6 Proven Ways to Speed Up Your Hiring Process
Your employees can make or break your business. Looking for quality employees is a process that is extensive and tedious, and these days, it may be feeling like you’re a little “late to the party” as top tier candidates say thanks but no thanks and accept a different offer out of several they have on the table.
Below are 5 ways you can speed up the process without compromising on the quality of your hires.
- Have a precise job description and application process.
We live in an era of instant gratification. People spend less time reading. Meaning you only have one minute to catch the reader’s attention and explain everything. Explain your job requirement, “must have” criteria, ballpark compensation, and write the title in bold.
Successful job descriptions are typically between 170-250 words and the application process shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. Ensure your description is mobile-friendly. It’s worth noting; many requirements will keep people off. The trick here is to be precise, only include necessary details the rest will be communicated at a later stage.
- Source Internally.
Sometimes the best employees are the ones already in the organization. Before introducing the job to the public, encourage your staff to apply for the position. Promoting an employee to be a manager may motivate the rest to work smart to get better positions in the future. Equally, this is a person well known, who fully understands the culture of the organization as opposed to someone from the outside. It also is more respectful to people like me, external recruiters who hire on your behalf for a living, to vet internally prior to going external.
- Go for the right job board
Let’s say you already have a good job description. Where will you post it? For quality candidates, and particularly those that are a bit more entry level or recent college graduates, post job openings on Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Handshake, etc. You can also post on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. If you are needing to make a more corporate, business hire, LinkedIn is also a leader with one caveat; if your search requires a “very special set of skills” the volume of applicants just won’t be there. That said, posting on all these sites will give you candidates, however, many will be underqualified. Be sure to use sifting tools and apps to sort their resumes.
- Consider flexible interviews.
The candidate applying for your job openings likely will have another job already. Though many will be working remotely in our current climate of Covid, for those that aren’t, offer them interview times during the weekend, before, or after hours. Remember you want the best employee and more often than not, top talent are already employed.
Considering the fact that there are so many platforms available, hold a video interview, or invite them to meet with you in person if they are comfortable with that. Just be flexible enough to accommodate them.
- Make hiring a priority.
There is one common mistake made by employers. You find a candidate with competitive skills, and rather than scheduling them in for an interview immediately you delay for a week or even a month. Candidates won’t wait for you. If you find a great candidate, more likely they have applied for jobs in other companies, and perhaps even your competition. If you delay your job offer, they will be employed and you’ll go back to the drawing board. Don’t wait, interview immediately and hire.
- Consult a recruitment company.
Looking for the very best candidate for your opening can be extremely tedious and time consuming. Consider hiring a specialist like eSearchPro or The Jiles Group. Recruitment firms have the expertise and tools to identify the right candidates and present you with their top findings typically in a relatively short period of time.
Takeaway
Hiring may be a process, but it is one in this market that needs to be handled efficiently and effectively in order to compete and acquire the very best candidate. Be decisive and ready to hire immediately. You will very likely notice the “X-Factor” when it’s in front of you, so don’t dilly dally, be decisive, and you’ll be done.