“Sorry, I am not interested in the position anymore!” said the candidate who appeared in a 3-week tedious interview process. It is our recent encounter with outstanding candidature for a client. The candidate had accepted another offer and wasn’t very happy with the lengthy interview process on our end. We had descriptive feedback from the candidate on the entire process, to be honest, 😊.
A talent sourcer/hirer/recruiter is no new to the reply. Whatever reasons candidates state, it usually circles back to these two; either they are not ready to proceed with the further rounds, or they have already accepted the offer from another employer in the meantime.
Think of losing that ‘Purple Unicorn’ because of a lengthy interview process!
We don’t have to stress how the times have changed from employer-centric to employee-centric. Gone are the days when candidates switched jobs to meet a certain standard of life. Jobseekers now are leaning more toward quality of work and life. The change is also reflected in the way candidates expect their interview to be. We can’t agree more that the interview process certainly reflects the company culture and work style!
In the times when a few organizations have a one-day interview-to-offer timeline, waiting for weeks to get the offer seems a lot trying for candidates.
Yes, of course, the length of rounds in an interview process depends on many factors such as level of position, depth of hierarchy, and size of the organization, and by taking the time to conduct several rounds of interviews, asking detailed questions, and getting input from multiple people can lead to a better result. But chances are more to lose a candidate in the competitive talent market.
Let us understand in detail the significant drawbacks of a slow interview process!
Ending up with leftovers
It’s natural to want to take your time to make sure you find the perfect candidate. However, there’s such a thing as being too cautious. If you drag out the interview process, you may end up with a very different pool of candidates than you would have if you moved more quickly. The best candidates are usually snapped up quickly, so if you wait too long, you could end up with the candidates no one else wants. In addition, the longer you wait to decide, the more likely it is that your first choice will accept another offer. So, if you’re serious about finding the right candidate for the job, don’t drag your feet during the interview process.
Losing the best
How many times have you been in the position of having to wait for someone to get back to you about a job? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Well, think about how the candidate feels. They’ve taken time out of their day to come in and speak with you, and then they have to wait days or even weeks to hear back from you. By the time you finally do get around to calling them, they may have already accepted another opportunity. The moral of the story is that a slow interview process can end up costing you the best candidates. So, if you want to hire the best of the best, make sure your interview process is quick and efficient.
Letting competitor win
With so much competition for jobs, companies need to move quickly to hire the best candidates. However, many businesses lose ground with their competitors because their interview process is too slow. In some cases, it can take weeks or even months to schedule and conduct all of the interviews. By the time an offer is finally made, the candidate has often accepted another position.
Think about the interview process optimization
So, when we mentioned the one-day interview-to-offer timeline, do you think organizations did not evaluate their candidates well? No, right, every organization knows what is at stake while hiring.
So, what are they doing differently?
They are removing the clutter in the process. They are minimizing the number of rounds or combining several rounds. They are defining the right parameters to choose a candidate for quick decision-making.