These days, there’s only so much time you can devote to the hiring process.
We live in a fast-paced world — your hiring process can’t be the thing that slows you down. From investing in bulk background checks to throwing recruiting software back on the trash heap where it belongs, there are many ways to speed up the hiring process.
Remember that speed shouldn’t come at the expense of efficacy, so proceed with these strategies with caution and care. If breaking the hiring process into stages is actually taking more time, because you’re having a hard time adjusting, go back to basics. Only adopt the strategies that work for your company’s unique flow.
Without further ado, here are the top tips for speeding up the hiring process in 2021.
Invest in Bulk Background Checks
If you’re hiring for multiple roles simultaneously, there’s no better way to weed out the obvious passes than investing in bulk background checks. Everyone has their “automatic pass” red flags.
Whether that’s a candidate having failed a past drug and alcohol screening, or discovering they lied about dates or role titles, communicate your musts and must-nots to the background check company, and sit back while they narrow the field down to only the most qualified (and safe to hire) candidates.
Rely on Internal Referrals
The old wisdom hasn’t lost its truth: hire who you know.
Leaning on internal referrals can save you time, grief, and money. Pull from a pool of pre-vetted candidates, rather than opening it up to anyone with internet access and an email account.
Be choosy about which members of your team you rely on for internal referrals. Ask your colleagues or employees who they know and in what parts of the industry — and ask them regularly. Friends shift around, becoming available and unavailable suddenly. You never know when your needs and your employees’ connections will align for a slam dunk hire.
Break the Process Up Into Stages
This seems counterintuitive, but breaking the hiring process into stages can actually speed the process up.
Rather than opening the flood gates and communicating with, interviewing, and then reviewing the materials of an undifferentiated pool of dozens, save the time-consuming steps for a final round.
Many companies segment the hiring process into three stages:
- Review: This is when your hiring team reviews the resume and cover letter of all candidates. A background check will come in handy here. Should be the shortest step.
- Interview: Once you’ve knocked off at least half of the candidate pool from step one, set up interviews with available candidates.
- Hire: Now you can weed out who did poorly, who didn’t seem like a good personality fit, and who didn’t seem capable of handling the responsibilities you need to be taken care of.
Get Rid of Recruiting Software
Recruiting software is meant to optimize the hiring process, integrating research, background checks, interviewing, and material collection into one system.
But sometimes, recruiting software can actually add an interface to consistently organize, sort through, and maintain. This just takes time away from actually hiring candidates, and dumps it down the drain of needless organization and upkeep. Free yourself of the burden of optimization!
Hire Faster, Work Better
At the end of the day, when you hire faster, you save time. And when you have more time, your team is happier.
Happy employees make for productive companies, and that’s what you want more than anything. Speed up your hiring process with these strategies today.
