It’s undeniable that the competition for talent is fierce right now. As a result, employers who wish to be ahead of the game in talent acquisition need to work with speed and agility in the current market. While we’d normally champion taking time to ensure a candidate is the right fit for your business, it’s becoming clear that a slow and steady approach to recruitment will not get you anywhere in a candidate driven market.
Companies are actively reaching out to hire top talent, and the ones who act quickly seem to be winning. There is no room for a blasé approach to recruiting right now, and long-drawn-out candidate experiences will only increase the number of applicants who drop out of your recruitment process. It doesn’t matter how great your employer brand reputation or company status is; candidates want to move quickly. Of course, culture and benefits will play a factor in any candidate’s final decision; but in an era where offers are in abundance for tech talent, they won’t wait around forever.
The recruitment game is becoming more about speed and agility than ever. This is causing concern for many companies, as, of course, they want to be sure about the people they’re hiring and know that they’ll be excellent quality hires. Scaling businesses that have smaller teams to begin with need to ensure that the people they’re hiring are a cultural fit and have the skills to grow a business and enhance its offering. Therefore, it’s understandable that these businesses, where possible, would like to take time when it comes to hiring, including multiple interviews, tasks and time to decide with the wider team. However, in a highly competitive, candidate-driven market, time is a luxury few employers can afford.
If you have a good feeling about a candidate in the current market, you should snap them up before the competition does. No matter how much they want the job, no candidate will wait around for months for you to make a decision when the demand for their skills is so high.
So how can you ensure good quality hires while prioritising speed?
Write better job descriptions
Good quality job descriptions save time for everyone. Having the required skills and qualifications clearly articulated and providing a glimpse into your company culture allows candidates to self select whether they’re appropriate for the position. A vague job description will attract various candidates at different career stages and with varying skill sets. Without being precise, more candidates risk trying their luck and applying, which means you’ll have a lot more unsuitable CVs to sift through.
If you’re looking for something specific and know exactly what this is, whether it’s a coding language or management experience, then show it in the early stages. Candidates don’t have the time to waste, and neither do your talent teams. If you clearly state the skills you’re looking for, chances are only suitable candidates will apply (although, of course, some under-qualified people may take their chances). This will save you time screening candidates and save the candidates’ time waiting around to hear back from a job they’re unsuitable for. It’s in everyone’s best interest that your job descriptions are detailed and precise.
Use digital attraction techniques
Another way to speed up the recruitment process is to ensure your job postings are seen by as many people with the relevant qualifications, experience and credentials as possible. Digital attraction comes with targeting capabilities which means you can ensure selected people are only seeing your adverts. Depending on the social media platform you use, you can target based on location, education, job title, and many other factors. However, Google targets based on search terms that you know relevant candidates are looking for. These search terms could be as specific as “C++ engineer jobs” to ensure you’re attracting only suitable candidates. However, it is essential to remember the more specific your criteria, the more limited your talent pool is, and therefore it may take some time to drive applications.
The good thing about social media and programmatic advertising is the instantaneous nature of the platforms. With lead generation forms pre-filling details or applications just one click away, you’re making the candidate experience simple and saving both the candidates time and your own. You’ll get the applications instantly and can review them at speed, and candidates aren’t wasting time on a two-hour application form with complex questions. Digital attraction makes for a speedy candidate experience which can work in favour of both candidate and employer.
Refine the interview process
Do you really need three interviews for every candidate and every role? Do you need to test candidates who have skills and experience? These are questions you should be asking yourself if you’re trying to speed up your hiring process. Of course, you want to be sure you’re hiring the right person, but when time isn’t on your side, it’s time to make sure you can make the right decision quickly. To do this, you need to look at your current interview process and identify any unnecessary stages. For example, after two interviews, if you can’t decide whether a candidate is a good fit for you, you’re clearly not asking the right questions. Instead, create a list of questions that you can quantify to allow an easy and fair comparison of candidates; this will stop you from getting caught up in conversations that don’t give you the relevant information and streamline the interview process. If it’s easier to compare candidates, then it’s easier to decide who is the most suitable, which means candidates won’t be waiting weeks for feedback.
Outsource your recruitment
Another way to speed up your recruitment process is to outsource it. RPO providers are savvy when it comes to recruitment, with a wide network of candidates and the techniques and expertise to help you find excellent quality talent quickly. If you’re new to the world of talent acquisition or need to hire a lot of roles in a short time, outsourcing to an RPO provider gives you another level of support. You can benefit from having a team of recruitment professionals embedding themselves into your organisation and dedicating their time to helping you source the right talent. As they don’t have to focus on scaling other aspects of the business, they can move quickly and prioritise finding talent, hopefully speeding up the recruitment process for you and the candidate. You may not be able to prioritise recruitment over daily tasks, but an RPO provider can help with all aspects of the recruitment process, from writing job descriptions to screening candidates. They’ll also be a point of contact for the candidate, which means they can have speedy responses and someone to communicate with who isn’t juggling many other tasks, reducing the time candidates are left waiting.
On average, the hiring process in the UK takes 27.59 days, and it’s reported that 54% of businesses have failed to acquire a qualified candidate because their hiring process took too long. Every day a vacancy remains open, your business loses out on productivity. By providing quick turnarounds with quality hires, RPO providers work with speed in mind, which can benefit both candidates and employers.
Talent Works are an RPO provider that offers a flexible approach perfect for startups, scale-ups and beyond. Our teams embed themselves into your organisation for as long as you need us, whether it’s weeks, months or years. We help to recruit talent to meet demand, no matter how urgent. We’re an RPO provider specialising in tech that offers a complete recruitment solution from building EVPs and Employer Brands to directly sourcing candidates. We’re also experts in digital talent attraction campaigns with in-house creative, digital and research teams.
To find out more about how we can help your business recruit in this competitive talent market, you can view our work or contact us.
