Getting your hands on qualified candidates is a race against time and your competition. If you don’t act quickly, candidates may take a role elsewhere and not even make it past the application process, making you miss out on qualified candidates.
To keep candidates engaged past their initial application, you have to shorten the gap between applications and interviews. Getting more people to apply, then quickly getting those candidates into the interview process will keep candidates engaged and likely get them into their ideal roles faster.
Companies can start to fill positions quickly by:
- Streamlining the application process
- Being more flexible with interview scheduling and methods
- Utilizing well-designed tools to speed the interview process
Step 1: Streamline the application process
Simplifying your application process can help bring more applicants into the hiring pipeline. SHRM reported that 92% of candidates who click “Apply” never actually finish the application. While longer application processes might seem like they are getting you the most qualified applicants, in reality, the most qualified talent might just be going after roles with shorter, simplified applications that your competition might be using.
Many companies are finding value in making their application short then gathering additional information during each stage of the interview process. By cutting down the application, you can get candidates into your funnel faster. Shortening the length of your application and offering mobile applications allow candidates to apply the minute they come across the job posting. The goal is to get applicants engaged as fast as you can. While you may have more that won’t work out, you will also have more who do. The interview process will give you the information you need to determine which applicants are top prospects and which aren’t.
Step 2: Schedule interviews on a rolling basis
Staying in the mindset of speed is a great way to get applicants deeper into your funnel, a step closer to a job offer. A rolling interview is a method that invites applicants into interviews as their applications are coming in. The applications get sorted by a sort of “pass/fail” criteria. Those who pass the desired requirements are invited to interview immediately.
By implementing a rolling basis into your interview process, you can get qualified candidates interviewed quickly and move them through the hiring process before your competition ever has a chance. With the help of on-demand interviews, the rolling interview can be even faster and require less time from you.
Scheduling interviews as the applications are submitted saves time for you and for applicants. Quicker interviews can lead to shorter time-to-hire and, in turn, meeting your recruitment goals much faster.
Which is better, phone interviews or video interviews? See how they compare.
Step 3: Cut Down On The Amount Of Interviews
You can also expedite your hiring process by reducing the number of interviews you conduct. It’s rather common for applicants to interview with multiple companies at once. Cutting down on the steps in your interview process can help ensure your competition isn’t getting the first choice of the most qualified candidates.
Instead of three or four interviews, try dropping that down to one or two interviews. In 2015, SHRM found that nearly 80% of the 200 organizations surveyed only conducted one or two interviews which was an increase of roughly 17% from the year before. While this data is from an older study, the philosophy hasn’t changed much.
Another reason to consider cutting down on the number of interviews is getting ahead of interview fatigue — too many interviews with no sight of an end. To combat that, companies in need of high-volume hires reduced the number of interviews to keep candidates engaged and to stay ahead of the competition. So, how else can we boost the efficiency of our interview process?
Step 4: Use Virtual Interviews
In terms of modern efficiency, automated processes save employers time and money. Automated phone interview methods, also called on-demand phone interviews or virtual phone interviews, have become very popular in hiring processes nationwide due to the flexibility and practicality of the practice. Apart from cutting an entire week off of your time-to-hire, virtual interviews allow for your hiring team to interview around the clock without having to be available 24/7.
With the help of an interview scheduling tool, these types of automated interviews can create a better candidate experience by not dragging them along through multiple interviews or holding them to schedules in the busiest parts of their days. All of this can increase the effectiveness of your hiring and interview processes leading to important job openings being filled quickly and efficiently.
Qualifi can help your team close the gap between application and interviews. Never miss out on an ideal candidate, and easily implement rolling interviews into your hiring process. Qualifi can invite hundreds of candidates to virtual interviews, allowing them to conduct the interview at their own time and pace. Qualifi can help you invite candidates to interviews immediately while diminishing interview fatigue.
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