The Real Cost of a Slow Hiring Process
The article discusses how small businesses, despite their appealing work culture, face slow hiring processes due to factors like overemphasis on finding the perfect candidate, burnout among staff handling recruitment, and ineffective job descriptions, all of which contribute to difficulties in attracting and securing qualified applicants.
For many job seekers, the prospect of working for a small business offers a lot. Small businesses have an earned reputation for culture, pace, and type of work that can feel refreshing when compared to a large corporation. Thus, attracting and hiring such applicants is a high priority for small businesses with open positions. While your small business can’t compete with the Googles of the world for certain types of work, you can optimize your hiring process by finding effective ways of speeding it up.
Causes of Slow Hiring in Small Businesses
Jen L’Estrange reports that while “31% of small business owners reported open positions they couldn’t fill, and 50% said they were hiring or trying to hire,” it’s also true that “44% of owners said they saw few or no qualified applicants for the roles they were trying to fill.” The friction on the applicant side is just as painful: qualified applicants meet challenges getting through AI filters, apply to hundreds of jobs to get one interview, and find networking less effective than before.
Given these struggles, identifiable issues contribute to the overall sense of frustration on both sides of the hiring process.
Too Much Focus on Quality of Hire
While it’s important to find qualified and capable candidates, small businesses can overreact to historical hiring failures and spend too much time seeking out the perfect fit, dismissing fine candidates in search of something better.
Overwork and Burnout in Hiring Staff
As small businesses grow and evolve, people may take on multiple roles to cover new responsibilities. You may end up with hiring tasks spread out among a disparate group of workers who also have other jobs, causing delays in coordination and communication.
Weak Job Descriptions
Recycled job descriptions, overreliance on AI, and vague language and clichés can cause confusion and even bad feelings if candidates find the job description doesn’t accurately reflect the job’s responsibilities. This sends you back to the beginning of the hiring process.
Excessive Interviews
Interview scheduling can be a challenge for companies with multiple people involved in the hiring process. Candidates are likely to be at some stage in the interview process with other companies, and they want to feel their time is valued. Overdoing the number or length of interviews can be a turnoff and prolong the process.
Cultural Fit Concerns
One of the advantages of working for a small business is the camaraderie and collaborative atmosphere that develops with a smaller team. That can also be a roadblock to hiring if you worry too much about how a candidate may fit into the culture.
Financial Uncertainty
Small businesses may find that original hiring plans don’t fit within new budget realities, leading to setbacks or delays for candidates already in the pipeline.
Unsuitable Technology
While small businesses may not have the budget or desire to adopt every new technology on the market, resistance to updating hiring technology can hold you back and lead to unnecessary delays in hiring.
Real Costs of a Slow Hiring Process
SHRM estimates the average cost of hiring at around $4,700, but some businesses report it can be three times that when you factor in additional costs. Some of these costs are a direct result of taking too long in the hiring process:
- 1.Lost Candidates: When small businesses can’t act quickly on a candidate, they can lose that potential hire to another company. This resets the clock on finding a new candidate, costing time, money, and emotional toll.
- 2.Additional Hiring Responsibilities: When managers and department leaders take on HR tasks, their energy is diverted from other projects that may directly affect productivity and the company’s bottom line. Delays and setbacks can compound these results.
- 3.Vacancy Costs: Unfilled roles can cost as much as hiring a new person, and that number can skyrocket if the position is revenue-generating. Plus, unfilled positions take an emotional toll on employees who take on additional responsibilities, eroding stability and potentially leading to further vacancies.
Automated Solutions to Speed Up Hiring
Adopting software that automates hiring processes can be the most important tool in overcoming slow hiring. ApplicantStack automates writing and posting job descriptions to job boards, sorts applicants by keywords, provides a communication framework that uses the candidate’s preferred method, and keeps a running checklist of tasks with reminders so each member of the hiring team knows where each candidate stands in the process. With onboarding and payroll integration, your new hire can hit the ground running without delay. These tools take away hours of manual task management and free up your time and energy to focus on the human side of hiring: bringing the right person to join your team.
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