Why You Need To Speed Up Your Hiring Process + 5 Proven Ways To Do So
/The hiring process has changed.
In today’s ultra-competitive job market, many top candidates are interviewing with multiple employers. How quickly you complete your hiring process has a direct impact on whether you will have a shot at securing your top pick.
We can attest to losing candidates to other offers (on a weekly basis): many of the candidates our clients want to hire have multiple competitive job offers to choose from.
We’ve found that being first to the table with an offer is a company’s most competitive strategy.
As the first company to present an offer to a candidate, there’s a chance the candidate outright accepts your offer, removing any other competition. Even if the candidate wants to entertain multiple offers, being the “first offer” develops trust with them. That trust puts you in an elevated place of negotiation you won’t enjoy in second or third place.
To get to that enviable first position and avoid losing great candidates to other offers requires a well-oiled hiring process that helps you find qualified candidates and fill your open positions quickly and effectively. Here are a few ways to speed up your hiring process without compromising quality or thoroughness.
1. Make a Plan
Before you start your next hire, do a thorough review of your hiring process, looking for areas to improve.
What worked for us and our clients a few years ago is not the streamlined operation needed in today’s job market. We find that many of our clients think their existing processes—though cumbersome—serve them well because they’re taking the time they need to get to know potential new hires. But their competitors have already slimmed their process down to be faster and more efficient.
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is and how much improvement you’ll find when you reduce and refine the meetings required to make a hiring decision.
For example: we recently talked through the hiring process with a company that has four interviews for each new senior level hire: a screening interview, a phone interview, a panel interview, and a final interview. However, we’ve found that top candidates are experiencing more straightforward processes elsewhere. They’re not likely to wait around for two phone interviews plus the delays involved in scheduling an interview with a full panel of people and a final follow up meeting.
Here’s a better approach:
Do a screening interview followed by an in-person meeting as soon as possible with as many of the key hiring managers as are available. Then, if there needs to be a follow-up meeting, phone call, or video call because someone wasn’t available for the in-person meeting, the candidate has more buy-in, having met the team and visited the office.
The goal is to get qualified candidates into your office as soon in the hiring process as possible. If your current process doesn’t allow for that, it’s time to make a change.
2. Write a Clear and Informative Help Wanted Ad
Your job ad is often the first interaction an applicant has with your company. A well-written recruitment ad will help you attract quality candidates who accurately reflect your needs and company culture.
Today’s top candidates are looking for clear, concise information about your open position as well as what sets you apart as an employer. If your job ad doesn’t include key information, you’ll miss out on great employees right off the bat.
Make sure to include the following in your job posting:
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Salary range
Benefits and perks
In addition, use language that reflects your employment brand to give job seekers a feel for your company culture and values.
What’s more, today’s job seekers aren’t just looking for a job—they’re looking for career advancement. We find that positions that target candidates looking to take the next step in their career are more attractive than roles offer a lateral move.
Generally speaking, prospective employees are looking for opportunities for advancement. Companies that offer available paths to career progression, opportunities for on-the-job training, professional development, and possibilities for future promotion within the company will more effectively recruit top candidates.
This communicates that you are invested in your employees’ growth—something that is attractive to top talent.
3. Respond to Candidates Immediately: Schedule Interviews Within 48 Hours
Connecting with candidates quickly secures their interest and keeps them engaged.
If you’re interested in interviewing a candidate, reach out to them within 24 hours of their resume hitting your inbox. There are several ways to do this, but we recommend full-court press: a phone call, a text, and an email.
Time is of the essence here: You want to get interviews on your calendar right away. Once you have a viable candidate they should be in your office for an in-person interview (or on a Zoom interview) within 48 hours of sending in a resume.
To speed up the scheduling process and minimize conflicts, block off interview days and times on your team’s calendars.
4. Confirm, Confirm, Confirm
Clear, prompt communication is key to hiring the best candidates. Effective communication reduces confusion and keeps the hiring process running smoothly.
Throughout the hiring process, confirm the next step in the process in writing (via text or email).
Once you schedule an interview, it’s important to send a formal written confirmation of the meeting. It’s best to confirm the first meeting via email, text, or calendar invite. Then, if you have a second meeting, make sure to send a formal written confirmation of that meeting as well.
We worked with a client this past year who had a high rate of no-shows for their second interviews. The hiring manager verbally confirmed the second meeting in the initial interview, but didn’t send a follow-up confirmation.
Once we started working with this client, we found that the candidates were not 100% sure when and where the follow-up interviews were going to take place. Once we worked out a plan to confirm the interviews, their second interview completion rates increased to nearly 100%.
5. Be Prepared To Present an Offer
Gone are the days of having 3-5 candidates to choose from for every open position. If you have your ducks in a row and know what you’re looking for, you may find just one great candidate for a position. That one great candidate may be the first candidate you interview, and they may be on the verge of receiving multiple offers.
In this situation (as in many hiring situations), you need to make a decision based on each candidate separately, not in comparison to a group of 3-5 other candidates.
Determining the key skills and behaviors you’re looking for and using a scorecard to keep your interviews focused on those criteria can help you make a choice more effectively. It will help you get the information you need to make a hiring decision independent of multiple candidates.
When you should ideally be prepared to present an offer varies based on the level of the role:
For hourly or non-exempt positions, we recommend our clients be prepared to present a contingent offer in the first in-person interview.
For mid-level salaried/exempt positions we recommend following up with a candidate the same day of the interview.
For senior-level positions, it’s important to understand where in the interview process your top candidate is with other companies and be prepared to extend an offer at any moment.
In your interviews, it’s important to talk about compensation early and often. We recommend companies be transparent with candidates about a position’s compensation plan and ask questions to understand in detail the salary and benefits each candidate is looking for. Knowing what will be a “yes” for a candidate will help you present a competitive offer the candidate will accept.
Hiring great employees is crucial to the success of your business. That’s why it’s important to make sure your process is as streamlined as possible. For more tips to improve and speed up your hiring process, subscribe to Red Seat’s newsletter.
