7 Creative Ways To Reduce Your Time To Hire

What is time to hire? 

Getting candidates through the door and into a position as quickly as possible is a priority for many organisations. So, it makes sense to measure how fast, or efficient, your hiring process is to discover how to reduce time to hire.

Time to hire calculates the time it takes for a candidate to go through the recruitment process, from applying for the role to putting pen to paper (or finger to touchscreen).  

The time it takes to complete the candidate journey is an important metric that many hiring managers keep a close eye on. But, time to hire isn’t the only metric recruiters use to measure a campaign’s success, many also have their eye on time to fill.

How to reduce time to hire 

Every organisation wants the most efficient hiring process with the best candidates travelling through the funnel. Finding how to reduce time to hire keeps candidates engaged, reduces recruitment costs and helps maintain business operations without disruption.  

To help you hire faster, we’ve collated some examples of how to reduce time to hire below. 

1. Automate your hiring

Automation is quickly becoming a hiring manager’s best friend. Introducing automation to your hiring process brings several benefits, from automatic pre-employment background screening to reducing time to hire by streamlining time-consuming tasks.

With all this time saved, recruiters can focus on the top talent applying to the vacant positions.  

2. Video interviews  

The interview stage is one of the most tedious stages of the recruitment process. The chances of a recruiter and candidate agreeing on an interview date and time the first time is almost unheard of and usually requires a lot of back and forth. The solution? Video interviews.  

Using video interviewing through software like Microsoft Teams or Google Meet are excellent ways to reduce time to hire. Remote interviews help work around candidates’ current obligations and allow the process to move much quicker, improving a candidate’s experience.  

Video interviews can become even better when integrated with applicant tracking systems. Organisations can use recruitment software to schedule interviews directly from their ATS, further streamlining the hiring process, allowing for faster hiring.   

3. Update your career sites 

Career sites and job adverts are often candidates’ first points of contact.

If your career pages aren’t compelling or engaging enough, candidates will likely drop out of the process or reject any sent offers, ultimately extending your time to hire.  

To avoid this hiring setback, your career site must contain relevant, updated information. Highlighting your company culture, benefits, or anything else your organisation can offer to a successful candidate also helps with engagement. 

4. Analyse previous hiring campaigns 

Sometimes the answer to your problem is right under your nose; you just need to find it. 

Calculate and analyse your previous campaign’s time to hire data to identify which parts of the hiring process are falling short.  

Is there a particular team that could help you hire faster? Are initial conversations taking too long? Do your job ads accurately convey the job role? All will be revealed with a bit of analytical digging.  

5. Invest in a good applicant tracking system  

Ask any hiring manager, recruiter or HR professional which go-to tool you would use to speed up your hiring process, this would be it.  

An applicant tracking system is the key to reducing time to hire. Utilising an ATS helps to automate the entire recruitment process from application to  onboarding – helping you hire faster and reduce any potential human error. 

Implementing an ATS helps to analyse and control each stage of the hiring process, helping to identify any troublesome stages so you can hire faster. 

6. Improve your application process – ensure its mobile friendly 

How is your application process looking? Is it easy to use? Is it accessible? Is it mobile-friendly? An approximate 88% of candidates used their mobile devices to apply for jobs. Can you afford to miss out on that pool of talent?  

Mobile-friendly applications aren’t just an accessibility concern; applying on mobile has a massive influence on candidate experience and can significantly reduce time to hire. 

7. Talent database/pipeline 

Building your own talent pipeline ensures future roles have a much lower time to hire. This involves building a talent pool with candidates looking for new opportunities. Building a successful talent pool involves getting to know candidates, their interests, goals and needs. So, when the next relevant role emerges, you can dip into your talent pool for faster hiring. 

Why is the faster hiring important? 

Time to hire sits with cost-per-hire and quality-per-hire as one of the most important hiring metrics.

Tracking this metric allows hiring managers and recruiters to analyse two key areas; campaign efficiency and candidate experience.  

Recruitment campaign efficiency  

Time to hire encompasses the time it takes for candidates to traverse your hiring process. A long time to hire suggests an inefficient and poor process that most likely costs more than it should. Investigating your hiring time helps identify how you can hire faster in future campaigns.  

Candidate Experience  

No one likes to be kept waiting after applying for a role. The time it takes to get candidates through the recruitment process has a considerable influence on a candidate’s experience. 

A lengthy hiring process is enough to turn candidates away from a job opportunity. In fact, over 60% of applicants will lose interest and move on if they don’t hear anything within a week.  

By measuring your average time to hire for each recruitment campaign, you can identify where you’re going wrong, which stages are slowing you down, and uncover how to hire faster.  

Introducing…

Reduce time to hire with Talos ATS 

Reduce time to hire by streamlining your hiring process with our complete applicant tracking software, helping you save time with talent attraction, candidate management, and employee onboarding. 

How to hire faster with Talos ATS: 

• Multi-platform job poster
• Recruitment and advertising suite  
• Science-based candidate assessments
• Video interview screening and interview platform  
• Fully branded automated SMS & email comms 
• Automated progression for strongest candidates  
• Remote onboarding tools
• Reference checking & e-signing capabilities  
• Integrated background checks  

Fill your vacant roles efficiently with Talos360