4 Solutions for Speeding Up Your Hiring Process

Are you currently looking for candidates to fill vacancies within your company? If you’ve had to hire anyone before, you know that the hiring process is not always simplistic. From generating a job description, screening applications, setting up interviews with the best candidates, weeding out the ones who don’t quite fit and finally making an offer, there is a lot to be done. As you know however, the longer the position stays open, the more work falls onto the rest of your staff slowing down productivity. So how do you speed things up and still hire stellar applicants? Here are four solutions to consider:

Work with a Staffing Agency

Industries of all types have benefited from working with staffing agencies to find the right employees. Staffing agents act as the middle man in the hiring process, taking a lot of the responsibility off your shoulders. For example, high-demand industries such as doctor’s offices could benefit from healthcare support staffing solutions. Since they don’t necessarily have the time to interview a ton of medical staff, the staffing agency handles it for them.

Hiring managers work with the staffing agency to determine what their immediate needs are. They will ask for specifics such as skills and other requirements you need from candidates. Since staffing agencies accept applications year round, they tend to have a bunch of candidates who have already been screened and interviewed. This way, you’re choosing from a pool of candidates who are more likely to be a good fit for the job. Through staffing agencies, you also have the advantage of hiring temporary staff until you’re sure they’re qualified.

Offer the Position in House

You don’t always have to look outside to find the best candidates for a job opening. Sometimes, the best person for the job is already employed by you. Make an announcement to staff or post a bulletin in the breakroom for your employees to see. This is almost a surefire way to ensure that the candidate is qualified as you’ve already had experience in working with them. You won’t have to interview them, nor do you need to review their resume, contact references, or have them take a bunch of tests. This cuts your time in half and also shows your staff that you’re willing to invest in their education and growth as a professional.

Group or Panel Interviews

Depending on the size of your company there may be several decision makers required in the hiring process. While you as the business owner will need to approve the hire, so will others like the department supervisor or human resources department. Rather than have candidates come back for second and third interviews with each decision maker, join forces and interview the candidate at the same time. Whether you all sit in and take turns asking questions or the applicant goes from one person to the next on the same day, you’ve save yourself a lot of time. Not to mention the decision makers can collectively select the best candidate in a shorter timeframe than spacing interviews out by days or weeks.

Accept Applications Year Round

You never know when an employee might leave or when the need might arise for additional support. Having backup is always the most efficient way to ensure that the position does not stay open for very long. Accepting resumes year round (or even for a certain period of time each year) is a great way to plan for the unknown. This way, you can refer to the applications you have on file as opposed to placing an advertisement and having to screen through applications again.

Keeping positions filled can be tough at times, but an efficient hiring process will ensure that the position does not stay vacant for very long. While you certainly can’t hire just anyone to take the position, there are suitable solutions that can help you cut the time in half. Working with recruitment agencies, hiring in house, doubling up the interviews and collecting applications are all adequate solutions that can be used by any business type.