The job market is competitive, and lengthy hiring processes mean losing your chosen candidate to a company with a more efficient hiring practice.
Not only that, but hiring experiences that drag on frustrate all involved, and are a general waste of resources and productivity.
If you’re looking to hire top-notch talent quickly, check out these effective strategies to accelerate the hiring process workflow without compromising on the quality of the hire.
Establish a Timeframe
For this step, you’ll want to involve the entire hiring team.
Take a look at your average time-to-hire and analyze the talent acquisition process. Look for areas tripping you up: what is causing the delay? Identify potential bottlenecks that slow everything down.
Distill the process and highlight the areas you’ve pinpointed to effectively reduce the time-to-hire.
Have each branch of the hiring team share challenges that commonly lead to delays and provide insight into what they can do to expedite the process.
Once you’ve gathered this new info, establish a new timeframe for each step from the recruitment process onwards.
Be Clear and Concise in the Job Post
Rather than delve into all the nuances of the opportunity, stick to the essential skills and knowledge that make up the job requirements. Use bullet points, and emphasize the must-have skills versus the nice-to-have skills.
Back-and-forth email communication between job seekers and the hiring team often causes unnecessary delays. Therefore, it’s imperative you provide answers to commonly asked questions in the job post whenever possible.
This includes things like:
- Pay range
- Vacation policy
- Benefit details
- Brief overview of company culture
The goal is to be clear and concise while also providing all necessary information.
Also worth noting are the qualities you need in someone. Prioritize culture add (someone who boosts your existing culture and provides something beneficial that is currently lacking) over culture fit (which often doesn’t add more innovation or creativity to what you have already).
Once you’ve reestablished your process, stick to it as best you can, making little tweaks here and there as needed.
Create a Plan for Each Step of the Recruitment Process
Break it down from the recruitment to interview stages — even the onboarding processes. Involve human resources and hiring managers.
Here are some critical points to be aware of:
Outline Your Resume Screening Process
Collaborate with others to create an evaluation method that you’ll use to identify top candidates. The steps should provide clear guidance on resume screening and other metrics used ensure each candidate is evaluated fairly and efficiently.
Prepare for the Interview
It’s important to be ready with structured, role-specific interview questions. Identify who will be on the interview panel and pre-plan the questions you’ll ask. Always make sure they’re relevant to the position.
Screen Candidates With a Skills Assessment
If the position is tech-related or requires a specific skill set, each potential candidate should undergo a skills assessment directly related to the job.
There are tons of different assessments online that you can choose from, as well as ones that allow you to easily create your own test.
While the assessment shouldn’t be the only criterion for determining the best talent, learning more about each candidate’s process and job-related knowledge can be helpful.
Always Seek to Eliminate Bias
Bias is sneaky — its very nature makes it invisible. Therefore, it’s important to understand why you make your hiring decisions.
Hiring someone simply because they seem like a good fit or are familiar in some way isn’t a good enough reason. In fact, it can be an indication that your unconscious bias is leading the charge.
Make sure your hiring process is designed to be fair and unbiased. Be aware of common hiring biases and actively work to eliminate them.
Involving different people in the hiring practice can help, but it’s not foolproof.
Question your decisions, and make sure that there’s a substantive reason for the hiring choices you make.
Leverage Technology
The administrative aspect of hiring is one area where momentum is frequently lost. It can take one department many days to notify the next when their portion is complete. Without reminders, it’s pretty common for tasks to be forgotten.
Thankfully, tons of different software systems can streamline and expedite the hiring process, reducing the time-to-hire by increasing efficiency.
Use applicant tracking systems and software created to streamline and optimize the hiring process.
Another aspect of technology worth mentioning is social media. Those who are consistent and active on professional social sites such as LinkedIn and showcase their employer brand extend their reach considerably.
The result is that more people know who you are, what you do, and what makes your organization a great place to work. Then when you are hiring, you’ll have a pool of people ready to leap at the chance to work for you.
Streamline the Interview Process
Unstructured interviews are a recipe for disaster. It’s crucial to use the same process and metrics to interview and evaluate each candidate, and have a clear and valid reason for why you were moved to hire the person you chose.
Remember, the goal here is to be efficient without cutting corners. These tips will help expedite the process without compromising your integrity:
Expedite Scheduling
Make it easy for candidates to set up interviews ASAP. Consider permitting video interviews.
Use Panel Interviews
Panel interviews are an excellent way to discuss the talent pool and minimize bias. It opens the door for concerns or insights to be shared with other people who were present.
Create an Evaluation System that Everyone Uses
Each candidate you interview should be evaluated using the same criteria. Make sure everyone on the panel interview is aware of what that is and uses it in their assessments of the candidates.
Conduct Assessments on the Same Day as the Interview
If your company requires them, rather than having the candidate come back after the interview to take an assessment, schedule it either before or after the interview. That way, the test can be scored at the same time.
Strive to Automate Your Time-Consuming Admin Tasks
Technology is the unsung hero of efficiency. Thanks to modern advancements, things like scheduling, signing documents, follow-ups, and streamlining tasks have never been easier.
Be sure to take advantage of technology whenever and wherever possible.
Sync Your Schedules
The software you use for scheduling should sync with the calendars of everyone involved in the hiring process.
Use Templates
Create hiring-related template communications that require little modification.
Conduct Background Checks
If background checks are required, consider using digital versions that have a faster turnaround time.
Enable E-Signatures
For documents requiring a signature, format them so that they’re electronic and support e-signatures. That way, you can immediately access them right after the candidate signs.
Boost Your Talent Acquisition
Being creative and proactive when sourcing the best candidates reduces hiring time. You have an idea of who you want to hire, plus there’s a larger pool of promising candidates to choose from.
Here are some ways you can level up your talent acquisition process by increasing access to the right candidates:
Keep in Touch
Maintain relationships with promising qualified candidates whom you interviewed previously but didn’t end up hiring. Should a new position arise that they would be perfect for, you can reach out and let them know.
Consider Employee Referrals
Your employees likely know people in the industry. Tap into their networks by implementing an employee referral program with enticing incentives.
Let them know when open positions become available, and encourage them to share the information.
Partner With Universities and Other Resources
Partnering with organizations is another excellent way to gain access to their networks. Universities offer the chance to collaborate on direct hiring pathways to students post-graduation, or even establish internship positions for current students.
Another partnership idea is to join forces with organizations that have the candidate pool you’re looking for. There are quite a few out there for almost every industry.
Take Obsidi®, for example, if you’re a tech company.
We support diverse tech professionals and have around 100,000 active members who are engaged and excited about the industry.
Businesses who partner with us get the chance to tap into our network and engage with our community by hosting Tech Talks, sharing job openings, and more.
Participate in Industry-Related Events
Almost all industries have associated conferences, mixers, and events. These provide perfect opportunities to network and maintain an active presence in your particular industry. You can share updates on your organization, including the current positions you’re hiring for.
Promote From Within
Promoting from within is an excellent way to reduce hiring time. Here are some helpful tips for making hiring from within a standard operating procedure.
Maintain a Skill Inventory
Keep a skill inventory of your current employees and update it when necessary. Communicate with your staff; learn who wants to be promoted and do what you can to support them.
Encourage Managers to Identify Potential
Establish benchmarks and teach managers how to find possible internal candidates for open roles. Approach identified talent to see if they’re interested in the position.
Expedite Internal Application Systems
Fast-track internal applications for internal candidates.
Expedite the Decision-Making Process
Another common bottleneck to the hiring process is the decision-making aspect.
These tips should help those involved decide on which new hire to choose in less time:
Clearly Define Each Step of the Process
Outline the steps involved in the hiring process from start to finish, and establish a realistic, doable time frame for each part.
Evaluate Prospects Consistently and Fairly
Create a fair scoring system to assist with the candidate evaluation piece and ensure each individual is considered using the same metrics.
Appoint a Hiring Authority
To move beyond any stalemates, select who has final hiring authority and establish a protocol to guide you beyond analysis paralysis.
Prepare to Move Fast
It’s easy for the back-and-forth (both within your organization and between your business and potential candidates) to drag on.
Use these strategies to streamline the process and reduce time-to-hire:
Okay Pay
Pre-approve salary ranges and other negotiation parameters to prevent a time-consuming exchange.
Use Templates
Create templated scripts that you can easily customize. They should cover things like the job description and job offer for each role or position.
Consider a Same Day Offer
A same-day conditional offer is ideal for those exceptional candidates you don’t want to risk losing.
Continuously Monitor Your Process
The best way to fine-tune your process is to pay attention and make adjustments when needed. Track your hiring metrics and other relevant aspects, and continuously strive to refine the areas you tend to get stuck in.
Be aware that new technology is continuously being introduced. If there’s something you’re hoping to streamline, there’s likely a technology that exists that can help you in that area.
Finally, always strive to create a positive candidate experience. Asking for feedback can provide valuable information. It’s worthwhile to ask applicants about their candidate experience, and based on what they have to say, discover where there’s room to improve.
Conclusion
Filling job vacancies quickly and efficiently involves taking a close look at each step of the process, and coming up with viable solutions for the places where holdups typically occur.
Need a hand looking for effective “culture add” candidates?
