Most companies struggle with a recruitment process that is too slow. Moreover, many of them do not realize how serious the negative impact of slow hiring is on business development. John Sullivan, a respected consultant in the field of HR and currently a professor of management at San Francisco State University, writes about this in his latest article on ERE.net. He explains that company losses associated with the often neglected "time-to-fill" metric are tenfold higher compared to the popular "cost-per-hire". Therefore, he compiled a list of the twelve most fundamental negative impacts of slow hiring and advises why to avoid them.
1. You will lose the best candidates
In a competitive environment, speed plays a crucial role. The best candidates will not wait for weeks for your answer.
2. Slow hiring does not increase the quality of employees
You might think that if you wait, you can get more information and find better employees. The opposite is true. The longer you wait, the more quality applicants will lose interest in your job offer.
3. You will lose money and productivity
If you think you will save by leaving a position unoccupied for several months, think again. Try to calculate how much you will lose in productivity, innovation and the company's profit.
4. You will have to offer a higher salary
The longer your recruitment process takes, the more competitors will be able to reach out to your potential employees with a better offer. You will have no other option than to increase the initial offer.
5. Reputation of slow-hiring will discourage the best people
Your recruitment process gives job applicants a clear idea of what working for you would be like. If candidates start to spread the word that your recruitment process takes too long, that reputation will discourage the best people.
6. Fewer job seekers will apply
Slow hiring will damage your employer brand. Negative comments will spread very quickly, especially through social networks. Not only the best but also the average will stop applying for your jobs.
7. You will lose the battle for the very best candidates
If you take too long to decide, you will lose the ability to compete with your competition for the best of the best. The performance of your competition will grow rapidly, while yours will decrease.
8. You will lose good recruiters and managers
Managers do not want to wait months for new employees. Similarly, good recruiters do want to work for a company with a slow, bureaucratic recruitment process where they cannot use their skills.
9. You will damage your employees and customers
Positions that remain vacant for a long time put pressure on both your employees and customers. Try to calculate how much money it costs you.
10. You will not attract even passive candidates
You might think that the best potential employees are working for someone else and you should wait for them to decide they want to work for you. That is why you will be waiting until they start actively looking for a new job and even then you will react slowly. You can't headhunt anybody this way.
11. Your "hidden" costs will grow
These are costs that are not usually included in the "cost-per-hire" metric. They include unnecessary and unproductive time spent by your recruiters, managers and employees. The must spend time dealing with low value-added aspects of recruitment (too many employees participating in interviews, too many interviews, too many long interviews, etc.).
12. Measuring only time is not enough
The actual number of days needed to fill a position can be a very misleading metric. Apart from the speed, quality should be measured as well.
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