Time to hire - how long should it take?

Did you know it takes on average, 68 days for employers to fill a position?

In addition to that, according to Indeed, candidates take 82 days on average to search for a role.

Let’s add to the mix that Australia’s unemployment rate is trending at 5%.

What does this all mean?

It’s becoming a candidate market and it appears the longer you take in the hiring process, the less chance you have of securing quality talent as another organisation will snap them up.

This is the perfect time for you to tighten up your hiring practices and focus on the candidate experience.

I recently spoke to an executive level candidate who said that after the interview, he hadn’t heard anymore about the opportunity and had to chase feedback himself a few weeks later. They wanted to move forward with him, but he declined as he felt their slow time to hire was a reflection on their business agility.

On the flip side, you don’t want to move too quickly otherwise the candidate will feel you’re just plugging a hole and you won’t have an opportunity to do your due diligence to ensure they’re the correct fit.

So how long should it take?

This depends on the seniority of the role; however, my general recommendations are:

• From the first touch point which is usually a phone call, securing an interview within 5 days

• If it’s just the one interview then taking a few more days to do background checking, verbally offer and get the contract to the candidate

• If it’s several interviews, then ideally you want the second interview to be within a working week – any longer and the candidate may lose engagement and be attracted to another opportunity

I often find the delay in scheduling interviews is due to the decision makers availability to meet candidates. A great strategy is to decide upon a recruitment timetable up front with all the stakeholders so you’re not going back and forth checking diary availability. Of course, sometimes last-minute meetings come up but generally speaking this should work.

I’d love to hear if you have any other suggestions for minimising your time to hire – let us know!

Be Fabulous.

Lisa