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3 Ways to Speed Up Your Hiring Process in a Competitive Market
Competition for skilled candidates is, and always will be, high. Top-performers can come and go in the blink of an eye, and the efficiency of your hiring process may determine whether you get your pick of the best people or lose those coveted applicants to a competitor and struggle to fill critical roles. Not to mention that a lagging hiring process costs time and money that could be better spent elsewhere!
We all know that time is of the essence in the war for talent, so here are three effective strategies for speeding up your recruitment process to ensure you can secure the people you need, when you need them.
1. Define a Clear Candidate Profile
Step one for any employer is creating a clear candidate profile. What does your ‘perfect fit’ look like? A well-thought-out candidate profile is the foundation for all subsequent steps in the hiring process – start strong, end strong! Ensure your requirements are crystal clear, outlining everything from skills, competencies and experience to personality traits, work style and cultural fit.
If the perfect candidate profile hasn’t immediately sprung to mind, speaking to other leaders in the business could help you to put together a better picture. The other option is partnering with a specialist recruiter who can help you identify what’s crucial vs. ‘nice to have’ and steer you in the right direction with their industry experience.
With a strong profile as a guide, you will be able to quickly identify which candidates match your needs, faster.
2. Streamline Your Process
Step two is taking the time to think critically about where the bottlenecks in your hiring process are likely to be. Ask yourself these questions:
Have I set enough time aside to review candidate shortlists?
Can I combine multiple stages of the interview process together?
If I interview a great candidate how can I quickly get other decision-makers on board with my decision?
It will come as no shock that interviewing is one of the most time-consuming steps. Issues such as requiring several rounds of interviews or having to juggle the schedules of multiple interviewers can be sticking points that can cause significant delays. Being flexible with times and location, utilising phone/video interviews and conducting panel interviews are all great ways to optimise this part of the process.
3. Be Decisive
Once you find the right candidate, we recommend that you stop interviewing other prospective hires. Of course, it can be tempting to explore all possible options before making a decision, but in today’s market, the best people still have their pick of opportunities and delaying could mean missing out on your first choice leaving you back at square one.
It’s a good idea to be ready to extend an offer to your preferred candidate right away, ideally on the same day as the interview. And don’t forget to keep applicants (or your recruitment partner) in the loop about where they stand – if they think you’re not interested, they might move on to another employer. Moving quickly is a win-win for all parties; in doing so, you are not only raising your chances of securing your ideal candidate, but also allowing unsuccessful people to continue looking for a role that’s a better fit for them.
Summary
In recruitment, every day counts, and getting high performing people on board as quickly as possible is vital to any organisation’s success. By taking steps to shorten the timeline, you can make the final offer sooner and be in the best position to hire top people for your team.
Working with a recruiter is one of the easiest ways to speed up your hiring process – we’re specialists at keeping candidates engaged, ‘selling’ the benefits of your company, and overall just helping to make the process as efficient as possible – for all parties involved!
About WOW
Everything we do comes down to making everyone happier about recruitment. We know recruiting the very best people is critical for you. Get in touch or give us a buzz on 02 8320 0683 to get greater together.
