🏁 Is hiring speed a competitive advantage?
In the modern job market, competition for talent is a given.
Great people will always have choices and tenure is on a downward trend.
We stay in jobs less than HALF the time we did a decade ago.
In 2013, the average tenure was 7 years, by 2023, it was just 3 years and 4 months.
So how can you make sure the best people choose your organisation?
Effective recruitment is robust and efficient.
While some research shows time to fill at 42 days.
6 weeks is a long time. If an exceptionally good candidate has applied for your job opportunity, they probably won’t still be available 42 days later when you get to the offer stage.
I have countless anecdotes about slow recruitment processes, lengthy silences and delays between interviews.
Some of the wildest stories include:
a 4-week from application closing date to first contact
4 months of 'we'll get back to you' messages only to be told the other candidate was selected
3 weeks from verbal job offer to written contract.
These might be extreme cases, however speed and efficiency definitely matter in recruitment.
In fact, research shows that hiring speed is the secret to standing out.
According to a recent article published by The HR Director, hiring speed has become a central factor in capturing talent when they are most engaged and avoiding the perils of fizzling enthusiasm.
Working at speed (without compromising your decision-making) can set the foundation for a positive employee experience and great long-term relationships. You can curate connection and maintain momentum, keeping candidates engaged through every step of a fast-paced process.
So what should you do to save time and hire faster? Here are 3 tips.
Review your hiring process
What works best, not just for hiring in general but for your team and this role specifically?
Audit your existing process and the aspects that make it work. Identify where things seem to click and where things feel stagnant and could be improved.
By objectively reviewing your own process, you can identify areas to optimise and make your approach more efficient next time you need to hire.
Cut the extra fat
I’ll just come out and say it: some of the complexity in hiring is unnecessary.
If your recruitment process feels like a slog, it probably is.
If you put yourself in the shoes of the person who has applied for countless jobs and has 5 interviews on the go, it’s obvious that more than 2 rounds of interviews can lead to interview fatigue.
Don’t be afraid to cut the extra fat and streamline your approach. Skills assessments and practical scenarios are a great way to gather additional data in a single stage, rather than elongating your process with additional stages.
Create templates, and lean on technology
After 20 years doing this work, here is one thing I’ve never stopped caring about (deeply): candidate experience.
It is never okay to ghost candidates. Clear, professional and timely communication is essential. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make your life easier by relying on templates and automation to facilitate a fast, single-click reply.
Whether you’re adding someone to the maybe list, inviting them to an interview or kindly thanking them for an unsuccessful application, template emails can help you respond to everyone at just the quick click of a button.
I am on a mission to make recruitment easier, faster and more efficient for the not-for-profit sector.
I do believe hiring speed is a competitive advantage.
Heart Talent partners with employers to attract and secure the right talent for job opportunities in 20 days, at least 37 percent faster than average.
We do this without compromising on quality process and the right match — with a 98% placement success over 15 years.
I’d love to help you attract the right people to your team. If you need help improving hiring speed and harnessing the power of this competitive advantage, please don’t hesitate to send me a message, or get in touch for a zero-pressure chat.
Flexible talent support for NFP leaders
I am deeply committed to making recruitment easier for nonprofit leaders.
I support leaders and organisations to attract the right people through:
traditional recruitment solutions
flexible unbundled recruitment support
helping you review and improve your recruitment approach
helping you understand and articulate your real EVP through employee research
leveraging this research to develop authentic recruitment content
building campaigns that reflect culture and the employee experience
consulting and advisory work to develop talent attraction strategy and capacity.
If you’re curious to know more, send me a message or get in touch for a chat.
As a communications professional and writer turned recruiter, I know modern recruitment is marketing, and I'm on a mission to share this approach with the sector.
Each Friday, I share talent attraction advice and insights. The Nonprofit Talent Edge will help you become more intentional, creative and proactive with your recruitment.
Have a great week.
Cynthia