candidates demonstrate what they can offer, giving recruiters the information they need to recognise them, and making better use of the talent already within reach.