How to hire more time efficient

Let’s take a moment to talk about something important: The time consumption and efficiency of your hiring processes. Time-to-hire and time-to-fill are a couple of the most important recruitment metrics. It calculates how quickly (or slowly) you can find, pick and hire the best possible candidate. It’s a great indicator of your recruiting performance.

Analyzing and optimizing time consumption is not only of great importance because time equals money, but also because too slow (and actually way too fast) processes probably mean you’re doing something wrong. And most importantly: research shows that 57% of candidates will lose interest if the hiring process is lengthy.

Time to hire & Time to fill

Time-to-hire equals the time it takes from the moment the candidate entered your pipeline, to the moment the candidate signed. It gives you valuable indications about your candidate process.

Time-to-fill equals the time it takes from when your job post goes live to the moment the best candidate accepts your offer. This metric will also offer insights about your candidate process, while at the same time give you valuable indications about the attractiveness of your role, job ad, job description, outreach process etc.

According to LinkedIn research, time-to-hire is a “north star” metric, when it comes to evaluating hiring success.

The average time-to-hire differs between industries, where technical roles are the most time consuming, according to LinkedIn.

Average time-to-hire

  • Engineering – 49d
  • Research – 48d
  • Project Management – 47d
  • Business Development – 46d
  • Finance – 46d
  • Information technology – 44d
  • Management – 41d
  • Marketing – 40d
  • Health care provider – 40d
  • Human Resources – 39d
  • Design – 39d
  • Sales – 38d
  • Accounting/Auditing – 37d
  • Customer Service – 34d
  • Administrative – 33d

Source: LinkedIn

The time consumption of technical roles is not all and only about the lack of good candidates, but also because they in general require a larger screening and interviewing effort. Having a diverse aspect of the processes will also, often, make it more time-consuming. The longer the process takes, the larger the chance of candidate dropouts becomes.

How to optimize time to hire

Optimizing recruitment processes is crucial for overall success. However, it's important not to compromise on quality or diversity in the pursuit of efficiency. Achieving fast, smooth, and qualified hiring is indeed an art form. There are several methods to reduce the time spent on hiring, and we've identified two that work really well and are particularly effective:

  • Automating key tasks
  • Having a proactive approach

Automating key tasks

Key recruitment tasks to automate for a faster hiring process and significant time savings:

  • Automate the identification of relevant candidates for your current job openings.
  • Automate the monitoring of top candidates for key roles.
  • Automate engagement with relevant candidates to build a robust talent pool.
  • Automate your job application screening to swiftly filter out the best candidates.

Automating these four crucial areas can lead to significant time savings.

While there are many excellent tools and ATS software available, few encompass all these tasks simultaneously. Recognizing this gap, we at HiCareer have dedicated ourselves to developing a comprehensive solution that addresses these specific needs. Learn more.

Proactive approach

Building, maintaining and nurturing a qualified candidate pipeline is one of the most efficient ways of mastering the art of great recruiting processes. By doing so, when a role emerges, you have already picked out ideal candidates for your business ahead, releasing pressure from the find and attract stage of your process.

You can accomplish this manually through social sourcing, webinars, events, contacts, networks, or by staying alert and observant. However, to save time, consider upgrading to automated solutions that cater to your candidate needs. HiCareer has developed specialized solutions for precisely this purpose, enabling you to effectively track the candidates you require. For more information about our automated search and matchmaking services with candidates, visit our employer page.

Why is time to hire important?

It's an old saying that might sound cliché, but it remains true: time equals money. To minimize costs, you need to reduce time.

Even more crucial is the candidate's experience. Smooth, efficient processes that aren't overly lengthy can significantly help in maintaining candidate interest and enthusiasm for your brand and opportunities. If a candidate secures a position with your company, the recruitment process will be their first interaction with you, shaping their perception of you as an employer.

Published: Jan 24, 2023