Time-to-fill is a very important metric in recruiting. The amount of time that it takes for a job request to turn into a new employee is considered a measure of efficiency for recruiters. While the organization needs to ensure that each new employee is a good match, there is also the loss of productivity factor that creates a sense of urgency for recruiters and hiring managers. These three time-to-fill hacks will help you reach the two main goals of speediness and quality in new hires.

Knock it off with all these interviews.

We love how Elissa Barnes put it in a post on Profiles’ blog when she said, “Stop Being an Interview Floozy.” Every recruiter gets the urgency of filling a position with a good match. After all, the daunting bad hire is always looming over their heads, but some might have gotten a little carried away with their floozy-like interviewing ways. Barnes suggests a few things…

• Define the “must haves”:She recommends choosing three candidates that match your top three needs.
• Be honest with yourself:Perfect doesn’t exist. Shoot for candidates with 85% of the qualities you’re searching for.
• Recognize deadlines:If a position has been open for longer than 4 months, you should realize at this point that perhaps the next four months should be used to train someone internally for the position.
• Realize that quantity is not quality:If the first one is a match, go with the first one! There’s no need to keep the process going.

Do you actually know what you’re looking for? Really?

Universal job titles don’t necessarily equate to universal performance factors, but this doesn’t always dawn on recruiters until they’re in the middle of screening and interviewing.  We found a great rule of thumb in this JumpStartHR slideshare,

“If the job description seems to ‘evolve’ with each new candidate/interview/resume, then you do not have clarity.”

A canned job description will rarely produce great candidates. Be sure to consult on each listing to clarify expectations.

Get the right tools.

We don’t do a lot of sales-y stuff here on our blog, but the topic really called for it. We had the opportunity to work with Groupon when they entered China. They hit the ground running there and were looking at the seemingly impossible task of conducting nearly 500 interviews per week.

The right applicant tracking system, with the right vender (ahem, us) helped them to become the fastest growing country team in the fastest growing company. In recruiting, metrics, organization and efficient processes can make a world of difference in the success of talent acquisitions.

Time-to-fill is a tricky one. Rushing the process can end up in a costly bad hire, but the loss of productivity that an empty seat can cause it also harmful to the organization. Be sure to know what you’re looking for, have the confidence to know when you see it, and use the right tools to get the job done faster. One last hack -Don’t forget to use business days when calculating your time-to-fill metric (wink, wink).

Have any #recruitinghacks to share? We would love to hear them below! Read more...

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc