The average time it takes to fill a position in IT, hospitality, media, education and manufacturing is over 42 days. Let that sink in for a moment: It takes five times longer to fill an open position in 2019 than it took to travel to the moon and back in 1969. Even retail, with a a traditionally quick-hire cycle, is now clocking in at an unbelievable 25 days to fill a position.
There are several factors that contribute to this disconnect:
1. Procrastination
Being involved in the day-to-day running of an operation takes time and energy. There are a myriad of functions that a manager must do every day, and as we are tasked to do more with less, time slips away quickly, making it easy to put tasks such as interviewing on the back burner. One of the unfortunate side effects of having an open position that needs to be filled is the reality that ultimately the work will often be performed (or extra oversight will be required by) the manager, thus leaving even less time in the day to devote to the hiring process.
To be truly effective as a leader, you must recognize that conundrum and force yourself to set aside time each day to devote to hiring. In the short term this may be painful and require even longer hours at the office, but the long-term benefit of being correctly staffed far outweighs the short-term negatives.
2. Searching For Perfection
In the world of today where people get dates by swiping left or right, we are led to believe that the perfect match is just one more swipe away. That mentality seems pervasive in the hiring world, too. But I can promise you there are no perfect people, and no perfect candidates. I could just immediately eliminate every single person who applied to any of my open positions if I were to only accept perfection. As a manager in the hiring process, it is important to realize this and have a realistic list of things a person must have to do a job well. What can be trained, and what must the candidate possess?
If you insist on looking for unicorns, you will never ride Secretariat — or even Rocinante. But you will keep tilting at windmills. The best way to avoid this trap is to have a clearly defined set of parameters for the person you are looking for and review that list weekly if you are not finding a match. Be clear as to your needs versus wants and be willing to adjust them as you go along.
3. Too Many Steps Involved
Once upon a time I was told that before you go out on the town, get dressed up, and then remove two things. Now you are ready. The same goes for hiring. Look at your hiring process, and then remove a layer or two and move ahead. You won’t miss the extra steps, and your process will be faster. If this is not the case, you removed or kept the wrong steps.
What does your hiring funnel look like for each position you are hiring for? Take a moment to list all the steps an applicant must go through from the time they learn about your open job to the time they are onboarded. How many steps are there? Do you really need three managers to interview a receptionist?
4. Hiring Is Not Really A Priority
If you are hiring to go through the motions or to build a mythical bench, you are wasting everyone’s time — including your own. If a position truly needs to be filled, set aside the time needed to properly interview and communicate with all the players in the process. Make it a daily task.
5. Fear Of Making A Decision
It's a yes, or it's a no — “maybe” is a cop-out. “I need to see more people to compare” is also a cop-out. The person you meet is either qualified and can do the job and make your company, team or department better, or they can’t. If you saw them on Monday, by Friday they didn’t suddenly become a better or worse candidate.
Hiring is not rocket science. Putting a man on the moon is, and that only took eight days.
