Speed Up the Hiring Process to Keep Great Candidates

You think you've found the perfect candidate for your client's tough job order. He passed the phone interview and the following three in-person interviews with flying colors. He aced all of the skills and assessment tests. He has all of the qualifications and seems to be a perfect cultural fit. But while your client deliberates over whether this is really the BEST they can do, your candidate takes another job.

A slow hiring process wears candidates down and ultimately costs you time and money as you start the search process over and over again. Dragging out a search can also deter candidates before they even apply. According to ere citing a Randstad survey, candidates start to think there is something wrong with a job posting if it remains unfilled after 72 days.

Mark Bull, the UK CEO of Randstad, told ERE that the best applicants can often be found early in the process and that employers should have the courage to act quickly.

"If they don't, they have to be prepared to see that job seeker walk into the arms of a competitor who is willing to move faster," he said.

You can help make that decision easier for your client by offering to provide that candidate on a contract-to-direct basis. This gives the client the opportunity to "try-before-they-buy" risk-free. And in the meantime, you prevent losing a quality candidate . . . and the placement fee.

Comment by Chuck Klein on November 21, 2012 at 10:51am: Most of your points are well made - I live these issues all the time and clients are always telling me I am "pushing" too much. But I don't get your contract to direct suggestion. I suppose if your candidate is unemployed, then he would agree to some kind of temp arrangement like you suggest. But a strong passive candidate will never agree to that.

Comment by Sunil Kumar on November 22, 2012 at 4:58am: Longer the duration lesser the chances of getting good candidates.

Comment by Raman Ramamurthy on November 26, 2012 at 12:29am: I agree to the problems faced by the recruiters - ' excessive delay in hiring ' and yes great candidates do not wait too long.. but this contract-to-direct employment is not workable. Most clients will not agree to this suggestion. Yes, good strong candidates will NOT agree at all !

Comment by Lisa A, Doorly on November 26, 2012 at 8:54am: I could not agree more - dragging out the hiring process with endless interviews runs the risk of losing great people. If only I could get our hiring managers to buy into this - still trying!

Comment by John Buckley on November 26, 2012 at 4:21pm: While there are some great unemployed candidates out there, the majority are not available for contract-to-direct basis.

I agree that if the employer is just mulling over an adequate pool of candidates and can't make a decision, that is a problem. However, I disagree with @Sunil that additional time always reduces the chances of getting good hires. Our internal hiring data shows that employees who went through a more rigorous [which takes longer] hiring process are better performers than those who were hired under more expedient circumstances. I don't think that happens after they are hired; I think the longer process is more selective.

There are other situations where business realities cause the hiring process to be put on pause - a potential sale of part of the business, an internal reorganization, departure of a key employee or client - while hiring managers re-evaluate the need for the position. None of these can be shared with the outside recruiter or candidate. But it is much better to not proceed too quickly to hire, and then have to let them go because the business has changed. The candidate in such a situation is really put in a bad spot. Many an employer would feel better letting the candidate go than to create that kind of havoc in someone's life, let alone the impact on the company's reputation.

Comment by Rachelle Gauvin on November 27, 2012 at 3:24pm: A great way to make your recruiting process faster is to use an recruiting software(ATS) that will sort rank and filter your large number of resumes and then use a video interviewing software for your finalists.

These recruiting tools will allow you to spend less time on those unqualified candidates and more time on your top applicants.

Thanks for sharing,

Rachelle

http://www.vidcruiter.com/