Hire Faster and Hire Better

Posted August 26, 2015

The hiring process is like any other business process: Efficiency saves time and money.

A slow and inefficient hiring process can cost a company in terms of tangible costs – like time that could be spent elsewhere and candidate screening expenses. A slow process also has intangible costs, such as letting top candidates slip through your fingers, by either taking too long to identify them or not making an offer fast enough.

If you’re now thinking, "Ok I'll just do everything at breakneck speed!" that can lead to a sloppy and ineffective process. Also, skipping steps you think aren’t important might result in a process that isn't very comprehensive.

Find Bottlenecks in Your Process

You need to start by identifying where the inefficiencies, or 'bottlenecks,' in your process are located.

Draw up a recruiting-process map that give the minimum, average and maximum lengths of time required for each step in the process. Steps with the biggest variation in time are typically the ones you should target for examination. For these parts of the process, figure out what factors led to the minimum time spent, and what factors led to the maximum time spent.

Steps to Speed up Your Process

One way to speed up your hiring process is to eliminate any 'dead time' between steps. For example, if a hiring manager is busy all day – schedule an interview for after work hours. This can accelerate a process without any negative impact to it.

Performing multiple steps at once is another way to speed the hiring process. For instance, there's nothing that says you have to finish all you interviews before you start checking contacting references.

Assess each step to see if it can be streamlined or eliminated. For example, many interviewers can spot a low-quality prospect right off the bat, so shirking interview times by 10 minutes shouldn't have much negative impact.

Conversely, if there's a part of a step that gives high-value information about candidates, consider investing more time and resources into it. For example, setting up a Google Spreadsheet with available interview times can allow candidates to pick the time that works for best for them and eliminates the back-and-forth that often goes into setting up a meeting.

Added Measures to Speed up Your Process

In addition to examining the various steps of your hiring process, train up your managers and recruiters on the value of expediting the hiring process. As part of the training, give these individuals the strategic tools they need to speed up the hiring process.

Expediting the hiring process is particularly important for high-value job – less so for entry-level or low-skill positions. If necessary, focus your expediting efforts for positions that offer the most return on your effort. The same goes for high-quality candidates: Don’t let these men and women languish in your hiring process!

At Ambassador, we understand the value of speed and efficiency in the hiring process. One of the best and fastest ways to tap into high-quality job candidates is to simply contact one of the top general staffing agencies in the South.