The recruitment market has been buoyant over recent months and the war for talent is hotting up. 83% of business are now trading again with only 13% of the UK workforce currently furloughed, which again is set to change over the coming months as the furlough scheme tapers off. At Bond Williams we are seeing a huge increase in competition for vacancies and the pick of the best candidates and talent in the job market. With 607,000 jobs advertised between Jan-March 2021 as reported by the ONS and 25 applications per vacancy (albeit it not always perfectly suited for the roles, which creates its own internal administration challenges). Some candidates are finding they really have their pick of the jobs out there.
No employer wants to make a recruitment mistake, we all know the costs involved of getting it wrong (CIPD estimates a wrong hire could costs as much as £8,200 or £12,000 for senior Managers/Directors) but on balance taking too long to fill a vacancy, advertise, interview and make an offer can be just as detrimental and costly to your bottom line. (A simple equation would be (£Revenue normally generated by the open8 role) minus (Total renumeration for the role) divided by 365 days = The cost per day of not filling that role)! Plus you’ll lose out on the best candidates!!
With Glassdoor 2020 showing the average interview time being reported at 27½ days, that’s a lot of money! And if you need further evidence of why a succinct approach to candidates is compelling, below are some tips.
You risking losing good people and Top Talent
It’s a fact there are more roles than candidates out there, it’s a candidate driven market, not all candidates are between jobs or facing redundancy. Many will be in a position that they feel secure in especially at the moment and lose interest very quickly when companies take too long to make decisions or don’t recognise their talents. While you may desperately want them to fill your vacancy, but you risk the applicant dropping out if you fail to offer an interview or the job quickly enough. The majority of candidates won’t hang around and will wait for around a week after an interview before losing interest, applicants going through a recruitment processes of 7-14 days feel it’s too long so you will have definitely lost applicants by 27½ days! Applicants are most likely applying for multiple roles and will be in demand, if you recognise a really good fit for your vacancy, don’t delay in issuing interview dates or job offers, you may find yourself pipped to the post or involved in a bidding war and restarting the whole process again.
Delays really do damage your brand
Recruitment delays result in a loss of talent and a poorly managed recruitment process can also cause long-term damage to your brand. Applicants left hanging could take away the impression that the company is unorganised, or disinterested in its people, which doesn’t bode well for word-of-mouth reputations and the prospect of the applicant ever applying again or even becoming a customer is unlikely.
Productivity, Wellbeing and the bottom line all take a hit
Dragging out the recruitment process leaves a vacancy unfilled, work not getting done and pressure on others to cover, which could create an even bigger recruitment and mental health and wellbeing issue. Existing employees may leave due to stress, under-resourcing etc, increasing further open vacancies not to mention the impact on productivity and the bottom line.
How do you overcome a slow recruitment process?
Look at where you are at now, dig into the data, measure and monitor each step of the recruitment process to identify pinch points. You can’t move forward if you don’t know where you are.
Metrics to consider could include:-
- Time between a resignation or signing of on a new open vacancy and placing an advert or instructing an agency
- Time between the application deadline and a shortlist of candidates
- Time between first and second round of interviews
- Time between identifying the preferred applicant and the job offer
- Time between the job offer and start date
- Overall Time to Hire
- Cost of that role unfilled daily
Once you have identified the delays and pinch points you can divert resources accordingly in order to improve the process or review the current system you have in place. With 5 specialist recruitment divisions you could also look to specialist recruitment agencies such as Bond Williams Professional Recruitment with over 250 years of recruitment experience across the team. We will already have a head start on the process and can quickly market your opportunities to a relevant candidate pool who are actively or passively looking……. or even look to headhunt for you, accurately matching and streamlining the job of short-listing and decreasing that time to hire ensuring you do secure your Top Talent.
Bond Williams, going the extra mile – valuing relationships with clients and candidates. See www.bondwilliams.co.uk to see how we can help you improve that time to hire today!
