How to Speed Up a Hiring Cycle by 50% or More

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The average hiring cycle has risen sharply in the past few years (from 13 days to over 23 days). Some positions take even longer—2 months or more to make a hire. All of this lost time slows down team momentum and actually leads to a sloppier hiring process, not a more careful one. Not only that, many of the top job candidates are off the market in 10 days or less. Companies that take a long time to hire are depriving themselves of the best talent in the industry.

This year, aim to slash the hiring time by 50%. Here are the best ways to cut down lag time on a new hire:

Diagnose the problem areas

Start by taking a quick look at the numbers. How long did it take to hire the last 3 employees? Break down the hiring process into role creation, role approval, applicant tracking/sourcing, screening, interviewing, and extending the offer. Which takes the most time? Where can the process be sped up? Most companies lose steam in screening and interviewing candidates.hiring cycle

Plan out the hiring cycle

Set a deadline for onboarding the new hire. While most hiring cycles do not go exactly according to plan, having a deadline creates an incentive for good time management and fast responses. It is a common pitfall to subconsciously underestimate the time it takes to make the hire.

Start by coordinating the schedules of everyone involved in making the hire. Most companies try to get too many people involved in the hiring process, which can create confusion and delays. Best practice is to include the person who will be directly managing the employee, someone who can drill them on the technical skills, and preferably one team member who would be working alongside them.

If one of the hiring managers will be traveling, overloaded, or working on a complex project, consider reassessing the hiring timeline or cutting them out of the hiring process altogether. Good candidates may stick it out for a long hiring process, but most won’t.

Urgency bonus

Sometimes, a long hiring cycle happens when a manager is afraid of hiring the wrong person. This is a valid concern, because bad hires are expensive—but so is a long hiring cycle. A delayed hire can mean expensive overtime, overworked team members, missed deadlines, or even falling behind in market competitiveness.

For companies that work with recruiters (internal or external), an urgency bonus is a great incentive to keep things moving. The bonus should be enough to overcome the temptation to procrastinate, but not so big that the hiring manager is tempted to rush the hire.

Resist “Mini Me” and “Queen Bee” Syndrome

Most hiring managers want to hire someone with a similar industry background and skill mix, essentially, someone whose resume looks just like their own…minus 5 years of experience and 25% in salary, give or take. The reality is that it’s more comfortable to hire “mini me” people with a similar background, but the strongest and highest-performing teams are diverse—in strengths as well as in personality.

Mini me syndrome - hiring cycle

Avoid “mini me” syndrome in a hiring cycle. The best teams have diverse work histories.

 

The other pitfall to avoid is “queen bee” syndrome. It can be tempting to always go after the perfect candidate with the strongest career path, best leadership qualities, impeccable background, and every skill under the sun. Not only are these “queen bee” candidates rare and expensive, but they also often are not what is needed. Most teams are made up of worker bees. Resist the urge to insist on every skill, and assess what is truly needed in the role.

Training Skills and “Bend” Points

In today’s market, there is a resistance to on-the-job training at nearly every seniority level. Many hiring managers overestimate the amount of experience they need in a candidate, but they underestimate what someone can learn on the job. Keep in mind that a newly hired person is more likely to put in extra hours and extra work to close their skills gap. In many cases, hiring managers wait around for an extra 3 months for the perfect candidate, when they could have hired someone slightly less senior and trained them on the job in less time than it took to find them.

Backfills vs. New Roles

In the staffing industry, recruiters know that backfills nearly always get filled faster than newly created positions. In fact, many new roles change several times during the hiring process. Many never get filled at all. This is because backfill roles are under pressure to fill. Keep this in mind when creating a new role. It is a huge time drain to get everyone involved in a hiring project that may change three times and still take six months to fill.

Most hiring managers prefer to focus on their projects, not on drawn-out hiring cycles. Cutting down the hiring cycle time benefits everyone. It takes dedication, so set multiple milestones if necessary. By slashing wasted time in the hiring process, companies will boost morale, get on top of projects faster, and hit their goals at a better rate than the competition.

Why Customer Experience Should Matter to Recruiters

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Recently I was asked, “When you are working on a search for one of your best clients, and the resumes come to you, how quickly can you determine if it is someone your client will be interested in?”

I was honest and admitted it only took about five seconds. He gasped on the other end of the phone and asked what I do with the people who don’t cut the mustard. I told him our process was telling candidates that they are not a fit for our current role, but that I will keep their information for other opportunities and imply that we will likely have something for them in the future.

He calmed down, but pointed out that what really frustrates him is that quite a few hiring managers only look at resumes for a few seconds after many of them prolong the application process, which can take candidates multiple hours to submit. It is no longer just sending in a resume. He said it disgusts him that they are only spending five seconds looking at an application that likely took two hours to apply to.

He made a great point; it’s not a fair tradeoff. This got me thinking; are we really being fair to people who want to work for us? Candidates have spent two hours of time filling out an application for the chance to join your company, yet we are only giving them five seconds of review before we make a decision.

Today, everyone is talking about customer experience management; creating a consistent, desirable and differentiated experience across all touch-points with your organization. According to a Walker study, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and products as the key brand differentiator.

Customer Experience 2020

 

The reality is that every time you or someone in your company engages a customer, it creates an experience that they remember. A positive emotional experience anchors them to you, whereas a negative experience will encourage them to head straight to your competitor. Where are the hidden opportunities to add enough value for our customers that it begins to offset the effort they’ve expended for us, thus forging a more equitable exchange?

Big box industries say that the key is Voice of the Customer (VOC) tools like reviews and surveys. Hotel chains and software companies ask their biggest customers, “What can we do differently?” and “How did we do?”

But how do you encourage your customers to take the time to volunteer this type of feedback? You try to dangle a carrot. Entice them with a discount, money, gift card or future services. Valuable comments are only going to be offered if something is in it for them, right? Never is a customer going to say they will drop everything to give a company advice on their service. Everyone is money-driven, and everyone is time-driven.

In recruiting; we are trying to best service our clients and candidates. But rarely do recruiting firms solicit clients  to ask how they can service them better. From a recruiting perspective, a question that is always asked from our clients is, “How do you differentiate yourself?” We go into recruiter autopilot, explaining very quickly what sets us apart: “We offer a full year guarantee, access to great candidates, we are fast, and we have a winning success rate. We are available 24-7 and offer a human touch, etc.….”

Yes, these are all positive ways to set your firm apart. But are they really differentiating? Probably not.

When it comes to customer experience management how do we as recruiters better ourselves and put the client first? The answer can be applied to every business interaction, and that is:

Ask better questions.

Questions such as:

  • “What can we be doing differently?”
  • “What are you looking for from a recruiter?”
  • “Can you fill the role on your own?”
  • “What type of talent are you searching for?”
  • “Does a full-year guarantee mean anything to you?”
  • “Do you want your industry’s #1 sales player in this industry? Or do you need someone in the chair who’s capable of doing the job?”

I have learned over the years that if we ask the right questions and understand the client’s needs, we create better relationships and earn long term results.

The truth is that dangling a carrot in exchange for reviews doesn’t work. Once you have formed a relationship with them, they will offer genuine feedback and ways to help. The best way to manage your customer experience comes back to better questioning. Dig deeper. Ask questions like:

  • “What is important to you in your career?”
  • “Where do you want to be in ten years?”
  • “How will you get there and why?”

Over 90% of professionals won’t know the answers to these questions. But that is okay, because we as recruiters are here as sounding boards to help them better understand companies, industry trends, and even their own needs.

At the end of the day, the most valuable reviews come from asking the right questions. No one truly tells you how to do things differently until they are upset or realize that things went wrong.

When you think of customer experience management, are you really listening to your customer? Here at Blue Signal, we pride ourselves on asking the right questions and are always open to hearing how we can improve.

Feel free to hear our full line of questions on the client side by reaching out at [email protected] .

[Guide] Researching Job Candidates on Social Media

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Nearly three-quarters of internet users have a social media footprint, making social recruiting one of the top ways for today’s employers to fill their open positions with the best talent. The majority of employers (at least 60% as of April 2016) use social media recruiting as part of their candidate sourcing process, and many conduct additional research on candidates’ social media profiles before making a hire.

Each platform has its own nuances and advantages. Here are tips for where to look, and how to find the right information:

LinkedIn and Professional Networks:

LinkedIn social media researchLinkedIn is a treasure trove of information about a candidate’s professional life. Many professionals post blogs, articles, publications, past work, and professional updates on their pages. A vibrant LinkedIn page signals that a candidate has invested time in staying up-to-date with his or her industry and in networking with the professional community. The variety and breadth of material on a candidate’s page provides insight into their influencers and professional interests. The same principles apply to niche professional social networking sites similar to LinkedIn.

How to check them:

With the exception of premium members who opt for total privacy, all LinkedIn members have a public page that anyone can view; simply search by name and current employer. Closer connections have access to more information, but it is preferable not to send a connection request solely for the purposes of seeing more information on a candidate.

Blogs:

Nearly every job requires strong written and verbal communication skills. Hiring managers can gauge verbal skills from an in-person interview and written skills from a candidate’s thank-you note, however, the interview process mostly reflects the candidate’s communication skills under pressure. Writing samples such as professional or personal blogs reflect a more complete picture of the candidate’s written communication style. Professionally themed pieces better indicate the level of communication that a hiring manager can expect to see from the candidate during his or her employment.

Personal blogs, while not as relevant, are a valuable window into the candidate’s personality, special interests, and the kind of audience they seek to engage.

How to check them:

A simple Google search of “(Candidate name) blog” will sometimes return relevant results. If not, it is generally easiest to ask the candidate during an interview if they have a blog URL they are willing to share.

 

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more:

candidates social mediaPersonal social media profiles offer a previously unavailable window for employers to explore a candidate’s personal life. Normally, a potential employer would see only a faint glimpse of this during the interview process, filtered heavily by what the candidate chooses to reveal. Social media profiles involve far less control on the candidate’s part and can provoke a dilemma for a potential employer who may see more than they bargained for.

How to check them:

It is legal to view a candidate’s public social media profiles as part of a job search process without a waiver, but the best practice is to wait until after meeting a candidate in person and to verbally disclose that the hiring protocol includes a review of public social media channels. Why? A hiring manager and a candidate each have time to prepare themselves before an interview; a candidate deserves the same opportunity to prepare his or her social media footprint for scrutiny by a potential employer. Additionally, it adds a layer of protection against potential accusations of unfair discrimination. Proceed cautiously, and when in doubt, seek professional legal advice.

As a general rule for all social media interactions, be consistent. Use the same searches and processes for each candidate to ensure fairness, and formally document any positive or negative hiring decisions made with information gathered from a social media profile, including screenshots. The interviewing process is still the best format to judge a candidate’s fit; treat social media as an extension of the in-person interview.

Lastly, be aware that candidates conduct their own social media research on prospective employers and hiring managers. It is well worth it for hiring managers and their HR departments to consider their own social media footprint during the interview process.

 

Additional reading:

Watch out for pitfalls, risks of using social media in hiring – Read More

Employers: Social Media is Your Friend – Read More

 

Need help with your hiring process? Contact our team of executive recruiters at [email protected].

5 Tips to Write a Better Job Description

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Picture the last time you searched for a new job—you’ve grabbed your coffee and popcorn (because if you’re anything like me, you deserve a reward of caffeine and snacks for even considering this dreaded task) and you open your laptop. You begin your search with hope. You know the perfect job is out there and you are taking matters into your own hands. You type “project manager jobs” into Google and thousands of job postings come up.

After a few location filters, you start at the top of the page and work your way down. As you scroll, you’re having a hard time staying interested. “Wait, is that the same job I just saw?” “This doesn’t sound like what I thought my job title was” “What’s a ‘software ninja’?” After a few more cups of coffee and some Buzzfeed breaks, you realize that as you are going through the motions, you are nowhere closer to finding your dream job.

Is your job posting compelling enough to make candidates click on it, let alone apply?

Why do many job descriptions fail to attract top candidates? Answer: JOB POSTINGS ARE DULL.

Here are 5 tips on how to write attention-worthy job postings to interest the most sought-after candidates:

1. Make it search friendly.

In his book On Writing Well, William Zinsser says, “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn’t induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead.”

How to write a job description - Most job descriptions are boring. Do top candidates move on after they read yours?

Most job descriptions are boring. Do top candidates move on after they read yours?

With respect to Mr. Zinsser, the most important part of a job posting is the title. Without a compelling title, readers will not even click to see the first sentence. After the title, however, the first few sentences are certainly the most important part—not just to impress the candidate, but to rank well for SEO keyword searches. When creating a new job posting, it is crucial to think of it as an advertisement, not a legal document.

Choose relevant job titles and keywords. Advertising, “Software Ninja” may seem like a good way to stand out, but the post may get buried under more keyword-heavy organic searches. Elevate the title by making it searchable and pertinent. If the best job candidates can’t find the job listing, then it makes no difference whether it is great or disastrous.

The more relevant a job title and summary are, the higher they will rank in search results. This is the best way to get attention without paying for a premium spot. A great tip is to do a search on the job posting websites in the mindset of a job-hunter. Find the most common keywords and use these (as well as synonyms) to get the best visibility and search results.

2. Make it aesthetically pleasing.

Advertisements are intended to sell something. Job postings sell the company and the available position. The better the ad, the better candidates it attracts. Think about what attracts candidates to job advertisements—they need to be aesthetically pleasing, compelling, and thought-provoking. Include logos, links, videos, and imagery where appropriate. It is not enough to just dust off an old job description from 10 years ago! Times (and technology) have changed. In order to see the best results, producing the best and most current job description is crucial.

3. Prioritize the most important must-haves and tasks in the job description.

Although this seems obvious, it’s the biggest pitfall. Many job descriptions make a good job sound like slave labor. Every good employee understands that they will sometimes need to take on tasks that were not listed in the original job description, so it’s unnecessary to list off a dozen possible side responsibilities. Avoid scaring off a potential top candidate by overdoing it the “must-haves.” A long laundry list of tasks gives little perception into what is most important, and it can make good people wary of what they’re signing up for. Target the top five or six pivotal responsibilities of the position and focus on those.

how to write a job description - list of must haves

4. Know why your company is great. Advertise culture and benefits.

Show some personality! In a Glassdoor survey, 76% of job seekers said they wanted details on what makes a company an attractive place to work. Use the job description to answer this question. While the primary focus should be on using clear and concise language, try to give applicants a sense of the company’s fun side. Company culture does not need to be outrageously unique, but convey it with enough precision to stand out from the pack of generic descriptions. The right position at the wrong company can make a new hire walk right back out the door, which costs the company time and money.

5. Optimize for mobile.

How to Write a Job Description - Mobile OptimizationIn today’s job market, a job listing that does not work on mobile is missing out on more than half of the potential candidates. Americans are more connected than ever before, and job seekers are looking for convenience.

Make sure that the job posting is mobile-responsive and friendly to all devices from smartphones and tablets to laptops and traditional office computers.

A job posting is the company’s version of a resume. A great job description will encourage more qualified candidates to apply by getting them excited about the position. Accelerate the hiring process by following these tips.

3 Reasons Good Candidates Can Give Bad Interviews

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The cost of a bad hire is substantial, sometimes up to three times the employee’s annual salary. The interview process is one of the only sources of information for an employer during the hiring process. Unfortunately, it is not a foolproof way to judge a candidate’s fit.

Interviewing and job performance often use totally different skill sets. Sometimes a terrible candidate interviews very well. Good candidates sometimes give bad interviews. It can be difficult to tell the difference. Look for these signs that the candidate may be a good employee who gave a weak interview:

 

1.  The candidate has not interviewed in years.

When companies are filling a permanent role, they generally want someone stable with a history of long-term commitment to employers. Committed job candidates can easily go 10 years or more between interviews. Even if they are highly qualified and experienced, their interviewing style may be lackluster or outdated purely due to lack of practice.

What to do: Keep in mind that a candidate who interviews extremely well could be a serial interviewer. Target specific accomplishments, tasks, action items that the candidate can prove from past roles. Be wary of candidates who love to talk theory and buzzwords but cannot back them up with quantifiable achievements.

good candidates, bad interviews - candidate is nervous

2.   Interviewing skills are not the same as job skills.

For most jobs, interviewing is an entirely different skillset than the skills necessary to do the job. Some candidates have outstanding experience and qualifications, but they may not be able to sell themselves as well as a routine job-hopper/interviewer. In people-oriented or customer-facing jobs, candidates should have strong interviewing and communication skills. People in technical roles with low interaction may have less experience with the complex communication skills that come into play during an interview.

What to do: Keep in mind that interviewing well is not the same as performing well, especially for roles that are technical in nature. Focus on the actual job qualifications and look for measurable past achievements that demonstrate good job performance.

 

 3.  The candidate is nervous.

Many interviewees have trouble relaxing and accessing their long-term memory during an interview, even with dedicated preparation ahead of time. A candidate may feel nervous because they are sincerely excited about the job opportunity and want to perform well in the interview.

Sometimes a candidate may just be having a bad day despite their efforts to put their best foot forward. There may have been terrible traffic on the drive to the interview or a stressful event in their personal life. While it is important for a candidate to put aside their emotions and focus on the job, the reality is that life sometimes throws difficulties in the way.

What to do: Recognize that an interview is a highly artificial conversation, and that everyone involved has a lot at stake. In the first few minutes of the interview, set the tone of the interview with a few open-ended, easy questions. It is worth spending a few minutes putting a nervous candidate at ease if it means getting excellent answers later in the interview and making the right hire.

 

True warning signs of a bad employee:

Analyze poor or bad interviews carefully. Not all interviewing mistakes are due to nervousness. Watch out for these red flags, which indicate pervasive character problems:Blog - good candidates bad interviews - bad mouthing

Bad-mouthing
There is no excuse for belittling colleagues, employers, or even company initiatives during an interview.

Inappropriate or rude jokes
Candidates who cannot or will not respect professional boundaries are a dangerous liability.

No goals 
Some candidates stumble depending on how the question is asked, but if a person cannot give any concrete goals or plans for the future, they likely struggle with motivation.

Complaining, whining, negativity
Everyone runs into difficulties and stress at some point in their careers, but if a candidate cannot set aside their past grievances for even an hour while interviewing, they are probably a chronic complainer.

Playing the victim
Some people truly have been victimized in past jobs, but be wary of candidates who refuse to take responsibility for past mistakes or failures.

Selfishness, focused on stuff and benefits
Money and benefits are important but should not dominate an interview. An interview should focus on whether a candidate and employer are a good fit for each other.

Defensive or argumentative responses
This shows a lack of respect for authority and an unwillingness to take criticism.

Dishonesty and “white lies”
A candidate who is dishonest during an interview will continue the behavior after getting the job. Do not put the company at risk of a liability issue due to dishonest behavior.

 

One final tip:

Ensure that the company’s hiring process is designed to attract top talent. Hiring managers are more likely to make a bad hiring decision when they are rushed, under-prepared, or untrained in interviewing skills. Bad hiring processes lead to bad hires, which are expensive and damaging to morale. The hiring manager guides the interview, not the interviewee. Be prepared.

After making a hire, give the employee the tools to succeed right away. Managers who leave new hires to fend for themselves will miss the chance to start new employees on the right foot.

 

For more advice on interviewing effectively, contact us at [email protected].