Finding the right employees can be a monumental challenge at the best of times. Right now, it is even worse. Near full employment has created an environment where employees can court multiple companies, often with the goal of finding the best “deal” possible. For you, this means you must focus your recruitment efforts on minimizing the time required between identifying a need and filling an important position. Here are the top ten reasons why slow hiring is damaging your company and why you should make this a top priority to improve your staffing efforts!

Keep Potential Hires from Going Elsewhere, Particularly a Competitor

A candidate’s goal is to find quality employment as quickly as possible. Well qualified applicants will have submitted applications to dozens of companies, going through the interview process with each of them. This means that if you as the employer drag the process out or require unnecessary requirements, they may give up on your company and go with one of your competitors. This is true even in situations in which you can offer a better compensation package.

Minimize Lost Revenue Due to Missed Opportunities

Employees are the foundation of any business. Without the right staff, you will be missing opportunities to attract new clients and expand your relationship with your existing base. By delaying the hiring of qualified individuals, you are only creating a situation in which your team fails to achieve the levels of speed and efficiency needed to continuously “one-up” the competition.

Prevent “Bidding Wars” From Claiming Top Talent

Your competition is always seeking ways to improve their own standing in the market. One of the key ways to do this is by maintaining a consistent HR advantage over the competition. This plays out in the hiring process through the introduction of opportunities for companies to attract top prospects from one another at any stage of the interview process.

For instance, if you give the prospect your initial offer without a deadline the candidate may shop your offer around to see what the market will bear. Other employers may see the work you put into the process, what the offer details are, save some money on vetting, and make a better counter offer.

Maintain a Competitive Advantage

By reducing your average time to fill you can handle more volatile shifts in demand without having to resort to a temporary agency or overworking existing staff. Beyond making it easier for you to meet even the most complex staffing needs, it enables you to take full advantage of situations in which top talent becomes available.

It is common practice in many companies to maintain a list of pre-vetted potential hires, especially if the list is managed through a platform like LinkedIn. When a promising talent becomes available, use this list to your advantage by providing everything needed in one shot. After all, if you already know about the prospect there is no point in having a drawn-out hiring process. Keeping it short and sweet will enable you to get the prospect before your competition has a chance to make its move.

Minimize Workplace Stress

Nothing can ruin company morale faster than mandatory overtime over an extended period. Doing this not only increases payroll expenses, it risks elevating the overall burnout among your staff which could trigger a higher turnover rate.

Eliminate these issues from cropping up by aggressively shortening the hiring time. That way you can quickly put a stop to any situation in which you have to choose between happy employees and meeting your contractual obligations.

Minimize Human Resource Expenses

This has been touched on already, though only from the “bidding” side. A prospect that has time to compare and contrast multiple offers will ultimately pick the one that offers the most lucrative package as well as the quality of work plus work/life balance.

Flexible schedules have become as important as compensation. Companies that are winning the recruiting war are flexing schedules and work locations. Inflexible, old-school companies are losing out to competitors who have leveraged technology and realize that happier employees reduce turnover and expenses.

Eliminate the Potential for Damage to Your Company’s Reputation

Companies that are slow to handle basic tasks like interviewing employees or giving timely feedback develop a reputation for being inefficient and unfriendly. These prospects will share their experiences with others in their industry thereby making it even more difficult to attract top talent. A good candidate experience is important in today’s candidate-driven market.

Keep Applications Flowing In

By having a long application process and turn-around time you risk alienating potential hires. Instead of potentially limiting applicants who are daunted by a long application process, actively court them and provide rapid responses (both positive and negative).

Keep Your Recruiting Team Enthused

Few things reduce efficiency more than boredom or poor managers. Having rapid turnaround times will keep your front line recruiters engaged in the process ultimately producing better results.

Reach Out to More Passive Candidates

The best candidates are currently employed with your competitors and doing the job you are looking to fill. Most are busy working and not looking for a new opportunity until they are recruited.

It may be difficult and time-consuming to identify them but when they do enter the market a pre-existing relationship with your brand could make all the difference. By reducing the time lag between identifying an open position and filling it, you can present your position as an opportunity. Timing and approach are critical in these situations.

Combined with referrals by trusted staff, proactive recruiting techniques can be a game changer for your recruiting efforts. In short, you can snag the best talent without having to worry about a bidding war or unreasonable time demands!

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Developing effective candidate identification and recruiting techniques is essential for successfully maintaining your position as an industry leader.