As a recruiter, whether that be a company or an agency, as soon as you start dialogue with a prospective candidate / employee, you have effectively started the candidates countdown clock. The 'time' will tick down for two things - loss of interest and more importantly in a candidate driven market, another company getting there first!
The time you take with prospective candidates is directly proportional to the amount of candidates that you successfully recruit. If you are quick and responsive you will get them, if you are slow, with no sense of urgency, then you will lose candidates to other competitors - and that is simply unforgivable!!
I am sure you have all heard the phrases "if you snooze you lose" , "time kills deals" and "do it now" . There isn't any other industry that these apply to more than recruitment. If you wait that extra hour, day or even week to get back to candidates or prospective employees then you will lose them, simple as that, so when you have decided on making that offer or inviting a candidate for an interview, please remember three words....do it now!!
As we know, good candidates can be like gold dust, so why treat them any different? Would you let gold dust slip through your fingers? - of course you wouldn't. So why do companies continue to let talent slip through their fingers? They believe that they can abuse the time clock and let time tick away before they either arrange that interview or make that offer. I am sure that they feel that candidates only want to work for their company and that they won't look anywhere else, therefore allowing them to take all the time they want!! If that is the approach taken ( and as we all know it is not uncommon), it just shows their two main traits - arrogance and ignorance! They just don't deserve to recruit the best if they behave that way!!
Every single day, we recruiters come across this problem, and the amazing thing is that companies just don't seem to learn from their mistakes!
So my ten tips for companies are:
1. Remember there are other companies and other jobs out there.
2. Good candidates always have three or four offers on the table, so time is of the essence.
3. Candidates just won't wait your you to pontificate, make a decision either way.
4. Candidates will judge you on your response times - they will be comparing you with the others.
5. Have a quick and efficient, yet structured interview process - good candidates respect this.
6. Don't take one week (or longer) to give CV / interview feedback, give it as soon as possible.
7. If your line manager is slow - give them a kick and get them moving.
8. When you make the offer, get the paperwork out immediately to the candidate, both soft and hard copy.
9. Expect counter offers, and have a plan (and budget) to deal with them.
10. Companies who have good and time efficient recruitment processes always have a better success ratio than those who do not.
