4 Ways to Speed Up the Hiring Process
June 11, 2013
Hiring More Quickly at Expansion-Stage Companies
The beauty of working at an expansion-stage company that is in the midst of rapid growth is that you can learn on the job about what it takes to staff your team. There are no requisition descriptions that need to be dusted off only to circulate around decision makers’ desks for approval before finally being sent off to HR. Expansion-stage companies have the luxury of not having as much red tape to hold up their hiring process. Instead, it’s typically errors during the interview process that can hold things up.
4 Ways to Speed Up the Hiring Process
1) Have Reference Checks Ready
Be sure that going into the final round interview you have a list of references that have been given to you by the candidate. Let the candidate know that if the interview goes well you will be checking their references. It prolongs the process if you need to collect a list of references after the candidate interview and then spend time coordinating a call with them.
2) Organize a Clear Interview Process and Make Sure Every Interviewer Is Available
Prior to even interviewing candidates for a role, you should be clear as to who will be involved in the interview process. If there is a stakeholder who will be unavailable during the interview process, be sure you have someone who can fill in for them if they are out for an extended period of time.
This happens more often than you think, especially during summer months when people take their vacations. Having to coordinate multiple schedules can be daunting, so make sure there is more than one person who can sign off on your hire!
3) Stop Rescheduling Again and Again and Again
This can definitely hold up hiring and cause your candidates to lose interest in the role. If there is a stakeholder in the process who keeps rescheduling calls then he or she probably does not have capacity to be interviewing for the role in the first place.
As I mentioned in the above point, have someone else fill in. Do not lose good candidates do to lack of preparedness on your team.
4) Be Prepared to Discuss the Compensation Package
Have all the details of compensation and how a bonus (if any) will be paid out. If you do not have this information on hand, you are not ready to make a competitive offer to a candidate. Every detail down to equity and benefits should be clear prior to delivering an offer.
This is a general list to help speed up your hiring process. Not all suggestions may work for your company. What other suggestions do you think hiring managers should take into account to speed up the interview process?