Finding a top candidate takes time, or at least that’s what Glassdoor’s research revealed.
According to their report for UK recruiters, the interview process alone takes businesses 27.5 days to complete on average.
Which is hardly surprising to hear that 76% of hiring decision-makers believe attracting quality candidates is their biggest challenge.
To make matters worse, The Recruitment & Employment Confederation found that UK businesses are failing to hire the right person for 40% of roles!
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
The good news is that there are eight ways to speed up the whole recruitment process into only 14 days!
And, this involves attracting and hiring top candidates.
Intrigued?
I thought so.
Choose the right job board
Let’s start with the basics.
If you don’t choose the best job board for a specific role, you won’t attract the right kind of candidates.
While Monster and Reed may bring in the masses, they also bring in a lot of irrelevant applicants too.
Don’t be afraid to use niche sites that are handpicked for certain industries.
Finding the perfect job board can take a few attempts, so make sure you monitor the success of each campaign.
Failing that, it’s always worth contacting a top recruitment agency who know their way around specific industries and its corresponding job boards.
For further help choosing, take a look at The 5 Best Job Boards You’re Missing Out On.
Create a knockout job advert
It’s all well and good advertising on the right job board, but if your advert doesn’t tick all the boxes, you’re going to struggle to attract top candidates quickly.
The key principles of mastering a job advert include:
- Keep it succinct and focused on the job itself. There’s no need to ramble on about your company’s history and dull daily duties, you can do that at a later stage of the hiring process.
- Use keywords to make it searchable.
- Keep content under 750 words.
- Sell the job!
You can discover more ways of creating a perfect job advert in our previous article: How to Write a Great Job Advert and Attract Top Candidates.
Optimise your advert for mobile
According to Recruitment International, 62% of candidates use their mobiles to search for a job.
That’s why it’s vital that you optimise your job adverts and career page.
Top candidates are always on the go, so you need to make sure you give them the platform to apply easily.
Be sure to use bullet points in the job advert content to make the important information clearer.
Use social media
Social media is the free way of headhunting top candidates, with 93% of recruiters using it to do exactly that.
Make LinkedIn your priority, as this platform is the home to millions of UK professionals.
Build an audience of professionals within your field and use the search bar to find professionals in the local area with the necessary skills for the job.
Refer a friend recruiting
To speed up the process further, run a ‘refer a friend’ incentive at work.
Simply post a link to the job advert on social media and get all of your employees to share it.
This will ensure the opportunity gets in front of a lot more eyes.
If the chosen candidate gets the job, the employee will earn themselves a juicy bonus.
It’s quick, simple and highly effective.
What’s more, trusted employees won’t usually give you rubbish recommendations as they won’t want to hinder their reputation with your company.
Cut straight to the point
Shortlisting is one of the hardest parts of the hiring process if you don’t know what you’re doing.
The best way to overcome this issue and cut out all of the faffing is to decide how many candidates you’re going to interview from the start.
This way, you have a definitive amount set in stone.
When it comes to looking at CVs, don’t get bogged down in the rich details.
Make a list of attributes and keywords you’re looking for and use a keyboard shortcut to find these words.
You can also add points for any candidates who make positive impressions with their formatting or tone.
Conduct telephone/Skype interviews
Another way of finding a top candidate in less than 14 days is to turn the initial communication into a telephone or Skype call.
Use this opportunity to get all of the small talk out of the way and help make shortlisting a piece of cake.
At least, when it comes to proper interviews, you’ll be able to get them done quickly and only offer them to a couple of people maximum.
Be clear and flexible with interviews
To get the ball rolling, include interview timescales in the job advert.
Yes, it will put some candidates off, but it’ll make it clear and transparent for those that can work within those dates.
However, always remember to make yourself completely free during this small window – including evenings and weekends.
The short notice can cause a few issues with candidates, so the least you can do is be more flexible and attend to their needs.
Could you meet them on a Saturday morning in a coffee shop? Or can you attend an early morning/late evening interview?
Final thoughts
Adopt these methods and you’re bound to find a top candidate in only 14 days.
However, it’s also worth remembering that speed doesn’t always guarantee quality.
So, if you’re struggling to find the perfect one, consider hiring a freelancer or contractor to fill in the time.
It only takes one bad decision to waste valuable time and money.
In the long-term, build your network of professionals on LinkedIn and email contacts via networking events.
This will then give you a talent pipeline to contact next time around.
For more top tips, subscribe to our free blog today.
James is the founder and owner of AdBuilder and a recruitment expert from Sutton Coldfield in the UK. He regularly advises companies on how to improve and get the maximum ROI from their recruitment processes and advertising.
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