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Five Strategies to Streamline YOUR Hiring Process

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In this candidate driven job market, doing your best recruiting quickly has become critical. Here are five strategies to streamline your hiring process.

Evaluate

Don’t take that old job description and run with it. Do take the time to meet with the hiring manager and others impacted by the position, to write a new, updated job description. Be cautious of describing a position’s responsibilities around the person who just left. Often jobs grow around an employee’s strengths, not specifically what is needed now in the position. Don’t embellish the job. Overselling or sugar coating a job or your company will just self-destruct when the new hire starts work, and the cost of hiring and then losing someone is far more expensive than taking a little more time to get the right person.

Set a Time Frame

Someone is suffering due to this unfilled position. Setting realistic expectations about when a job description needs to be completed, when interviewers must make themselves available and how quickly decisions can be made will clarify responsibilities and offer some relief to the person who is suffering, i.e. a light at the end of the tunnel. But don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  Bad hires are expensive but so is waiting for “the one.” Set realistic expectations about the candidate as well as the time frame that will, hopefully, streamline your hiring process.

Use All Resources

Yes, advertising on multiple job boards is essential in this job market, but don’t forget your internal resources as well. Remember that ATS isn’t just for scheduling interviews. You have candidates that have been previously interviewed, and while they weren’t right before, they might be right now, and passive candidates won’t have a competing offer. Use your hiring manager and staff’s LinkedIn connections. Clearly they are the most closely aligned to the skill set you are trying to hire, so reach out via their resources. Employee sourcing bonuses do pay off.

If the hire is urgent and difficult, use a specialized recruiter. They do day in and day out what you do for an hour a week for each one of your many openings you might be trying to fill. The cost of their services is offset by time saved in searching for, reviewing and interviewing candidates that aren’t a fit, not to mention the work not getting done or being done by someone who already has a job!

Use Technology

If you don’t have interview scheduling software that is accessible by all the party’s participating in the recruiting, get it. Make sure it integrates with everyone’s calendar. Use software available for posting and updating job advertisements to multiple boards. Don’t make your application onerous or redundant. A CareerBuilder survey found that 20% of candidates will drop out of the application process if it takes longer than ten minutes to apply. Aptitude tests and forcing applicants to manually input information that can be readily found on their resume is not productive and does not streamline your hiring process. Screening candidates with keyword software can speed up your recruiting if the applicant pool is large.

Be Responsive

Once you advertise the position, respond to resumes within a day. This includes rejection notes as well as expressions of interest. Schedule interviews within a week. Provide feedback within two days, good and bad. Don’t leave anyone hanging, that might be the candidate you source for the next position. Candidates prefer to know they haven’t been selected versus never quite knowing what happened. Leaving people in limbo isn’t good for recruiting or for your company’s reputation. Being responsive lends itself to being decisive as well. If there is time pressure to make a decision, then there is time pressure to keep the process moving. That will pay off for your recruiting process and for your ability to hire.

Want to streamline your hiring process for a market research professional?  Contact Smith Hanley Associates‘ Market Research and Consumer Insights Executive Recruiter, Daniel Wilberschied at dwilberschied@smithhanley.com

 

 

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