Let’s face it, there isn’t a day where you wish that you couldn’t speed up your hiring process. So, in order to speed up your hiring process, it is important to implement these five techniques into your hiring process pipeline.
Write More Accurate Job Descriptions
One thing that often gets overlooked during the hiring process is the purpose of the job description. The purpose of the job description isn’t just to inform candidates of the job that you have available, its true purpose is to attract the right candidates and set the right expectations about the position, the company, and the culture.
Most companies generally want to fill their open positions as quickly as possible. And, because of that, sometimes hiring managers won’t take the time to determine what kind of candidate they really want and need.
Because of this rush in the process, they may not spend enough time developing an effective job description. And, when this happens, the result is either a flood of unqualified candidates or a trickle of candidates who can only meet super-specific demands.
Take the time to create a list of top qualities, certifications, and education that you want to see within the applicants for the position.
When you create a job description that gives an accurate reflection of the position along with preferred and critical qualifications, you decrease the amount of time you will spend interviewing, which will in turn speed up your hiring process.
Clean Up Your Hiring Process Pipeline
When making the effort to speed up your hiring process, the more unnecessary steps you can cut out of the process, the better. And, when you save time, you’ll also likely beat out the competition for the best candidates. Keep in mind, a quick and easy hiring process is just as important to candidates as it is to those who are doing the hiring.
In fact, according to a 2016 Talent Board research report, 17% of all candidates who reported having a negative experience with an organization’s recruiting process due to the amount of time involved withdrew their applications and moved onto applying to competitor companies.
When evaluating your current hiring process, review these questions in order to speed up your hiring process:
- What does each step accomplish?
- What can we change within the description or ad placement to eliminate some procedural steps altogether?
- Which steps lead to bottlenecks?
- At what point do candidates typically choose to exit the process?
By reviewing your process and eliminating unnecessary steps, you’re streamlining your pipeline, which will then speed up your hiring process.
Use Every Aspect Of The Interview To Your Advantage
After screening through applicants, the next step is to interview the top candidates individually. When interviewing, you’ll want to follow some interview etiquette in order to retain candidates during the hiring process.
- Don’t involve too many stakeholders in the process or decision
- Only ask questions that have a purpose and will help you glean insight
- Have a structure behind the questions you’re asking
- Follow up, follow up, follow up
Be Transparent With Your Communication
We know you’re trying to speed up your hiring process, but there are a few ways that you can speed up your process too much where you lost candidates because of a lack of a follow up.
At the very start of communication with your candidate(s), incorporate open and frequent communication so that they are aware of:
- How long the application will take
- When you’ve received their application
- When they can expect to hear back
- The hiring process timeline
- How long each step will probably take
Not only will this speed up your hiring process, but it will also encourage candidates to stick around for the entire process, even if you can’t move quite as fast as your competitors.
And, with the transparent communication you’re offering, there also needs to be a sense of individual attention, especially for those who stick out and are moving along with the hiring process.
As we all know, interviewing is stressful; making candidates feel welcome and comfortable means they’ll be more genuine to themselves during the actual interview.
Maintain A Talent Pool For Future Open Positions
When trying to speed up your hiring process, consider creating a talent pool of past candidates. You can do this by maintaining a positive relationship with your previous candidates that have already been screened, are qualified, and familiar with your company.
This is all the more reason to foster a positive relationship with every qualified candidate. By keeping these qualified candidates in your hiring rool, you could cut your time-to-hire way down on a future opening.
Moving forward: Follow Ups to Speed Up Your Hiring Process
When it comes to improving and speeding up your hiring process, the best way is to experience it firsthand.
After you’ve removed steps and made improvements to your process, have members of your team “apply” and walk through the new steps along with you.
If you and your team find certain steps confusing or lengthy, chances are your candidates do, too. Identify where you can cut out cumbersome procedures, streamline work, and improve communication.
By making changes like the ones outlined above, you’ll speed up your hiring process and create an interview process that makes everyone’s lives easier, you and candidates included.
