Improving the Hiring Process in 2020

By Alexis Stiebe

What was your experience like the last time you went to an interview or waited to hear back after applying to a position? Was the wait time long? Did you experience good communication with the employer? How our candidates experience the hiring process is something recruiters consider often and want to learn more about. To accomplish this, we conducted a survey on the length of the hiring process.

We created this survey with the goal of learning more about a potential candidates’ expectations when waiting to hear back from the employer. Anyone who has ever gone to a job interview was invited to participate. Our goal was to gain feedback that would help us educate employers on how to improve the hiring process for both the candidate and the employer.

Over the next year we plan to dive deep into the data and share what we learned with you. You can expect more blog posts, infographics and quick tips posted to our Linkedin page (so be sure to follow us here.) But for now, lets just have a quick overview of the survey.

Here are the questions we asked:

  • Once you have been contacted by an organization and had an initial phone interview, how long would you consider “too long” before you get feedback or a response with next steps?
    Most respondents considered waiting 7 days or more to be “too long” while 28 percent considered 4-5 days to be “too long”

  • In your opinion, how long is too long of a hiring process? This means the period of time from when you initially interview for a job to the day a job offer is extended.
    Most respondents were willing to wait for up to 2 weeks, but 15 days or more was considered “too long” to wait for a response.

  • What is the most frustrating situation in the job search? Choose as many as apply or add your own answer.
    By far the most frustrating choice was a “long wait after the interview to find out if I advanced to the next step/got the job.” There were some great additional answers to this question that we’ll dig into later this year.

  • After a face-to-face interview, how long are you willing to wait for an employer to inform you of your status before you lose interest in the role?
    This question confirmed the results of the first question. Most respondents were only willing to wait for 2 weeks or less.

  • When faced with a lengthy hiring process, which of the following describes your feelings?
    This question also had several answers we’ll share further, but the top answer should be taken seriously by any company looking for top talent.
    The top choice was “I question the company’s ability to make other decisions if they can’t seem to make a timely hiring decision.”

The results of this survey show just how important time is when a company is competing for skilled employees.

Wait too long or communicate poorly and your top choice may accept a competitor’s offer. There are also opportunities here. Streamlining your hiring process and strengthening your communications with the candidate can give your company a leg up on the competition.

We’ll discuss how to take advantage of those opportunities in detail throughout the year and go more in depth on some of the great write-in responses we received. Stay tuned to our blog and our social media pages to stay up to date with future content. If you are seeking skilled talent for an opening today, you can get in touch with our recruiting experts by clicking here.