Does this hiring scenario sound familiar?
"Our company needs a part-time executive assistant:
7 days = candidate search
5 days = find time to act on this and conduct interviews
5 days = waiting until CEO can meet top candidates
2 days = discuss and decide, offer Candidate A the job
But Candidate A just accepted another job. So we offer Candidate B the position, only to find that she has been snapped up by another company, as well. Almost three weeks have passed, and we are back to square-one in the hiring process."
Wait... wasn't it just yesterday that you and I were learning the technique of hire slow and fire fast? Yes, I even spoke on that very topic to CEO groups when this was the “winning” equation. But it seems that times are changing.This is a CANDIDATE market.
In many job categories, we are seeing a shortage of great candidates. This means that to “win” the best ones, we all need to take a look at shortening our hiring timeline. Never before has a "hurry-up offense" been such a determining factor in filling a vacancy with the very best person. USA Today recently reported, "Employers who took their sweet time making hiring decisions just a few years ago, are scrambling to snag candidates in as little as a day for fear of losing them to competitors in a tight labor market.” (Read that article. It's an eye-opener!)
What does it mean to quicken the pace of hiring? No, don't skip steps. You need to still run background checks, reference checks (in detail), do personality profiles, and hold multiple interviews. But the time between these steps must be compressed. Here's how:
- Conduct interviews as soon as candidates are pre-screened. Don't wait a week, opening the window for a competing job to grab their attention.
- Get back to the candidate within 24 hours. Normally you know within the first five minutes if this could be the right person for the job.
- Need a second set of interviews? Complete that within the next 48 hours.
- Now tell your top candidate that you are going to make an offer in three days while you await the results of the background and reference checks.
- Then send a job offer in writing AFTER making a verbal offer either in person or by phone.
"But I don't have time for this right now." If you don’t have time for interviews, for follow-ups, and to make a decision, then this is not the time to hire.
"Help! I have a business to run, too." A hiring company like Innovative Outsourcing is skilled to help with most of the heavy lifting.
Take advantage of a good staffing firm who will perform 40 to 80 hours of the hiring homework for you. Then all you need to do is set aside time for interviews immediately when candidates become available. Next, make a decision within one or two days. Otherwise, the BEST candidates will accept other positions with companies who act faster. While your vacancy will eventually be filled, are you really willing to settle for a second-tier candidate because you unintentionally delayed the process?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and how Innovative Outsourcing can help you adjust to this hurry-up hiring strategy. I'm now dedicating resources to identify the very best candidates, and prequalify them so we are way ahead in the pre-screening process. When you call on us looking for a specific type of person to fill a vacancy, we are ready to go with an inventory of awesome candidates ready to meet you.