Effective strategy for improving slow hiring at workplace

In a report, the US Department of Labor stated that a bad hire costs a company 30 percent of the candidate’s annual salary. This was just for entry-level jobs, with the report stating that the cost was way higher for senior-level positions. Cost is one of many problems associated with having a bad hiring strategy. A bad hire also means the company is understaffed, which means fewer employees doing more work. This reduces the efficiency of the overall organization. This problem is further compounded when companies have few resources and the hiring process can be faster.

This indicates how important it is to have a robust hiring mechanism. In the absence of this, companies are left affected by the recurring cost of hiring. This cost can further increase when it involves training of some kind for the employee. Another report from Germany found that companies were losing over €50000 on over 29 per cent of the hires they made in 2022.

However, while we have established that bad hiring policies combined with slow hiring strategies are detrimental to a company’s growth, few people understand what it actually means.

What constitutes a slow and bad hiring strategy?

Improper job description 

A survey by Glassdoor found that 52 per cent of employees stated that they would likely apply for a company if they found the job description qualitative. Another research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 60 percent of employees started an application but didn’t complete it because they found the job description confusing or poorly written.

Job descriptions that are vague and do not clearly mention the requirements, pay, and responsibilities usually deter employees from applying to a company. Even in cases where these details are mentioned, it can be confusing due to a lack of additional details, such as specific skills needed.

Also Read: What are the critical DEIB Questions for Talent Acquisition Teams

Lack of miscommunication among the stakeholders 

One of the key reasons why the recruitment process is slow and cumbersome is because of the delay in every step of the hiring. This includes the screening process of CVs, conducting interviews, and communicating the results to the successful candidates. In fact, delays in even one step of this process can have disastrous consequences for the company.

According to a report from the SHRM companies in the United States, filling a vacancy took an average of 36 days. This is already a long time and drains resources for the company even if it is successful. This cost is further increased when the hiring process has to be done repeatedly due to inefficient processes.

Also Read: Create Interview Guide: Key Tips for Effective Hiring

Hiring candidates not fit for the company’s culture 

Every company in the world has a specific culture, whether it is healthy or unhealthy. A reason why companies have a slow hiring process is that companies only hire employees who might be skilled and talented but might not be a good fit for the culture and ethos of the company. At the end of the day, we must understand that no matter how good an employee is, they also need to have other skills such as teamwork and communication.

Companies need to hire people who also recognize the values and ethos of the company they are working for. This company should not overemphasize skills alone but also look out for other skills, such as adaptability, teamwork, and cohesion.

Also Read: Hire for Character: Why It Matters in Recruitment

Improper screening process

Where does the hiring process start? It’s at the stage where the recruiters start to screen CVs. So, no matter how good a candidate is, if there is an improper screening process there is a chance they might get rejected despite the fact that they might be the worthy candidates for the role.

This is only the first step; there could also be loopholes in other areas, such as skill tests, background, and reference checks. In addition, the skill test often ends up asking questions that may be unnecessary for the required role. 

Also Read: What is Job Analysis? A Guide to Effective Hiring and Recruitment

Insufficient resources 

One of the biggest reasons companies have a slow hiring process is the lack of manpower in the recruiting department. As mentioned earlier, bad hiring ends up costing a company both time and money. If the recruiting department is understaffed, then the hiring pressure becomes even greater.

However, if a company does not have the required number of interviewees, the process will be stalled. A report by  Korn Ferry found that by 2030, unfilled roles among companies could cause a loss of revenue of $8.5 trillion, which shows how important it is for companies to have adequate recruiters.

Also Read: Inclusive Language in Hiring: Strategies for a Fairer Workplace

Ignoring Real Life skills 

It is not a secret that people with good educational qualifications and impeccable skills in CVs are likely to get past the screening stage of the recruitment process. While this approach may be efficient in the initial years of an employee’s career, eventually, the skills of the candidate must be evaluated rather than what is mentioned in the CV. 

Let’s take the role of software developer as an example. Any person in this career will initially have to spend most of their time writing and evaluating codes for the product they are developing. However, sooner or later, they are going to be promoted to roles that will require them to perform managerial duties. In this scenario, it will be skills that are outside of their CV that are important. However, companies fail to realize this, and more often than not, they delve into the CV in pursuit of what they perceive as the perfect candidates.

Also Read: Charthops Approach: Enhance Candidate Experience in Hiring

Steps to avoid slow hiring 

Use recruitment automation tools

One of the ways companies can massively improve the recruitment process is to adopt automation tools. The entire recruitment process includes certain areas which are boring and cumbersome. Doing so for a long time can cause any human to become inefficient. However, this is where companies are now leveraging the use of automation tools such as Application Tracker Systems (ATS) and conversational intelligence software.

Using such tools allows the recruiters to focus on the important parts of the recruitment process, such as the interview. In addition, this will also allow recruiters to form policies that will make the hiring process more efficient. A report by Deloitte stated that using automated tools decreases the hiring time by over 75 per cent as it can go through over 100 CVs within seconds.

Also Read: Hiring Success Framework: Key Strategies for Effective Recruitment

Create a strong potential candidate list 

In every vacancy, the number of unselected candidates will always be several times more than the number of selected candidates. And this is where recruiters can create a huge database of candidates that were unselected. This pool can be of great use in the future or when the company has to do an emergency hiring. Having a database also allows the recruiter to have a strong connection network that they can leverage to their advantage.

In addition, companies should also form a strong referral policy. Under this scheme, employees should be provided monetary benefits as an incentive if the candidate that was recommended gets the job. This policy will also ensure that employees refer candidates who are suitable for the role, which will greatly reduce the workload of the recruiter, who will have a pool of candidates at their hand who have the skills and are willing to work at the organization.

Also Read: Availability Heuristic: Causes, Merits, Demerits and how it affects interview

Use data to improve the hiring process

Every hiring is not just hiring but also a data point. Combining various hiring creates a treasure trove of data that companies can use to improve their slow hiring process. Thai data can also be quantified into several metrics that can help present a better picture. Some of these metrics are as follows:

• Time-to-fill: It calculates the number of days it takes an organization to fill a role after the vacancy has been posted.
• Time-to-Hire: This metric calculates the time between the first meeting with the candidate and the time they accepted the offer.
• Cost-per-hire: This measures the money it costs an organization to complete a hiring.
• Offer Acceptance Rate: It measures the percentage of candidates that accepted the offer letter after being issued one.
• Turnover Rate: This measures the number of people who leave the company after a certain period, usually a year.

These metrics are a great way to see whether the company’s hiring policy is taking it in the right direction or not.

Also Read: Dunning-Kruger effect: Definition, causes and how to counter it

Create a framework for accelerated decision-making

As we have mentioned earlier, one of the reasons for a slow hiring process is the lack of miscommunication among the various stakeholders within the company, which slows down the process. So, how to make the process faster? 

One of the first steps a company can take is to divide the entire recruitment process into different parts, such as screening CVs, scheduling interviews, conducting interviews, conducting interview debriefing, and finally deciding which candidates to select. Each of these parts should then be assigned a deadline allowing the hiring stakeholders to make an accelerated decision. 

Also Read: What is the Pareto Principle and why is it important ?

How BarRaiser helps in improving slow hiring 

As mentioned earlier in the article, several parts of the recruitment process are boring and monotonous that can lead to 

This is where we present to you BarRaiser, a state-of-the-art AI-based interview assistant that will take the quality of your hiring to the next level. With BarRaiser, recruiters can create a detailed interview plan for candidates. The interviewer can give specific instructions to our AI bot to create an interview, such as:

• The questions for the interview 
• The number of rounds for the interview 
• The duration of the interview and its specific sub-parts 
• The number of parts that the interview must be divided into and their durations 
• Must have questions 
• The number of experience required for the job posting 
• Must have skills
• Additional Skills 

Using these instructions, our tool will create a Structured interview format to ensure an unbiased candidate selection process.

After this, our Ai interview copilot assists the interviewer by giving them specific instructions. For example, if the interview exceeds the time limit, the AI bot will send an alert to the recruiter to speed up the process. In addition, we are also committed to making our process as unbiased as possible. This is why our AI transcribes and records every interview and immediately raises an alert if the recruiter uses language that might be considered discriminatory to the candidate. 

After the interview, the AI asks for a detailed review of the candidate from the interviewer. We believe that our tool is an assistant and not the decision maker, so it formulates answers only after receiving instructions from the interviewer. While this is happening, the AI is also creating another report that measures the recruiter’s effectiveness and their performance. This report acts as a check and balance to ensure accountability for every stakeholder involved in the recruitment process.

Using BarRaiser, we guarantee Quality hiring that will bolster Diversity and inclusion. BarRaiser is the best AI Interview platform that features Structured interviews and tools to ensure quality hiring while eliminating recruitment bias. With BarRaiser’s support, you’ll be well-equipped to build a strong team of sales associates who will drive sales and deliver exceptional customer service.