Top talent is hard to find. So when you do find it, you don’t want to lose out on the candidate because your hiring process was too long and they moved on to another offer elsewhere. Time/speed is a huge factor when hiring, so if your hiring process drags out for weeks or months — Glassdoor estimated that the average hiring process takes nearly 24 days — it’s time to speed it up.
Candidates have a time window within which they’ll interview as well as make a decision. If you are able to speed up your process and decrease your hiring process time, you’ll compete with fewer companies and fill positions quicker! But it is important to balance speed with ensuring the candidate has a favorable experience throughout the process. Here’s some tips on how to do so:
1. Figure out where the bottleneck is
- What is holding things up – are you struggling to get applications at all? Are you getting too many irrelevant CVs to go through? Are interviews taking too long?
2. Write an Attractive Job Ad
- If you are getting lots of irrelevant resumes from candidates who are not qualified, it might be the fault of a shoddy job posting.
- Make sure you list the skills/prerequisites required, as well as what their responsibilities will be and who they will report to.
- A bad job posting can also fail to attract the right candidate because it doesn’t convince them why they should want to work there over all other options.
- Summarize your company and what it does, along with any ‘perks’ of the company, culture, or location.
- Include whether remote work is an option – many candidates will only do remote work, so don’t waste your time or theirs if they must be in-office.
3. Streamline your Interview Process
- The interview process is crucial to weed out the wrong candidates, as well as show the right candidate how great your business is.
- Make sure the candidate has those soft skills like emotional intelligence, a good temperament, flexibility, willingness to learn, and motivation. You can always teach ‘skills’, but you can’t ‘teach’ the right attitude or personality fit for your company.
- Let the candidate interview you as well, and be prepared with your answers. Set realistic expectations about your business and the role.
- Try to reduce the number of steps in your interview process (such as moving from 5 rounds to 3 rounds), and analyze immediately following the onsite interview, and be prepared to make an offer that day if you feel it’s the right fit.
4. Focus on engaging the candidate throughout the process
- Candidates are often left in the dust until the interview is scheduled, and then again after the interview. Make sure they feel engaged and prioritized by connecting with them throughout the process so they don’t walk away.
- Whoever is working with the candidate, make sure they get back to them within 24 hours (max).
5. Utilize a Recruiting Agency
- If you don’t have the time or resources, you can hire a recruitment agency to help you with all the above points, and to streamline your process efficiently and effectively. They can help post your job, screen candidates, and do initial interviews.
- Top talent “purple squirrels” are typically passive and not applying to job postings, so if you don’t have a dedicated recruiter on your team that is constantly building a pipeline, it can be helpful to hire a recruitment agency who are experts at searching for hard-to-find talent.
- Recruiting agencies often have tools and networks that can find you the perfect candidate more efficiently and more cost-effectively.