The recession made the recruitment market a more reactive environment. Through no fault of their own, good candidates were being made redundant as businesses collapsed under the strain of the credit crunch.
For companies who built their teams during the recession, it was a fantastic time to hunt for talent and take time in sourcing the right individuals to help move their business forward.
All change
Then, whoosh, it is all change again. The market is recovering, people are hiring again. However the candidate market is shrinking. Everybody wants good people but are there enough to go around?
And what if you like to take your time?
Put simply, this is not a market to dawdle in. Time takers may find themselves losing out.
The one that you want
Strong candidates, with consistent CV’s are coming on to the market and being seduced by opportunities. Your recruitment process needs to be efficient, and speedy, but not at the risk of jumping the gun.
If you are planning on recruiting in this economic climate make sure you work to a tight time scale. Brief your agency well, plan deadlines and have a week set aside where you can do first interviews and second interviews rather than leaving a timely gap.
This highlights how organised your business is, how you have forward planned your recruitment, and keeps the experience perfectly streamlined.
Extended periods between interviews can connote that you are not interested in the candidate, or another opportunity may present itself that is too good to let go before your second interview is due to happen.
And there is nothing more frustrating than losing a good candidate because your internal processes were not able to move quickly enough.
If you simply must wait
If there is a genuine reason for a significant time delay between interviews, then ensure you speak with the recruiter to gauge the candidate’s interest. Have they interviewed elsewhere, what timelines are they working towards, how much do they want the role you have met with them for?
Consider meeting the candidate between interviews, or having a telephone call. That way the stages won’t seem so stretched out and you can continue to explain the benefits of the opportunity to the candidate.
In this type of fast paced recruiting environment, simply hoping they will wait for you is just not enough.
You have to move quickly to secure the one that you want.