Interviewing, vetting, and hiring candidates who offer the skills and experience you need while complementing your company’s culture is a long process. You want to make sure that you hire talented executives. You also want to avoid bringing in the wrong people since doing so can cause serious problems. Given those concerns, it’s understandable that you’d want take a slow and cautious approach to the hiring process. background checks
The problem is, making slow decisions can hurt your organization in a number of ways. Worse, some of them are less than obvious. This article will outline several issues that a prolonged hiring process will introduce. You’ll also learn how industry-specific search firms, such as engineering recruiters, can expedite the process, and thus minimize the adverse effects of taking a slow approach.
You’ll Lose High-Value, In-Demand Candidates
Talented executives, once they start searching for new positions, usually receive attention from multiple employers. Their experience, background, and leadership competence are in demand and highly valued. If you invite them for interviews, but fail to make a quick decision regarding whether to hire them, they are likely to accept offers elsewhere.
When talented prospects accept offers from your competitors, your organization loses out on the value they would have otherwise contributed. Conversely, your competitors gain a valuable asset.
Your Company’s Reputation Will Suffer
If your organization routinely makes slow hiring decisions, it will eventually gain a reputation for doing so. That imposes a hidden cost.
Managers and high-level executives are known for making fast decisions. That’s a common leadership trait. When such candidates realize that a company is slow to hire, they often assume that the same slow pace is reflected throughout the organization. Because the pace is inconsistent with their fast decision-making, they’re likely to dismiss the company’s overtures and decline its offers. That will adversely impact your competitiveness for attracting talented performers.
Your Company’s Productivity Will Decline
Most hiring managers track a “time to fill” metric. This metric reflects the average number of days a position remains open. If the number of days that a position stays open exceeds the organization’s average time-to-fill, it can negatively affect the company’s productivity.
Consider a position that is expected to generate $1,000,000 in revenue per year. A common assumption is that the organization will save money because it does not have to pay a salary until the position is filled. But assuming the salary is much lower than the anticipated revenue, the company is actually losing money each day the position remains vacant.
In addition, longstanding open positions indicate that the organization’s current staff is absorbing more work than it should. That can have an adverse effect on the quality of its performance.