Slow hiring is killing your organization.
We live in an instant gratification world. Anything and everything we could ever want is at our fingertips, from the food we eat to the movies we watch. Even just waiting a week for delivery seems like an eternity when consumers are accustomed to things like Prime shipping.
So why do companies treat the job process differently? Are job seekers inherently more patient than society as a whole?
They’re not. Job seekers are impatient. Candidates are no longer willing to “work through the process” to find their ideal job. Just because you are willing to wait out a candidate for weeks or months, doesn’t mean that your prospects are.
It used to be a common thing that the hiring process would drag out as long as two to three months. Employers wanted to be sure they interviewed every possible candidate before moving to the next step. Then, they would take the leading candidates through another round of interviews that could stretch out over weeks.
Currently, the best candidates are off the market within 10 days. Once you find talent, you have about a week, sometimes even less, to secure an interview with them. Unfortunately, many hiring managers miss out on this pool of viable candidates as they spend weeks, even months, going through hundreds of applicants. It doesn’t reflect positively on the company or executive management as a whole.
Let’s look at some of the most common reasons for a slow process and why those reasons shouldn’t matter.
Reason #1: You want a high-quality hire, so you want to be patient
Slow hiring practically GUARANTEES a weak performer. Top talent is rarely available after the 30-day mark because of alternative offers they’ve received. Passive candidates will be unwilling to wait and oftentimes they’re the most qualified candidates. If these lower-quality hires stay, the cost of low-performance work accumulates fast. Just as bad, if they quit or get fired, you’re now back at square one.
Reason #2: You don’t have a hiring timeline
Transparency should be expected. Be honest about the next steps and a timeline. If you are unsure about your timeline, create one. Just as with any goal, it is oftentimes impossible to accomplish things in a timely manner when there’s no standard for the team. Streamline your process to prevent candidates from losing interest and moving on.
Many candidates are going to ask about your timeline at the end of your interview. If you’re answering with a “We are willing to wait as long as it takes, we don’t really have any deadlines”, there is a problem.
Reason #3: Top candidates want too much money
While this is not always true for entry-level employees, with executive management, you get what you pay for. If you are on a budget with rigid candidate standards, expectations need to be reevaluated.
The longer a top candidate is in the job market, the more expensive they become. You want to move the process quickly when a top candidate has just applied because the competitive bidding hasn’t started. You’re actually saving money if you can nab them before they’ve circulated through the job market.
Reason #4: You’re working on a written offer
So, you’ve given them a verbal offer. That’s good enough to buy you some time, right? Wrong.
If you’ve provided a verbal offer, you need to get the written offer back to them within 24-hours, ideally, on the same day that you spoke to them. Nothing is ever official unless it’s in writing. Words have the stability of a sandcastle and candidates are keener on competitive offers that are typed out. There needs to be no confusion between the hiring manager and the candidate.
Reason #5: There is no time
This is one of those situations where you need to make time to save time. Identify why the process is taking forever in the first place. Is it because you have too many interviews? Is it because you aren’t using a recruitment firm? Is it because the candidates are ghosting? Managers can’t complete their managerial work when the process is taking an eternity. The entire recruiting process will suffer, which takes the manager and recruiter time while amping up the initial hiring costs. Dedicating concentrated time, in the beginning, is almost always worth it. Candidates are certainly expected to make time to interview, and so should management.
Outsourcing to a recruitment firm can widen the talent pool and increase your hiring speed. At JDI, we offer quality candidates after just 3 business days. Reach out to one of our recruiters here.