Recruiters take an average of 10 days to hire top candidates in the job market because they’re in high demand. This is according to an Officevibe study. The faster you move, the better chance you have of hiring the right candidate and avoiding a delayed recruitment process.

But this can be a hurdle when you have bottlenecks in your recruitment process! A study by Apollo Technical reveals that 69% of corporations in the United States struggle to find top talent. One of the contributing factors is a delayed recruitment process. 

While the delayed recruitment process may not seem a big deal on the surface, it’s more costly to have vacant positions in your organization for so long. If you’re struggling to find and hire the right candidates for your company, we got the solution. This is why we’ve put together this guide. 

Effects of a Delayed Recruitment Process

The impact of a delayed recruitment process runs deep and goes beyond affecting a company’s revenue. Below are the costs of having vacant positions in your organization longer than usual!

1. Loss of Top Talent

Highly skilled candidates are in high demand and are always off the market in no time. Top recruiters know this well and hire in less than ten days. Ideally, top candidates look to be hired in at most two weeks. 

You’re most likely to miss out on the best candidates if your recruitment process stretches longer than 14 days. You’ll be left with average to below-average candidates, who mostly underperform when hired.

2. Low Productivity and Revenue

The right candidates contribute significantly to the growth of a company. Inadequate human resources stall projects, lower productivity, and negatively affect current employees’ morale. They have to work extra hard to hit targets, which can be frustrating.

Overall, the longer your hiring process delays, the more revenue the company loses. Soon, settling recurring business costs becomes a hassle, and you may have to close down the business.

3. Ruins Company Reputation

This has everything to do with your company branding and how the public perceives you. What do past job seekers say about your company? Today, one can find reviews on major job hunting sites about any company. 

You want to avoid negative reviews because they can ruin your company’s reputation. One way this happens is through a tedious and unnecessarily long recruitment process. You’ll most likely have a bad reputation if your company has a history of delaying the hiring process.

4. High Cost of Hiring

A long recruitment process overstretches a company’s spending on finding the right talent. Unfulfilled positions draw away money from the business to advertise vacancies and interview successful applicants.

Thinking about it, you’ll be losing more money twice. One is in the advertising and conducting interviews, and two is in low productivity and revenue for the business. 

Factors Affecting Time to Hire

According to AIHR, the average time to hire is between 20 and 30 days. This is the time it takes from when a candidate applies for a vacant job position to when they accept the offer. 

But this is only the average. In some cases, the time is shorter and abnormally longer in others. Below are the possible reasons the time to hire can be painfully long!

Company Size

The size of a company primarily affects small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the hiring process. Typically, SMEs need only a limited number of employees to operate smoothly.

But, during hiring, they receive plenty of applicants, which takes a toll on recruiters. This is especially true for those with inadequate recruiting personnel. You’re probably already familiar with this if you run an SME!

Required Skills

Some roles require top-level skills, especially more technical positions. So, they take unusually longer to fill, unlike entry-level or mid-level and less technical positions. Technical and senior job roles typically take longer to fill due to the high scrutiny and screening required.

Unclear roles and required skills in a job advert also contribute to an unusually long hire time. Unclear roles and skill requirements attract hundreds of applicants, which you have to sieve out before finding the right talent.

This can take so much of your valuable time. The ripple effect is seen in your productivity and revenue generated over time.

Limited Resources

The bare minimum requirements in the recruitment process are time and money. Without adequate time and money, running job vacancy ads can be daunting. This limits hiring managers’ access to the right talent for the advertised vacancies.

Bad First Impression During the Interview

The first impression goes both ways. No doubt, as the hiring manager, you expect a good first impression from prospective candidates.  But did you know they’re also expecting a good first impression from their potential employer?

Nobody wants to work in an unfriendly work environment. Immediately they get a glimpse of this from the interview; they’ll probably leave and never want to be associated with your company. 

The rule of thumb is to set an excellent first impression during the interview. This way, you’ll impress and persuade the right talent to stay and work for your company.

Lack of Branding

A company’s brand plays a significant role in the recruitment process. According to a Glassdoor study, 86% of employees and job seekers research company reviews and ratings before applying for a job.

You may never find the right candidates for your vacant position if little or nothing is known about your company. It’s crucial to check your online presence and what people say about you if you want to make your recruitment process hassle-free.

How to Solve Delayed Hiring Challenges

Knowing the causes of delays in the hiring process and the cost your company pays goes a long way. But even more important is how to solve the problem once and for all. If you’re wondering how to go about it, this is where AI recruiting comes in handy.

So, why should you consider AI to recruit new talent for your company? AI recruiting makes work easier for hiring managers and talent acquisition specialists. 

An AI recruitment solution is the best bet if you desire to speed up the sourcing, recruiting, and hiring process without feeling like you’re rushing and hiring a bad fit. 

A good place to start is Talenya’s Talent AI. If you’re curious to know how it works, please don’t hesitate to request a demo!