Hire Smart. Hire Fast.
If you are in the hiring game, time is of the essence. If a candidate is ready to make a move and their resume looks promising to you, chances are it looks promising to some of your hiring competitors as well. Rushing and skipping steps in the hiring process puts you at a higher risk of the dreaded "bad hire." But delaying even one week can make a difference about whether that “A Player” joins your team or lands a job elsewhere.
What would it look like to have a “fast but thorough” hiring process?
All promising candidates contacted within 48 hours. Whether your first step is a phone screen or an in-person interview, if their resume looks good, contact them immediately to get the first step scheduled. This gets the candidate engaged in your process quickly and lets them know you are interested.
Be prepared to stack the interview. If you normally do a two-step in-person interview process, is there a way to consolidate that into one longer interview? If a candidate is asking for a half day off of work to come to your interview, make the most of it! Or do the first interview via phone or Zoom at a time that is convenient for them and the second interview in person but make it slightly longer. A sample structure might look like this: HR & Manager interview candidate for one hour, followed by a tour of the business shop/offices. Then a 45-minute team interview. Instead of making the process two separate days, stack it!
Tell the candidate about your timeline and next steps. Let the candidate know what more needs to happen before your decision will be made. And let them know an approximate timeline for that decision. For example, “We still have a few more candidates to interview before we make a decision, but this interview went very well, and we would like to start the reference check process. Monica will reach out to you to collect your references. We hope to make a decision about who is moving forward by Friday.”
Ask about their timeline. Assuming the interview went well, find out about where the candidate is at with his/her job search. “We understand that you may be interviewing with other employers. Do you mind sharing with us if you are at the final stages of the interview process with anyone else?” Next ask, “If you get another offer before we’ve made our decision, would you be willing to let us know?”
Be an “Open Book.” If it’s an entry level position where you’ve had a lot of experience hiring for that role and you know a good candidate when you see one, trust your instincts. If the interview gave all indicators of success, you may want to consider a close to the interview that goes something like this: “Joe, this interview went very, very well. My sense is that you could be a great fit for our team. We are going to get started on your references immediately and, hopefully, we will be able to present an offer by the end of the week.”
The narrower the “playing field,” the more quickly you’ll need to move. Shipping Associates are often made on-the-spot offers. By contrast, a candidate for a Controller position may be on the market a little longer. Construction workers, CDL drivers, repair technicians, mechanics, etc., are often gone within days. The next time you hire, ask yourself: How can I move through this process just a little more quickly?