Image
  • Find Talent
  • Find Jobs
  • Our Expertise
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Office Administration
    • Legal
    • Technology
    • Human Resources
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Speed Up Your Hiring Process to Attract Top Talent

When Ben Franklin said, “Lost time is never found again,” he hadn’t had the pleasure of applying for jobs in 2018!

Lengthy hiring processes should be yesterday’s news.  Employers have no time to waste with the current job market tighter than a college graduate’s necktie.  Now is a good time for your company to take a second look at recruitment to consider whether you might be missing out on top talent because of an overzealous, overly digitized, and lengthy hiring process.

There are two key time traps that applicants must face.  These include online employment screening applications and the hiring company’s interview process.

Don’t Annoy Your Candidates

At a recent campus leadership workshop on career planning, a top frustration pertained to online pre-screening applications.  Attendees complained at the length of time necessary to complete them –several hours, in many cases – for a single job questionnaire.  The reward for spending hours each week filling in blanks? In many cases, a “black hole of silence,” as busy hiring managers failed to update candidates.

Sure, online pre-screening tools might save time by helping HR identify initial candidates for each position.  But in today’s labor market with fewer people to choose from, you could be missing out on real talent who decide to skip your onerous questionnaire and opt for your competitor’s one-click process.

Hurry up and Wait

The second time sink for both job seekers and hiring managers is the interview process itself.

After completing job applications, candidates may or may not get a response on their application.  They may try to follow up on an initial interview, wait weeks to hear back before desperation leads them to take the first offer.

In the past, recruiters felt they could afford to take their time queuing up the candidates before running them through a gauntlet of interviewers.  But that was before a May 3.8% unemployment rate and reports that the top candidates are snapped up within ten days.  Despite these stats, employers aren’t necessarily streamlining their hiring activities.  Glassdoor reports recruitment process trends averaging 23 days in 2015, up almost four days since 2009.   In a June 1, 2016 article,  SHRM cited 32 and 49 days for selected industries like IT, finance, and healthcare.  If hiring managers don’t change tactics by reducing hiring inefficiencies, they will continue to regret the loss of talent to more nimble competitors.

Top Tips to Speed Up the Hiring Process

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to nimble up your hiring process so that top talent doesn’t slip through your fingers in this tight labor market.  Using a recruiter like Partnership Employment for preliminary screening is one way you can streamline this process for both the candidate and the hiring manager.

Roy Maurer, writing for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM, June 2016) shares some other helpful tips from experts:

  1. Target and collaborate on job profiles.  A good recruiter engages all interested parties and assists hiring managers and interviewers in creating out a hiring profile and job description before the search begins.  Everyone should be clear on the job, its requirements, and the skills, abilities, and traits necessary for the ideal candidate to fill that role and fit into the culture.  The best recruiters help hiring managers go beyond the job description and create a profile – or persona – of the best person for the job, distinguishing between “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves.”
  2. Set a timeline with expectations. Maurer cites a common time-waster, which is that “resumes sit untouched in a hiring manager’s inbox.”  Requiring the hiring team to commit to a timeline and service level will help speed up the process.  For example, experts recommend using a calendar, with commitments to a timeline for resume review, interviews, and follow-up.  Ideally, resumes should be reviewed within 48 hours, and rescheduling interviews should be kept to an absolute minimum.  Set a target onboarding date.
  3. Review your hiring structure. If you think that your hiring process is out of control, take some time to review and restructure it.  Maurer points out that too many interviewers, too many rounds of interviews, and unrealistic expectations of a “unicorn candidate,” can bring onboarding to a grinding halt.

Streamlining the process begins by evaluating your hiring efficiency and benchmarking for your jobs location, company size, and availability of talent in your area.  Plan for your workforce and ensure that your hiring managers and recruiters are communicating on a regular basis.

So, stop wasting recruiter and candidate time and start reducing hold-ups in the hiring process.  Begin by overhauling an overly aggressive and intrusive ATS online application designed to steer a star straight into the arms of your competitor.  Internally, minimize excessive time-to-hire and lost productivity by clarifying hiring criteria and setting timing expectations.  Work with your recruiter to ensure that only the best candidates end up in your interview pipeline.

 

More Resources:

Dr. Andrew Chamberlain.  (June 18, 2015).  Why is Hiring Taking Longer?  New Insights from Glassdoor Data.  Glassdoor.  https://www.glassdoor.com/research/studies/time-to-hire-study/

Chirag Kulkarni. (May 26, 2018).  4 Things That Are Keeping You from Hiring the Best Talent.  Entrepreneur.  https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312403

Roy Maurer. (June 1, 2016).  Why Hiring Is Taking So Long – and What HR Can Do About It.  SHRM.  https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0616/pages/why-hiring-is-taking-so-long-and-what-hr-can-do-about-it.aspx

Dr. John Sullivan. (February 15, 2016).  Top Candidates are Gone Within 10 Days…So Assign Each a ‘Hire-By-Date’.  ERE.  https://www.ere.net/top-candidates-are-gone-within-10-days-so-assign-each-a-hire-by-date/

Search

Recent Posts

  • Desktop Clutter Driving You Mad?
  • The Hidden Pool of Talent You Should Know About
  • Can Hiring Gen Z Help Ease a Return to the Office?
  • Relocating Offices? Mindful Choices to Support Employee Wellbeing
  • Are Your Finances Recession-Proof?  Here’s What You Can Do Today!

Categories

  • Candidates
  • Employers

Archives

  • February 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (2)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (3)
  • June 2022 (1)
  • May 2022 (1)
  • March 2022 (3)
  • November 2021 (1)
  • October 2021 (1)
  • September 2021 (3)
  • July 2021 (1)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (1)
  • April 2021 (2)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (4)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (2)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (2)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (3)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (3)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • October 2017 (3)
  • September 2017 (2)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (4)
  • June 2017 (3)
  • May 2017 (3)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • Find Talent
  • Find Jobs
  • Our Expertise
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Contact Us



Image
Image
Image
Privacy Policy | Site Map | 2018 Partnership Employment | Created by AVATAR Computing, Inc.
2018 Partnership Employment
Created by AVATAR Computing, Inc.
  • Find Talent
  • Find Jobs
  • Our Expertise
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Office Administration
    • Legal
    • Technology
    • Human Resources
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Find Talent
  • Find Jobs
  • Our Expertise
    • Finance & Accounting
    • Office Administration
    • Legal
    • Technology
    • Human Resources
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

    Partnership Employment
    560 West Washington Street
    Ste 300
    Chicago, IL 60661
    312.442.9100

    close-link

      Partnership Employment
      6565 N. MacArthur Blvd.
      Ste 130
      Irving, Texas 75039
      972.717.5300

      close-link

        Partnership Employment
        30 Oak St. Suite 202
        Stamford, CT 06905
        914.251.0727

        close-link

          Partnership Employment
          71 Elm Street, Ste 103
          Worcester, MA 01609
          508.770.1777

          close-link

            Partnership Employment
            205 Powell Place
            Brentwood, TN 37027
            615.312.8270

            close-link

              Partnership Employment -
              1725 I Street, NW, Ste 300
              Washington, DC 20006
              202.429.1885

              close-link

              Error: Contact form not found.

              close-link
              Powered by Convert Plus