Hire Faster and Better: An Employer's Guide
The guide emphasizes balancing speed and thoroughness in hiring by using efficient tools and processes to avoid the average 44-day time-to-hire benchmark's pitfalls, warning that rushing can lead to poor candidate experiences, lower-quality hires, and team disruptions.
Filling open positions may inspire a panicked hire or feel like a months-long slog where it’s hard to pin down a decision. Both scenarios can end in regret. Finding the right balance between a quick turnaround and costly delays can be a challenge, but the right tools and procedures can be a big help.
What Is the Average Time to Hire?
Human resources departments rely on a key metric known as “Time to Hire” to assess hiring practices. It refers to the number of days it takes for a candidate to see the job posting, apply, and officially accept a job offer. A 2023 report by the Josh Bersin Company found that the average time to hire across all industries was 44 days. While some industries vary from that figure, it can provide a useful benchmark.
If your time to hire is significantly more than 44 days, consider where you might be experiencing bottlenecks in the process. Do you have inadequate staff to receive applications or resumes? Do you use an outdated or inefficient applicant tracking system? Are candidates stuck waiting for communication for too long, and move on to other jobs?
Risks of Rushing Hires
Giving in to hiring pressure can lead to rushed hires that may prove more costly in the long run. Risks include:
- Poor candidate experience. Candidates who feel rushed or undervalued during the hiring process are less likely to accept an offer. They are also more likely to share their negative experience with others, potentially deterring other top candidates from applying in the future. Find the balance between timely hiring and helping the candidates not feel like a cog in a machine.
- Lesser quality hires. Rushed hiring can cause you to skip steps and due diligence you would otherwise prioritize. You may gloss over a mediocre reference or make assumptions about experience that prove problematic once the candidate starts work. Poor quality hires may never become a cultural fit in your company.
- Team dynamic disruption. Introducing a new member of the team will always require some adjustment, but a rushed hire can prove to be extra challenging during the transition. Poor onboarding and training put the new hire at a disadvantage, and can overly burden existing employees. The disruption to the team may lead to lower productivity and decreased morale.
- Higher costs. Rushing hires may cost more in both hiring budget dollars and opportunity costs to the company. If you lose the new hire to resignation or termination, you’ll end up right back where you started, with potentially lower morale and even more anxiety about filling the position. The worst-case scenario is that you also lose existing employees because of the turmoil.
Risks of Long Hiring Cycles
Lengthy hiring cycles carry risks, too:
- Poor candidate experience. Taking too long to respond to applications, schedule interviews, and make offers can make candidates feel undervalued and anxious. Long gaps between communication imply disinterest, when the opposite may be true. It can be difficult to win back a candidate who has made up their mind about how you’ve treated them.
- Losing out on top talent. Most job seekers pursue many options at once. Prime talent may no longer be available by the time you get around to requesting an interview or extending an offer. If you’ve settled on an unavailable candidate as the best option, you’ll be forced to start over.
- Burnout and decreased productivity from existing employees. The longer positions go unfilled, the more current employees are required to pick up the slack. Long periods of doing extra work – particularly without additional compensation – can lead to dropped tasks, missed deadlines, and employee burnout. It’s important to keep current employees happy so they can help integrate new team members once they’re hired.
5 Tips for Hiring Faster and Better
Explore these 5 tips that can help you hire faster and identify great candidates.
Establish an employee referral program
Your best ambassadors show up every day, shaping the company culture, boosting productivity, and making your company’s products enticing to the end user. Tap into their commitment to the company by making referrals worth their while. A good employee referral program is well-organized, highly advertised, and offers real incentives for high-quality referrals, including rewards for new-hire retention.
Use third-party recruiters
Companies with small HR departments may find the employees stretched too thin to handle proactive recruiting. Third-party recruiters can help narrow the candidate pool for you, providing the right type of potential hire. This can save time and money in the long run.
Optimize job descriptions
The best job descriptions avoid common clichés and focus on the specific requirements, responsibilities, and benefits of the job. Rather than casting a wide net with vague information, narrow your candidate pool to truly qualified candidates with focused and precise job descriptions. When a position opens up, don’t just recycle the old job description. Confer with the team doing the work every day to write the description to fit the job as it currently stands. Some people find AI tools helpful for polishing the language for clarity and reaching the right candidates.
Post salary ranges
Pay transparency aims to reduce pay disparities existing among genders, races, and other group classifications in the U.S. Providing applicants and employees with the wage information that was once hidden from them can empower individuals to negotiate fairer compensation. Some states have laws to require this; wherever your company operates, posting salary ranges shows respect to the candidates and eliminates time spent with someone whose interest will disappear once they learn the salary.
Use an applicant tracking system
Robust applicant tracking software reduces time spent on culling applications, saves emails from getting lost in an inbox, allows you to communicate with candidates either by text or email, and produces reports that help you analyze and perfect your hiring process.
By understanding the risks of rushed or prolonged hiring and applying thoughtful preparation, you can find hires who are a good fit for your company. Streamline hiring while finding and bringing on top candidates with ApplicantStack.
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