How to optimize your recruitment process and reduce your time-per-hire

Time is not only money, but taking too long to hire can mean losing potential talent; 60% of candidates have quit a too long application process.

In the current job market candidates expect the recruitment process, from interview to offer, to be wrapped up quickly, and the company to be transparent with status updates.

Here is an overview on how to fill your open positions with a high quality candidate by reducing your time per hire.

Know your current time per hire

Do you know your how long it takes you to get your hires? 57% of job seekers say that they lose interest in a job if the hiring process is too long. Also keep it in mind that candidates with in-demand skills probably have multiple companies competing for their talents.

The longer your process takes, the more likely it is that another company will get the applicant.

So how long is too long? Here is a surprising fact; only 30% of companies are able to fill a role within 30 days. Most companies take somewhere between 1 and 4 months to get a new hire.

In comparison, according to a survey by Robert Half, 46% percent of applicants lose interest in the position if there’s no status update within one or two weeks post-interview.

Not only that, but nearly half of applicants would share a negative recruitment experience, further reducing your chances to hire the best talent. Below are some industry facts about the recruitment process:

Industry facts:

• 42 days is the average time per hire
• Best candidates get hired in just 10 days
• 60% of candidates have quit a too long application process
• Over 80% of professionals are passive candidates
• 66% of candidates would want to hear more from brands
• Employee turnover can be reduced by 28% with employer branding

Via officevibe.com & workable.com

Once you review your current processes and timeline, you can set goals and measure them efficiently. Optimizing your recruitment and reducing your time spend hiring is not as difficult as it sounds; we compiled a list with best practices and tips.

Optimize your recruitment process to reduce your time-per-hire

Candidates expect companies to be transparent with updates about their application, and to round up the recruitment process fast. So if your time per hire is longer than a month or two, here are our tips to help you reduce your time per hire, and get the best talent!

1. Define exactly who you need to hire

If you want to find the best candidate for a position, you need to define what ‘best’ exactly is. Ask for a clearly defined criteria from your hiring manager, or present one and get critical feedback on it. Make sure that the budget and details are clear from the start.

Also making a difference between what is absolutely necessary and desired can help you to be realistic. The perfect candidate hardly exists; but a passionate, dedicated and close to qualified candidate might be trained at low or no costs internally.

2. Improve your job listing & careers page

It should be clear from the job description what the position exactly is, and it should be easy to find on your website. Candidates visit your careers page at least twice during the recruitment process; when they first hear about your job opening, and when they are considering your job offer.

If they cannot find the job listing on the page or the description doesn’t sell them the job, they will either drop out of the process or chose another option.

Provide the candidate with enough information; the modern job applicant makes sure that they know as much as possible about the company before they commit to the recruitment process.

According to a report on job seeking trends, the top three things potential candidates want to know about are company culture, mission and perks of the job, such as self development possibilities or extras.

3. Screen applicants & build a talent pipeline

Two big factors that can slow down your recruitment process are not having the right talent at the right time, and not having enough time to screen the large volume of applicants.

So in order to ensure that you have the right talent when you need it, work on building a talent pipeline. Reach out to your network, and save the contact details of every possible candidate – they might be the perfect candidate for a future position.

This way you can also ask for a reference, and shorten your time by knowing more about your candidate. Keeping the resumes of candidates that didn’t fit the job they applied for is also a great way to build your talent pool.

When it comes to screening large volumes of applications, make it an intensive, short process – or automate it. Applicant screening tools like Harver, Berke Assessment or Codily can help you to reduce your time per hire dramatically.

It is best to pick tools that integrate with your ATS; this will save you a lot of time and effort. You can also look into whole solutions, like what we offer at Wonderkind.

4. Communicate the timeline clearly

23% of candidates wait only one week to hear back from the job poster, and 39% believe that 2 weeks is too long for the hiring process.

Be efficient with the screening and interview process, and let them know exactly how soon they will hear back, because a potential hire might chose another opportunity that clearly stated what the applicant can expect.

So making sure that the potential candidates don’t drop out of your recruitment process, you need to clearly communicate when they can expect a reply – and don’t make them wait too long.

5. Innovate & automate

Keeping up with new developments in recruitment can help you with finding tools to cut down your time per hire. Applicant tracking systems, evaluation tools and online advertising is much cheaper than job postings in newspapers or on job boards.

Investing into a good applicant tracking system might not be enough, if you are dealing with a large volume of applicants and positions to fill. This is where you can think of automating parts of the hiring process. A way to do so is by using a programmatic job advertising software tool.

AI is one of the hottest terms in recruitment in 2018, and for a good reason; sourcing, screening and hiring with AI cleared the time of repetitive work out of your schedule, and you can focus on candidates that are worth your time.

Social sourcing, programmatic job advertising and advertising jobs in apps and Google are all cost- and time-effective ways to innovate your recruitment.

Key takeaways

Hire fast but hire the best; optimize your recruitment process to cut your time per hire as much as possible, but don’t forget about the quality of your hire. Help yourself with clearly defined objectives, to-the-point and easy to find job descriptions to source the best talent.

Building a talent pipeline and assessing candidates efficiently can cut down on your time per hire not just for your current positions to fill, but also for future hiring processes.

Staying up to date and using innovative tools to automate large volume, repetitive tasks can help you focusing on the human side of recruitment; and hiring the best candidate for the job as fast as possible.

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