Quickly Streamlining your hiring process may be the best solution to landing the best candidates. Here’s how to do it effectively.

BY MARCEL SCHWANTES, INC. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AND FOUNDER, LEADERSHIP FROM THE CORE@MARCELSCHWANTES

For Inc.

Photo: Getty Images

Are you struggling to find the right people to join your team? You’re not alone. It’s a common challenge for many businesses, but before you blame the labor market or Gen Zers, take a closer look at your hiring practices. Many companies simply don’t do it well.

Long gone are the days of a simple interview and a job offer. Today’s hiring process can feel like a marathon, with multiple interviews, assessments, and screenings.

Improving your hiring process

According to data from Glassdoor, between 2009 and 2019, employers nearly doubled their time interviewing candidates; job applicants are asked to complete multipage questionnaires, and hiring processes have stretched over months and involved, in some cases, more than two dozen interviewers. Some candidates are required to take personality assessments or complete sample assignments that could take hours.

This multi-staged and overly complex recruitment process can be daunting for candidates, especially for entry-level positions. According to the latest Jobvite’s Employ Quarterly Insights Report, having to endure multiple rounds of interviews is the most disliked part of the hiring process for 62 percent of candidates.

Designing an application process that is simple to understand, easy to fill out, and asks for just the information needed for initial screening is one of the best practices for improving recruitment efforts and avoiding losing great candidates. Less is often more.

And it’s not just the process that’s the problem, but also the expectations. Companies often want candidates to come in with all the skills and experience necessary to do the job without any training, but these unicorn candidates are hard to come by and often demand higher salaries.

So, what can you do to improve your hiring process?

  1. Be realistic about your job requirements. Sure, you can have a long wishlist, but focus on what’s actually necessary to do the job.
  2. Streamline the process. A handful of structured, behavioral interviews with key people is more revealing and impactful than a dozen loose conversations up the chain.
  3. Keep sample tasks short. If candidates can complete those questionnaires in an hour (or less), it will also help you evaluate dozens of candidates quicker and more easily.

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