Hiring glossary
What is an OKR?
OKR stands for objectives and key results: a goal-setting method in which each objective (what you want to achieve) is paired with a small number of measurable key results that show whether you achieved it.
According to What Matters, the site founded by investor John Doerr, the method was created by Andy Grove at Intel, who taught it to Doerr; Doerr introduced it to Google’s founders in 1999, and it has since spread widely. OKRs are usually written with one objective and three to five key results beneath it, set for a quarter or a year, and shared openly so teams can see how their goals connect.
The objective is qualitative and directional (“make onboarding something new hires recommend”). Each key result is measurable and time-bound (“raise the 30-day new-hire survey score from 6 to 8 by the end of Q2”). Key results describe outcomes, not tasks: “launch a new onboarding portal” is an initiative that might help achieve a key result, not a key result itself.
OKRs and KPIs work together. KPIs track the ongoing health of the business or function and stay fairly constant. OKRs pick a few things to change or improve this period, and often use a KPI as the measure of a key result. Many organisations deliberately set some OKRs as stretch goals and do not tie them directly to pay, so people set ambitious targets without fear of missing a bonus.
In HR and recruiting, OKRs are a good way to focus a team on one or two improvements at a time, such as reducing time to hire for engineering roles or improving the quality of shortlists, rather than trying to move every metric at once.
Also called: objectives and key results, OKRs.
Example
Objective: hire the Q3 sales team without lowering the bar. Key results: fill 6 account executive roles by 30 September; every finalist completes the same structured interview and work sample; at least 5 of the 6 hires are rated “meeting expectations” at their 90-day review.
Related terms
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