One of the most frustrating things you’ll ever experience is waiting too long for a potential employer’s call. You’ve submitted your resume and cover letter a month ago, but until now, there’s no word from them. And when they finally call, you’ll be subject to a lengthy hiring process that’ll take at least a month to reach a conclusion.
If you hoped and waited for nearly two months, only to be told that you didn’t pass the tests, you have every right to be upset. You may not be able to express that to the company, but you’re right to think that they’ve wasted your time.
Lengthy hiring processes have been a problem in many companies for a while now. Despite the available technologies streamlining recruitment operations, some organizations are still set in their ways. In fact, they believe that a longer hiring process is helpful because it gives them the right amount of time to evaluate and compare candidates. In other words, it ensures them that they’re acquiring the best talent. But is that still true, if time is more precious than ever now?
Today, if you’d take months to hire someone, you will likely lose your candidates. People are particularly eager to find new employers now because the pandemic has cost them their jobs. Even highly qualified ones like college graduates and experienced professionals may no longer have the same patience as before.
Reasons to Speed Up the Hiring Process
A long hiring process overlooks one important fact: Hiring is a people decision and a business decision. Meaning, you’re hiring because you need a person to fulfill a job. Keep in mind that a business doesn’t only run on revenue and profits; it also runs on talent, which is a core part of a business’s DNA.
Besides, no candidate wants to wait too long with no assurance that they’ll get the job. In fact, one of the top reasons candidates withdraw their applications is the long hiring process. That process may include their time being disrespected during the interview, poor rapport with an interviewer, the job descriptions mismatching what’s advertised, and the length of the hiring process itself.
Simply put, a slow hiring process gives candidates enough time to look for other employers, compare different employers, and be hired by one of those employers that of course isn’t you. If that candidate had been a gem in the talent pool, then you just lost who could’ve been a future manager in your company.
Signs That Your Hiring Process is Too Slow
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You Have No Sense of Urgency
If you find top talent, yet are unprepared to hire them immediately, it shows your lack of sense of urgency. You can relieve your company of this bottleneck by planning your acquisition process with your hiring managers.
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You’re Overly Critical
Of course, every organization wants only the best. But being overly critical isn’t always the right way to gain top talent. It makes you more indecisive than selective. Not to mention the behavior makes you lose productivity. You can fix this by being more realistic with your qualifications and expectations, and clearly specifying the traits you’re seeking from candidates.
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You’re Looking for Perfection
This can be related to your overly critical behavior. Looking for perfection makes you a nitpicker, as though there’s a candidate out there who doesn’t have any flaws. If you’re guilty of this, you might as well be searching for a unicorn. Perfect candidates don’t exist, only valuable talent.
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You Do Reference Checks
While this isn’t a wrong practice, it can take up a significant time of the hiring process. To avoid lengthening your reference checks, have the candidates’ references reach out to you in multiple ways, including emails and calls. If you are unavailable for a call, let them leave their messages through voice mail. You don’t need to have a real-time exchange with each candidate’s reference.
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Mismatching Job Description and Actual Duties
A bottleneck in the hiring process occurs when you finish the recruitment before validating the job description. This could change the candidate’s mind and urge them to withdraw their application. So if this often happens in your company, improve your communication with each department. The job description on your advertisement should exactly be the duties of the candidate when they get hired.
Ways to Speed Up the Hiring Process
You can speed up your hiring process through a single technology, such as a professionally developed online job portal. You can use this system to post job advertisements, assess and compare candidates, and ultimately, hire the best talent. It organizes your job postings and lets you introduce your company to candidates in an engaging way.
Remember that to attract top talent, your company should also be reputable and worthy of candidates’ time. Again, hiring is a people decision and a business decision, so don’t assume that you’re the only employer in a candidate’s considerations.