The truth of the modern business world is simple — everything has to be fast. Internal processes, business development, hiring — every process has to be swift, efficient, and careful.

Among them, hiring is the one process that absolutely cannot stall.

The average hiring process in the U.S. lasts about 23.8 days, which is quite long, especially if the project needs urgent solutions. Why is fast hiring important, and what slows down the hiring process in IT?

How does slow hiring affect businesses?

It increases costs

The average cost of hiring adds up to about $3 and $5 thousand. Multiply that by the average of 6-8 candidates per position, and you get a hefty sum that can directly affect the company budget. And do not forget about the time the HR and recruitment specialist spend looking for a perfect IT candidate, interviewing them, and assessing whether they’ll be a perfect match for the tech team.

Slow hiring is also sure to increase costs for demanding projects with urgent needs.

The candidates can leave for competition

Slow hiring may cost you skilled professionals

82% of candidates expect their potential employers to have clear hiring guidelines. More than half of candidates will move on to the next offer if they do not hear from a recruiter within acceptable time scopes — about 2 weeks from applying.

Businesses with slow IT hiring miss out on the greatest candidates and sometimes are left scrambling the bottom of the barrel.

It spoils the employer image

In a company, where recruiters take too long to respond, the hiring process takes about a month. With that, the number of open positions only grows.

Slow hiring can damage the company’s employer status and image, which will lead to even more pauses and delays.

What slows down hiring in IT?

Poor or long job description

The job description should be precise

52% of applicants claim a job description influences their decision to apply. Apart from requirements, a proper tech job description should contain:

  1. A correct job title — a simple “Looking for a developer” won’t do.
  2. A short and engaging overview of the company — who the team consists of, how many people there are, what the company’s main values are, etc.
  3. Salary — 61% of applicants say the salary range is the most important part of a job description.
  4. Outline of exact responsibilities — an applicant should understand whether they’ll be able to perform the expected tasks well.
  5. Description of growth possibilities — deemed important by at least a quarter of all applicants.

A tech job description is the face of the vacancy. It should be clear to be attractive for applicants.

Excessive rounds of interview

2-3 rounds of interviews are required to fill a position. More, and the process becomes too long and tedious. The HR team, the potential manager, the client, the final interview, the tests — the more steps there are on the way to the tech position, the less coveted it becomes.

Excessive and unnecessary rounds of interviews not only slow down the process of tech hiring, but also get in the way of swift team growth and development.

Establish as few rounds of interview as possible to fully check the candidate and still keep them interested.

Lack of automation

61% of professionals believe automation can help their businesses hire managers and properly assign their skills to the right job. Hiring tech professionals, though more complicated and intricate, can also be automated.

Modern businesses might not be as eager to invest into automation. Tech teams, on the other hand, say automation can save them up to 7 hours per week.

Tech hiring teams can automate the following processes:

  • Receiving and processing CVs
  • Checking the quality of the test task
  • Refusing the candidate or asking them for the next round of interviews

Automate and speed up — it’s that easy.

Not understanding job requirements

Would you hire a mechanic to paint your house? No — they lack an appropriate set of skills to perform well. The same is with tech specialists — hiring a developer to be a QA, or a UI/UX designer to be a graphic one won’t work. It will increase the time of search, as the specialists will not agree to perform the tasks they are not trained for or interested in.

Always understand the responsibilities of the positions, consider and hire specialists with a fitting set of skills and interests.

Multi-stage application process

Application should be a simple process — one click and the resume is already read by an HR specialist.

If only it were that simple.

Often, the hiring process requires the applicant to submit the resume via sites like LinkedIn or an applicant tracking system, additionally email the CV to the recruitment team, and even bring the printed version to the interview. Unnecessary and cluttered.

Make sure the application process is understandable, easy, and “single-stepped”. It will make the application process and the employer more attractive and innovative.

Optimizing IT hiring process

Tech hiring is not easy. Usually, it involves a lot of steps and people. It takes a lot of resources and is not even guaranteed to yield the desired results.

If you want to optimize your IT hiring process, outstaffing is for you. Message us at [email protected], and we will help you recruit the best tech talent in the market and scale your team quickly and efficiently.

Anna has 6-years overall experience in writing. She previously observed financial markets, conducting the daily research on the state of bonds and stocks. She is a keen reader with interest in historical literature and international cuisine. Her latest obsession — approaches to creating family-like teams in remote times.

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