Two weeks.
That’s how fast 26% of job seekers surveyed in a recent Hireology study were hired. That includes the time it took to apply, complete the interview and hiring process, and receive an offer. If you’re not able to move this fast, you’re missing out on today’s best talent.
And top talent is hard to come by these days. While most industries have made great headway recovering from losing great folks to other opportunities during the pandemic, there is still ground to regain — and roles to fill.
When you do come across a great applicant in today’s tough climate, it’s important that you move fast so you don’t lose them to other companies they may be researching or interviewing with. The longer you take, the more time your applicants have to find opportunities elsewhere or accept offers at faster removing competitors. Your hiring process needs to be a well oiled machine that leaves the candidate feeling confident that you’re the best option for them.
So how do you speed up the hiring process? It can be tough to do without cutting corners. The key is automating where you can, adopting modern tools, and building a thoughtful process. At Hireology, our fastest moving customers have incorporated many of the following tactics into their hiring processes:
Use automated screeners
Manually reviewing applicants slows down your hiring process dramatically. Humans can only move so fast. But modern recruiting tools can help you automate much of this process. For example, some tools allow you to automatically send screener surveys to every applicant. And only the applicants who score above a certain threshold will be moved forward to the next step. This can happen all within the first 24 hours of an applicant submitting their resume, keeping them engaged from day one.
Communicate with candidates via text
Email inboxes these days are cluttered with spam and marketing messages. Plus, no matter how advanced iPhones get, it’s still time consuming to respond to emails via a mobile device. So reach candidates more directly and make it easier for them to respond on-the-go by communicating with them via text. Hireology customers using text messaging are able to hire on average eight days faster than those relying on email alone.
Check references earlier
Usually, reference checks happen at the end of the hiring process. But if you have a candidate you’re interested in, why not kick off this step sooner? Start reaching out to references and conduct your interview steps simultaneously. That way you don’t have to worry about tacking on a few days that you can’t afford to waste at the end of your process waiting for references to respond. As an added bonus, if you don’t love what you hear from your references then you can end the process earlier, eliminating any additional wasted time.
Learn the candidate’s timing
An easy way to avoid losing candidates due to slower processes is to get a sense of where the candidate is at with other interviews. Respectfully ask them how far along they are in the interview process with other companies. That way you can alter your process slightly in order to move faster. For example, if you know a candidate is really close to the offer phase for another organization you could prioritize interviewing them over other candidates who are earlier on in your process or maybe even skip a step if you feel confident in their background and skills.
Schedule same day virtual interviews
If you’ve just interviewed a candidate you’re really interested in and you want to move fast, try to get them scheduled for another interview that day. This eliminates the few days you’ll waste between then and when you eventually get the next interview on the calendar — days that they could be interviewing with other organizations. This is really only possible if you are conducting phone or video interviews, which are less disruptive on candidates’ work days. And as always, make sure you’ve thoughtfully considered the questions you ask in the interviews and that you ask the same questions to each candidate to level the playing field for everyone.
Only skip steps if absolutely necessary
We’d never condone skipping steps in your hiring process regularly, but if you have a candidate you’re really confident in, you’ve completed your initial screens, and you know the candidate is close to receiving an offer elsewhere it is ok to make an exception. For example, maybe the candidate has submitted work samples, has passed reference checks, and did well in the interviews so you choose to skip the final skills assessment in order to get them an offer sooner. If you’ve thoughtfully completed all of the above steps, then you shouldn’t have to worry about missing anything — quality interviews, reference checks, and screeners should provide peace of mind.
It’s much easier to move faster when you have a smooth hiring process in place, and if you automate some of the manual tasks that come along with recruiting. Hireology can help. Our intuitive applicant tracking system allows you to build a structured and repeatable process while also automating steps like applicant screeners, interview scheduling, and sending offer letters. Learn more by scheduling a 1:1 consultation with a Hireologist today.
