What do you get when you combine rising skills gap and an internal need for specialized employees? Longer hiring periods and higher recruitment costs – neither of which are particularly appetizing for organizational leadership. The response is a growing desire for companies to spend more strategically and save time during the hiring process. But what does that actually mean? To get a grip on the increased time-to-hire enigma, there are a couple of steps you can take to understand and reduce the growing costs of filling open positions.
Why is the Price Tag Rising?
In 2014, organizations in the United States spent anywhere between $3,976 and $5,380 per hire depending on the size of the organization. With a hiring cost of nearly $4,000 at best, it begins to make business leaders wonder why each new hire costs so much.
The price tag is much more than the number of zeros at the end of the numeric value. It is costly in time and effort on the shoulders of the recruiters as well. A thinner recruitment staff can mean a longer time-to-hire simply because they have taken on a larger workload to compensate for the influx of candidates. Mark Mehler, Co-Founder of CareerXroads said:
“Depending on how many hiring managers [company recruiters are] dealing with, it’s impossible.”
Make Smarter Hiring Decisions
I don’t mean you don’t already make smart hiring decisions, I’m sure you make the best decisions you can with what you have to work with. But that is the issue. You don’t have the necessary resources to make more highly educated hiring decisions in a timely manner. Max Messmer, Chairman and CEO of Robert Half International, said:
“If you’re desperate to fill a position right away, you’re more likely to rush a decision, and you have a higher chance of choosing the wrong candidate for the job. You may determine an applicant is ‘good enough’ just to place someone in the role.”
Unfortunately, without the right tools, you run the risk of hiring the candidate who barely fits the minimum requirements. Don’t rush the process, but rather streamline the system to make better hiring decisions.
Tech Choices to Streamline
Again, in 2014, Deloitte noted the source of the most candidates was the company’s career site. So, you need a platform that is able to publish your job ads to job boards, social media sites, and your career site. In order to streamline the hiring process, 57% of companies were already looking to make HR purchases within 18 months in 2013.
With the right ATS and other platforms to augment your current recruitment and hiring system, you can streamline candidate files. With an organized system of automated responses and candidate information, responding to and choosing the right candidate is faster. Which is a plus for the recruiter (saves time and effort) and the organization (saves manpower and money).
The price tag for both time and fiscal value of time-to-hire is steadily on the rise. However, you can take measures to streamline the process so it doesn’t dissolve your recruitment and hiring resources. Don’t rush through candidates just to fill the open position. The rush can lead to a higher turnover and lower employee productivity because they aren’t truly fit for the role. Good enough shouldn’t cut it. To help you weed through the talent pool, consider investing in some of the ATS HR technology companies have to offer. They keep your candidate files organized and automated so your team can spend time doing the things that take higher priority over the administrative tasks. Understand your time-to-hire to take the next step in making better hiring decisions.
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