Is Your Hiring Velocity Negatively Impacted by Recruiting Process Constraints? 

Is Your Hiring Velocity Negatively Impacted by Recruiting Process Constraints? 

Have you deployed multiple recruiting tools and resources to speed hiring with little to show for it? If so, you likely have some constraints within your recruiting process that are negatively impacting your hiring velocity. Here are some of the common causes for these constraints that impede hiring velocity and success.

Weak Job Details

The basis of any good search starts with a comprehensive intake meeting. This should be a robust conversation between the hiring manager and the recruiter. The goal is for the hiring manager to provide the insights to the recruiter which are necessary to help identify AND screen potential candidates. Sadly, many hiring managers struggle to transfer their knowledge and experience. 

To make matters worse, many recruiters don’t know how to interview or lack the interrogatory skills to understand the job, its purpose in the organization, and the key aspects that would make a candidate ideal (or not). The key is to be able to tell a story to a potential candidate in order to convert the recruitment outreach to a conversation, and then to be able to determine if the candidate is not just good enough to get an interview but is good enough to get an offer.

Poor Candidate Screening

If your intake details are weak, then it is sort of like trying to build a house with a napkin sketch instead of a blueprint. Other than a blind squirrel finding a nut every once in a while, it is nearly impossible for a recruiter to identify a top candidate without solid intake notes. If you have good requirements, then screening candidates should be easier. It’s not a given, though. Knowing how to interview candidates not just for technical skills is a key skill set of a great recruiter. Without those skills the number of interview iterations will likely increase, which means more time and a lower interview-to-offer ratio.

Poor Communication by Hiring Manager 

This is a big one. We are often asked to engage on searches. We gather the information, identify and screen the candidates, and then we get those resumes submitted to the hiring manager and then (insert the sound of crickets). Yeah, weird, the hiring manager says they need people, and you get them candidates and they ghost you, despite numerous follow ups. 

Or, also frequent, is the “not a fit” feedback. Yeah, that’s not super helpful. Specific and detailed feedback and a dialogue with your recruiter is critical. Sometimes details are missed in the intake meeting and other times the requirements evolve, which leads to more iterations in the recruitment process, which leads to more time and a negative impact on hiring velocity. Details are important, as well as the timeliness of the feedback.

Complicated Interview Process

Let me get the elephant in the room out on the table. THERE IS NO PERFECT INTERVIEW PROCESS! It doesn’t exist. It’s a unicorn. So, we often see companies employ an interview process that resembles an obstacle course often seen at those fancy dog shows. It has lots of hoops, and turns, and ramps, and interesting obstacles. These are great, but if it takes you forever to administer the process it’ll put a choke hold on your hiring process. I’m a big fan of proper vetting, but if the vetting process takes longer than two or three weeks then you have a protracted process and you’ll likely lose candidates to other opportunities. This leads to more iterations, and that means more time. The more time your job is open the more it is costing you and your employer (in time and frustration).