Recruiting well is a virtue that affects company success in all aspects of the business including economic growth and employee morale. The successful recruiting team has their ducks in a row before they start the process. A few of the important “ducks”, according to Ross Staffing consultants: have the interviewing team ready to go and able to focus their attention on the process; be prepared with an efficient decision process allowing for feedback and closure; and know when the search should be outsourced (the position may be difficult to fill or require more expertise to screen). It is important that the recruiting team have a high sense of urgency so the best candidates don’t get snapped up by some other company.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently researched the ‘time to fill” metric and found that their sampling produced an average time to process of 33.28 days. The number includes weekends and holidays. The challenge, according to an article in the SHRM news is to keep it under 30 days. The article offers some suggestions to facilitate this goal.
Initially, companies should always include head count and projected growth as part of the annual budget/forecast process. This helps the recruiting department plan ahead, and keep an eye out for needed talent.
Then – set a timeline for the process. If you have been looking ahead, you should be able to get past the “let’s see who we can find” that traps you in a perpetual candidate identification circle. Set a realistic deadline for receiving applications and move on. Once the candidates have been presented, set a schedule for phone and face-to-face interviews, assessing and processing the hire.
Review the process itself and answer some key questions – who will do the interviewing, how will they report results, and how (and who) will candidates be kept informed of the progress? If communication and understanding isn’t there, the “time-to-fill” will be out of control.
Technology Ventures Corporation provides continuing education classes on all aspects of starting a company and one of the sessions spends significant time on preparing for and conducting interviews. An important task is the initial screening of the applicant resumes. A thorough review of that document can save lots of wasted time later in the recruitment process, and help reaffirm exactly what types of candidates the company is looking for.
Remember- the candidate may have other prospects, and you want to keep them interested while your team is making decisions. The worst outcome of a hiring activity is to have your chosen candidate say “I just accepted another offer last__.” Pick one “mentor’ to stay in touch with your best prospects.
It goes without saying that those conducting the interviews should be well trained and prepped for the task. Good luck!
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