Don't be Slow, be Strategic in Hiring Talent

Why is it taking longer than ever to find, and land, revenue-generating professionals with the skills and talents to drive results? In a recent hiring survey, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they expect their companies to be bringing on new revenue-generating staff additions within the next 12 months, and 88% said their employers were experiencing a skills shortage.

The demand is there, but where are the candidates? Only 9% of revenue-generating workers polled said that they’re actively looking for a job, and 63% reported feeling secure or very secure in their current position.

Even when candidates are available, a lack of preparation by hiring managers or a disconnect between business drivers and internal processes can compromise company performance.

For any industry which is currently facing talent shortages in revenue-generating positions, the pertinent question remains: does the time-to-hire make a difference to the quality of talent being inducted into an organization?

Recruitment experts agree that the hiring time is critical for finding the right candidate. The reason is obvious. Often because of undue time lags between identification of candidates and making the selection, a good candidate may lose interest in that specific role and take up another opportunity.

SPEED (or the lack thereof) is a strategic factor in the competition for talent. When talent acquisition is an organizational strength, you start by overwhelming candidates with responsiveness.

Here are the spots in the recruiting process where the need to manage speed is critical:

1. Solicit candidates only when you have the time to and interest in screening them. For prospects that fit your general position requirements, set the initial step within 48-hours of submission.

2. Organize process steps to fast-track internal bottlenecks. Once the initial screen is completed and you decide to move the candidate to the next stage—momentum is on your side! Plot steps to the final interview and schedule these all at once, within 24-hours of the initial step.

Example: if the initial step is a telephone screen, and the final step is an interview with the senior manager; but in-between there is an interview with 1) the hiring manager, 2) a peer, and 3) a next-level manager—book set times for all of the 3 “middle steps” in this example, within 2-days of each other. You can always cancel if the candidate proves to be less than anticipated, but you cannot regain lost time between steps tying to schedule “on the fly” as the process unfolds.

3. Manage expectations as you move to the offer stage. Give timely and honest feedback to, or about, candidates following each step. Ideally, you want to do a blitz round of interviews and get to the final stage shortly thereafter. If there is any holdup in the process, you have to sell the candidate on the company and the fact that you still love them as the right fit for the job in question.

4. Anticipate administrative and/or organizational requirements to get to the offer stage. Don’t wait until after the final interview to initiate administrivia like reference checks, pre-employment screenings, approval forms, offer letter/new hire paperwork turnaround, etc. At the same time you schedule the final interview, start the organizational wheels turning to ensure a minimal lag time before you can make a firm offer.

Interested candidates are a perishable resource – start the process too soon or have a delay after a phone interview or a face-to-face meeting, and you have problems. Candidates start having confidence issues in you as an employer of choice, and even if you eventually hire them, the delays can cost you negotiation leverage as you go through the offer stage.

Learn how to juggle the timing needs of the company and the candidate in the hiring process, and you'll get better talent than you deserve.