10 Effective Strategies to Shorten Your Hiring Process

On average, hiring a candidate takes about 44 days or more, and the best fits are often lost within the first 10 days. What if you reduce this time to just 7 days by implementing 10 effective strategies that can shorten your hiring process? Keep reading; we will reveal these tactics that top recruiters use to change the game and drive high revenue growth for companies.

Image depicting a company’s hiring team viewing different resumes on a laptop — Source: Freepik

Benefits of Shortening Your Hiring Process

A report states that 62% of professionals report losing interest in a job if they don’t hear back from the employer within two weeks of the first interview, three weeks, and that number jumps to 77%.

It takes companies an average of 44 days to hire for an open role after posting the job.

According to a report by The Josh Bersin Company – Professional Services firms are well above the average time-to-hire at 47 days. While tech roles across industries remained highly challenging to hire, this trend is set to continue in the coming years. Here are two categories showing the benefits of a short hiring process;

For Candidates:

Enhanced Candidate Experience: Long waits and lack of communication can be frustrating for applicants. A streamlined process shows respect for their time and keeps them informed throughout the journey.
Increased Job Satisfaction: Starting a new job promptly minimizes the disruption to their career momentum and financial security.
Less Risk of Accepting Other Offers: If candidates are waiting on multiple offers, a swift hiring process increases the chances they'll choose your company.

For Your Company:

Faster Time to Fill Open Positions: When vacancies remain unfilled, it creates a strain on existing staff and can hinder productivity. A shorter hiring process allows you to fill those positions and get new employees contributing sooner.

Attracting Top Talent: Top candidates are often in high demand. A lengthy hiring process can lead them to accept offers elsewhere. Moving quickly demonstrates your company's efficiency and seriousness about filling the role, making you a more attractive option.

Improved Employer Brand: Candidates share their interview experiences, both positive and negative. A streamlined, efficient hiring process reflects well on your company and strengthens your employer brand. This can attract better applicants in the future.

Reduced Risk of Bias: The longer a candidate remains in the process, the more opportunities for unconscious bias to creep in. A quicker process can help ensure decisions are based on objective criteria.

5 Factors that Affect Faster Hiring When It's Time to Fill

Time-to-fill is the time it takes to fill a job vacancy, from when you post the job opening to when a candidate accepts an offer and starts working at your company. This metric is commonly used in human resources and recruiting to assess the efficiency of the hiring process. However, it's important to note that the factors that can influence this metric include:

1. The complexity of the role: Highly specialized positions with very specific skill requirements naturally take longer to fill. There's a smaller pool of qualified candidates, and the interview process may involve more technical assessments to ensure a good fit.

2. The availability of qualified candidates: If there's a shortage of qualified candidates for the role in your area, it will take longer to find the right person. This can be due to factors like a booming job market or a niche skillset not readily available.

3. The effectiveness of the recruitment process: An inefficient recruitment process with unclear job descriptions, slow responses, or a cumbersome application system can deter qualified candidates and extend the time to fill the role.

4. The internal decision-making timelines: Delays within your company, like approvals needed from multiple departments or slow feedback loops between interviewers, can significantly lengthen the hiring process.

5. The influence of time-to-fill: This might seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes, the urgency to fill a position can lead to a rushed process and, ultimately, a wrong hiring decision. It's essential to strike a balance between speed and quality.

An Image depicting a hackathon team registering for an online hackathon they find suitable. — Source: Freepik

10 Effective Strategies to Shorten Your Hiring Process

1. Simplify the Application Process

Many companies make the mistake of creating overly complicated application processes, thinking it will filter out unqualified candidates. However, this often drives away top talent who have many options and value their time. Make your application process as straightforward and efficient as possible. Eliminate unnecessary steps and focus on what truly matters. Top candidates expect a process that respects their time and skills. By making it easy for them to apply, you increase the chances of attracting the best talent.

2. Leverage Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Implementing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can automate many aspects of the recruitment process, from posting job openings to filtering applications. An ATS allows recruiters to quickly identify the most qualified candidates by using keyword searches and filtering based on specific criteria. This automation saves time on manual resume screening and ensures that only the most relevant applications are reviewed, accelerating the overall hiring process. Some of the best ATS includes

Greenhouse — Best ATS for sourcing and evaluating large numbers of qualified candidates
Pinpoint — Best applicant tracking system for in-house talent acquisition and people teams
BambooHR — Best for auto-populated offer letters and insightful applicant analytics

3. Utilize Onchain Credentials For a Faster Verification Process

Gone are the days of endless paperwork and manual verification processes. Onchain credentials, verified through blockchain technology Soulbound tokens (SBTs), provide a secure and tamper-proof way to validate candidates' qualifications and experience. By leveraging on-chain credentials, recruiters can quickly verify the authenticity of candidates' academic degrees, professional certifications, and work histories without the need for time-consuming background checks.

This is why EkoLance is bridging this existing gap in credential verification by utilizing the power of Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) to transform the way credentials are shared, verified, and valued in the Web3 ecosystem. Our unique SBT integration within EkoLance and our online hackathon platform, techFiesta, provide verifiable proof of educational and career achievements. By participating in our tailored training sessions, hackathons, developer challenges, and crowd tasks, professionals can earn SBTs that serve as irrefutable proof of their skills and career achievements.

Learn more about this streamlined process in our article – How Can Soulbound Tokens Improve Hiring Process? and speed up your hiring process, ensuring greater accuracy and reliability in verifying candidate credentials.

4. Implement Structured Interviews

Structured interviews, where each candidate is asked the same set of predetermined questions, can make the interview process more efficient and fair. This approach ensures that all candidates are evaluated based on the same criteria, making it easier to compare their responses. Structured interviews also help reduce bias and subjectivity, leading to more objective hiring decisions. Additionally, preparing a set list of questions in advance can save time during the interview process.

5. Use Hackathons for Talent Identification

According to Draft Dev, organizing hackathons allows you to tap into a pool of developers eager to build your product with you. Hosting or participating in hackathons can be an effective way to identify top talent, particularly in technical fields. These events allow recruiters to observe candidates in action, assessing their technical skills, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities in real time.

techFiesta is a platform that you can use to launch hackathons, developer challenges, and crowd tasks. Companies that organize hackathons on techFiesta connect with a community of skilled developers, enhancing their visibility among potential future employees or collaborators, have the opportunity to get brand visibility and save time with the use of blockchain technology to ensure secure, prompt, and transparent payment to participants, eliminating delays and disputes over compensation.

Other platforms to host hackathons include HackerEarth, DoraHacks, Devpost, and GitHub. By identifying high-performing individuals during a hackathon, companies can fast-track these candidates through the hiring process, significantly reducing the time to hire.

6. Ask for Referrals

One of the most effective yet overlooked strategies is asking your current employees for referrals. Your team knows the company culture and what it takes to succeed. They likely know talented individuals who would be a great fit. Instead of waiting for the perfect candidate to apply, tap into your existing network. Motivate your employees by offering incentives, such as extra paid time off for successful referrals. Make the referral process easy and streamlined to encourage participation. This approach not only speeds up hiring but also improves candidate quality, as referrals come pre-vetted by your trusted team members.

7. Optimize Your Career Page

Don’t just use your career page to list job openings. Make it a marketing tool to attract top talent, even those who aren't actively looking. Statistics show that 70% of the workforce is passive but open to new opportunities. Your career page can be their first interaction with your brand. Use it to tell compelling stories about the impactful projects and career growth opportunities at your company. Showcase your company culture and the benefits in a way that makes potential candidates imagine themselves thriving in your environment. This proactive approach can convert passive visitors into enthusiastic applicants.

8. Create a Talent Pool

Building a talent pool of pre-screened, qualified candidates can significantly reduce the time it takes to fill open positions. By maintaining a database of potential candidates who have previously applied, been referred, or expressed interest in your company, you can quickly reach out to suitable candidates when a position becomes available. This proactive approach reduces the need for extensive advertising and initial screening, allowing you to focus on interviewing and selecting the best candidates from an already vetted pool.

9. Offer Flexible Interview Options

Offering flexible interview options, such as video interviews or phone screenings, can expedite the interview process. These methods eliminate the need for candidates to travel, making it easier to schedule interviews and reducing the time between interview rounds. Video interviews, in particular, allow recruiters to assess candidates' communication skills and body language while saving time on logistics. For positions that require multiple interview stages, combining in-person and virtual interviews can streamline the process and keep things moving quickly.

10. Foster a Collaborative Hiring Process

A collaborative hiring process involves input from multiple team members and stakeholders, which can lead to faster and more informed hiring decisions. By involving team members in the interview and selection process, you can gather diverse perspectives and make more well-rounded decisions. Collaboration tools, such as shared feedback platforms and interview scorecards, can help streamline this process. Additionally, assigning specific roles and responsibilities to team members can ensure that the hiring process moves forward without bottlenecks.

Conclusion

Hiring the right talent swiftly is crucial for businesses to stay competitive. Lengthy hiring processes can lead to the loss of top candidates, increased recruitment costs, and a lag in project timelines. To combat these issues, companies need to adopt these 10 strategies that streamline the hiring process without compromising on the quality of candidates.

Are you looking to attract the right talents through hackathons? Then, you should partner with techFiesta.

techFiesta can serve as the infrastructure platform for your next developer event. Over 9,000 users are building projects for blockchain protocols and infrastructure companies, 350 projects have been built, and $280K+ has been paid in bounties. techFiesta currently utilizes blockchain for transparent bounty distribution and identification of IDs and credentials during hackathons and developer challenges.

We provide a payment processing option for the hackathon bounties on-chain and bring expertise to handle the day-to-day management of your event, allowing you to focus on other priorities for your company's growth. Also, we assist with marketing efforts by tapping into a developer community of thousands of users, ensuring your hackathon reaches a broad and engaged audience.

Reach out to us today to host your next online developer event.

About EkoLance

EkoLance revolutionizes the future of work by empowering Web2 and blockchain professionals through its dual offerings. The first is an educational platform that provides quality and comprehensive training programs for upskilling in the blockchain space, ensuring that professionals are equipped with the latest industry knowledge and practical experience. We currently have a diverse community of over 9,000 blockchain professionals, including over 5000 Web3 developers proficient in Solidity and Rust.

The second offering is our talent platform, techFiesta. It enables companies to launch hackathons, jobs, bounties, and onboard top-tier talent into their ecosystems, fostering innovation and growth. techFiesta has successfully organized over 30 online hackathons and developer challenges for major blockchain networks such as Gnosis chain, Celo, Solana, Concordium, etc.