When companies need to fill vacancies, speeding up time-to-hire is often a priority. Being shorthanded is burdensome, leading to larger workloads for other employees, which can potentially increase stress levels, harm productivity, and limit worker access to leave. When it carries on for an extended period, burnout and turnover are more likely.
Additionally, an extended time-to-hire negatively impacts candidate engagement. While most job seekers acknowledge that hiring processes take time, longer-than-average delays harm the candidate experience. At times, it damages recruitment to the point where ghosting or similar issues become burdensome for employers.
Fortunately, improving time-to-hire isn’t inherently challenging. Here are three guaranteed ways to shorten your timeline.
1. Use the Right Sourcing Strategy
Not all candidates turn to the same resources when looking for opportunities. If you’re limiting your job ads to large job boards and company career pages, the limited number of sources and the declining popularity of some of the traditional options in these categories mean missing out on talent.
Instead, diversify your sourcing strategy. Identify the sites and platforms your ideal candidates frequent, including social media, niche message boards, networking organizations, college employment offices, and similar resources.
Additionally, partner with a staffing firm to broaden your reach. Professional recruiters know how to meet candidates where they are due to their expertise, making them an asset when you need to secure specific skills quickly.
2. Present a Compelling Employer Value Proposition
When you create job ads, view them from the perspective of candidates. Consider what they’d want to know about the role, particularly when it comes to the aspects that benefit them.
For example, listing salary ranges lets you connect with job seekers who are willing to take on the duties for the stated pay. Including details about benefits, perks, training programs, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and your company culture lets them see how the organization supports its workforce.
Essentially, presenting a compelling employer value proposition helps candidates see what’s in it for them. In turn, you’ll typically receive more qualified applicants in a shorter period.
3. Streamline Your Application and Screening
Lengthy and cumbersome applications and screening steps harm the candidate experience. When an application is overly complex to time-consuming, many job seekers will abandon the process. Along with missing out on talent, this could extend your time-to-hire timeline due to a lack of quality candidates.
Similarly, when screening steps take too long, they inherently lengthen the timeline. Couple that with the risk of declining candidate engagement causing job seekers to drop out of the process, and your time-to-hire suffers.
Make sure to streamline your application and screening as much as possible. Limit applications to include only the essentials. Requesting a resume or application (not both), eliminating essay questions, reducing the skills proficiency questions, and scaling back on similar steps give you more candidates to consider as the odds of completion go up.
Similarly, handling screening steps simultaneously instead of in succession shortens the timeline, so consider conducting background checks (if they aren’t instantaneous) while also reviewing references. You can also hold panel interviews instead of one-on-one meetings if multiple managers need to be involved in the decision.
Staffing firms can also assist with streamlining your hiring process. Along with simplified recruitment processes, recruiters can screen for specific skills, meet with candidates to assess culture fit, conduct background checks, and handle other steps on your behalf, making the experience faster for all involved.
Contact the Advance Group Today
If you’d like to see how a recruitment agency can reduce your time-to-hire, The Advance Group wants to hear from you. Contact us today.
