Every company wants to find the perfect candidate when looking to fill a position, but that is no reason to have a slow hiring process. If you want to find the best candidate, you need to speed up the process. This does not mean that you need to hire within a day. However, you need to be considerate and act quickly if you think you have found your perfect candidate. Here are a few reasons why a slow hiring process is bad for your company.
Your top candidates will move on
While you are interviewing candidates, it is very likely that they’re also interviewing with other companies. If a different company offers them a position, why would they decline it in hopes of a possible future with you? Especially if they are in need of a job. While there are exceptions about this happening, it is very rare. The speed of your hiring process is very important. This is especially true if your competitors are also hiring a similar position. If your company is taking too long, it is very likely your perfect candidate might pass if given another offer quicker.
It will cause lower productivity and higher costs
If the position you are interviewing for is crucial to your team, it is important to act quickly. If your team is depending on this position to help get their work done, it can cause projects and tasks to be done late. You can’t expect your employees to work twice as hard because you are taking your time to fill a position. Each day a position is vacant, there can be an impact on productivity and revenue generation for your company.
Slow hiring will not improve the quality of who you hire
While you might think dragging out your hiring process can result in your perfect candidate being found, it is actually the opposite of that. The longer you wait to fill the position, the quality of your candidates will lower. As mentioned before, top candidates will drop out. This will leave you with the choice between average and weak candidates. This longer time will also give your candidate much more time to rethink whether or not they want to work at your company. This can result in them dropping out before your company even begins interviews. If you know what type of candidate you are looking for, it is best to go for it and contact them to schedule an interview immediately.
It can raise “hidden” hiring costs
The reason your hiring might take some time is because you have an excessive number of interviews. If this is the case, you’re wasting the time and money of your company, managers, and HR professionals. Your employees have other things to be working on. These “hidden” costs will go up as the time goes on during your hiring process. You can eliminate these “hidden” costs by using a technical screening service. This can help eliminate candidates who don’t have the skills or as much as experience that the position requires.
It will influence external employer image
Regardless of what industry you’re in, people talk. This is especially true when it comes to experiences with companies and their hiring process. If someone has a bad experience with you, they will tell colleagues, post on social media, and most likely won’t apply again. This can cause you to lose many top candidates and influence your brand image. For example, if a candidate is frustrated with your slow hiring process, they can go and post a negative review on Glassdoor. This can then hurt your brand image. Then the next time someone looks into your company before applying to an open position, the negative review might influence them to not apply.