Great Tips to Speed Up Your Candidate Search

When you need new people to do the job in your company, you need them quickly. Unfortunately, recruiting and hiring people takes time. More than a third of companies take up to a month to hire. That’s not only a long time, it can be risky in this economic environment. The employment picture is brighter than it’s been in a long time. As a result, the most talented candidates get offers fast. If your company takes longer than others to hire, the best candidates may already have been snapped up by the time you offer them the job.

The good news is, though, that you can speed up your candidate search using these 4 great tips.

1. Build a hiring network

The fastest recruiters have a hiring network already in place. When a job needs to be filled, they can reach out quickly for candidates.

  • Employee referral. One way of doing this is to create an employee referral system. It’s often a good idea to have friends, family, and acquaintances of current good employees working for your company. If your current employees know of people who might want a job with your firm, have an employee referral system in place and maintained.
  • Post to internal candidates. The second method is to publicize job openings to current employees. If a current good worker is qualified, putting him or her in place is quicker than hiring an external candidate.
  • Hire temporary employees. The third method is to hire temporary employees. Most temps can be brought on quickly through a staffing agency. If they are good and reliable, you can make them permanent. If not, or if you need fewer workers, there is no obligation to you.

2. Limit the number of people interviewed

Interviews are time-consuming for human resources departments and hiring managers. The fewer people interviewed, the quicker the candidate search will be.

In general, it’s usually enough to interview 3 to 5 people for an open position. Many companies interview 5 to 10.

3. Review resumes and applications quickly

It’s a good idea to place a time limit on reviewing resumes and applications. One week is a good time to shoot for. If it goes longer, the hiring process will lengthen.

If high quality resumes and applications come in after that, add them to your hiring network. They can be contacted immediately the next time a similar position becomes open.

4. Screen candidates during the interview time frame

Many companies do background checks and call references after a decision has been made to hire a candidate. However, this can add up to a week to the candidate search process.

If these screenings are done as candidates are interviewed, the search process will be quicker. This can also, of course, alert you to any issues with a candidate’s background.

How a Staffing Agency Can Help

A staffing agency can help in every part of the candidate search process. We can help you make it as speedy as possible. We can provide temporary employees, conduct screening interviews, review resumes, and perform background and reference checks quickly.

We’re happy to help. Contact us today.