The longer the hiring process, the more it eats up your business’s resources and time. You know you need to act fast to secure top talent, but rushing and winding up with a bad hire on your hands is an equally unappealing scenario. In today’s competitive market, where top talent often receives multiple job offers, these 4 strategies can help to speed up your hiring process.
1.STREAMLINE THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
Adding structure to your interview process creates a better candidate and employer experience and results in fewer candidates being lost in high demand positions. Here are a few things you can do to streamline your interviews:
- Standardize Your Interview Process. Outline the stages of your process and implement company wide to maintain consistency.
- Align your interview questions and skills tests with the role’s requirements. Tailor your list to the requirements of each individual role.
- Train the Interviewers. Implement interviewer training programs to try to cut down interviewing time and improve the quality of hire.
- Establish Performance Standards. When managers know what is expected of them and are measured on meeting those standards, they can help to ensure a streamlined experience.
2. MAKE APPLYING EASY
Top-tier candidates have many choices when it comes to where they want to work, and will pass on your opportunity if you have a tedious application process. Take yourself through your entire application process, from job search to resume submission. Focus on these items to make it a seamless process:
- Mobile Friendly 86% of active candidates use their smartphones to begin a job search
- Stick To the Basics Don’t ask for unnecessary information. At most, you need name, contact information, and a resume.
- Resume Upload Options Allow applicants to apply with LinkedIn profiles or upload your resume from Dropbox or Google Drive.
3.FOCUS ON THE CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
Candidates want their job seeking experience to be fast, transparent and easy. Creating a more meaningful and impactful candidate experience will leave your prospects with a positive impression of your organization. Here’s how:
- Provide Timelines: Letting a candidate know how long interviews will take and when they can expect a decision is a simple courtesy that can make a big difference. Follow-up at every stage keeps the process going.
- Be Human: Generic, impersonal recruitment initiatives leave candidates feeling as though you only care about filling a vacancy, rather than what the candidates skill can bring to the table.
- Be Truthful: Generic, impersonal recruitment initiatives leave candidates feeling as though you only care about filling a vacancy, rather than what the candidates skill can bring to the table.
4.BE DATA DRIVEN
SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) data says the average time it takes to fill a position is 33 days. Do you know how long it takes you? Use data to identify bottlenecks and optimize the entire hiring process. Some items you can start tracking are:
- How long it currently takes you to fill a role.
- The time it takes for the candidates to move between interview stages
- The number of calendar days from the final selection to making the job offer.
