7 Ways to Speed Up Your Hiring Process and Win the Talent War

Don't Waste Time

Time is the Primary Enemy in the Race for Talent

When you think of frustrating causes of losing your top candidate, the one you desperately wanted to hire, what do you think of?

I remember early on in my career when something didn’t go the way I thought it would. My mentor told me: “Did you do all that you could?” If you did, then it wasn’t meant to be. If you didn’t do all you could, figure out when and where you dropped the ball and fix your process.

TIME. This remains one of our biggest enemies in the war for talent. So how can we neutralize this enemy?

The hiring process is so named because it is a process: a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. It should be organized, repeatable, and systematic. More importantly, each step of the process should be in place for a darn good reason.

Some companies know the drill. They move very quickly on a candidate they want. They don’t want TIME to be their enemy. But some companies can get bogged down in their process regardless of whether they realize it’s costing them their top candidates.

Here are 7 ways to accelerate your hiring process:

  1. Respond to résumé submittals as soon as possible and begin the phone interview promptly.
  2. Evaluate the length of your *pre* final interview process. If it takes more than a month to bring a candidate to the final interview in this highly competitive hiring market, you will most likely lose your top candidate.
  3. Secure interviewing availability from all necessary interviewers in advance, and have ‘backup interviewers’ ready to go if needed.
  4. Complete reference checks, assessment testing, and other pre-employment assessment tools prior to the final interview.
  5. Re-engineer your hiring offer process internally.
    • Requisition amendments: if you are amending job requisition postings to suit an internal tiering system before delivering an offer, you’re losing valuable time.
    • If your offer requests to the compensation department require more than a week for a response, in most cases the possibility of losing that candidate is high.
  6. Don’t lowball candidates. This isn’t 1995 and your first offer should be fair. We don’t go back and forth with candidates anymore. I have personally had a candidate just a few months ago, after three offer attempts by a company, say, “Just forget it,” even though the final offer made was what the candidate originally requested. Remember – the back-and-forth not only reflects poorly on you as an organization, but it also wastes valuable time.
  7. Lastly, I strongly recommend working with your recruiting company as a trusted advisor and relying on them to help you secure your top candidate. If time is your only enemy, they will be able to help you on all other fronts.

So, if you are unable to secure your top candidate, don’t forget to ask yourself: did I do all that I could?

**next time, we will talk about the things you don’t expect a slow hiring process to mean for your company**

Author: Mary C. Morton 

A SEMbio co-founder and managing partner, Mary is also a member of the prestigious Pinnacle Society. Mary graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences, with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, and additional studies in UT’s College of Pharmacy. She takes the necessary steps to make an employer-employee match that’s “right” instead of simply “right now.”

 

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