What hinders your hiring process the most? In the last few years, we’ve seen many different transitions, obstacles, and events outside of our own organization and control that most professionals would point to as the biggest hinderance on their hiring. This includes the pandemic, mass movement to working remotely, followed by a return to office mandates, inflated salaries, the list goes on. But something we rarely talk about is looking inward to our own team to see what is in our control and presents a roadblock to successful hiring. With restructuring and layoffs becoming more common, effective hiring decisions are going to either make or break success in this job market.
One issue we see most often is speed in decision making. Some organizations will require four or five steps while interviewing one candidate, and this often slows down the process due to scheduling difficulties. Some teams will interview one candidate and then leave them on hold while pursuing another candidate, other teams will take time to deliberate on their choice while trying to also shoulder their additional day-to-day responsibilities. This is where we see candidates finding other positions and dropping out of the process, sometimes requiring the process to start over again with someone new, or teams come to realize someone wasn’t a good fit initially and have to reject them after weeks of interviewing.
Another hurdle we see is hiring teams not having access to all the resources needed to efficiently work through the process. Human Resources or a team manager will sometimes be directed to spearhead the process, working through an ATS system to manage too many (or too few) applications, and maybe even actively searching for a professional that will fit all the requirements. If you are balancing all your other work (as most of the teams we work with are), this can become a daunting task. What tools do you use? How much do you spend to hunt down the right candidate? How much time do you dedicate in your day to fill the position?
If you solely rely on an internal hiring team, you might find some of these challenges more impactful than other teams who utilize staffing or recruiting firms. We work with teams every day that turn to us to cut through the noise and bring them quality candidates so they can get back to the work that keeps their company running. We manage the process for our clients; we efficiently book the appointments on their calendars and manage the process, from sourcing, screening, facilitating the interview process, references checking, and background checking.
