How HR Leaders Can Recruit and Hire Efficiently

Hiring the right people for each open role is the primary goal of your recruitment process—but there’s also a real need right now for hiring efficiently. With the hot talent environment persisting, hiring efficiency and reducing time to hire is critical for HR leaders who want to attract and hire top talent. Plus, with turnover still high, filling open roles swiftly reduces the burden on your existing employees as well. 

But hiring effectively as well as efficiently is no easy task. Here are six ways HR leaders can increase hiring efficiency, reduce time to hire, and get the right people in the right roles faster. 

1. Write Clear Job Descriptions

An efficient hiring process begins with well-written job descriptions, as they’re typically the first interaction candidates will have with your company. Be sure job descriptions are up to date with the current description of the role, especially if you use templates. 

And use clear, concrete terms—asking for a “rockstar” or “grade-A talent” is too vague to let applicants know what the job actually requires so they can be sure they’re a good fit. Role clarity is critical for both current employees and prospective ones. Finally, look carefully at what experience and education you’re currently requiring for your open roles and ensure they’re truly necessary for success. 

2. Use Skills Assessment Tests 

One key element in increasing hiring efficiency is determining how to narrow your field of applicants swiftly and accurately. Skills assessment tests are the most effective way to sort out your applicants and identify who should move forward. 

You should use a skills test that examines candidates for both hard skills and soft skills to ensure you find the right well-rounded candidates and keep your assessment short so it’s not intimidating to applicants. Cangrade’s Pre-Hire Assessments offer a bias-free way to examine the full set of skills your candidates need to have to be a valuable addition to your team. 

3. Maximize Interview Efficiency 

The traditional method of scheduling in-person interviews can eat up a lot of valuable time as you look for a time that works for both your recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates alike. 

Consider moving to asynchronous interviewing methods, like video interviews, that allow candidates to answer your questions at their earliest convenience. Plus, with structured video interviews, every candidate is asked the same set of questions, making comparing their answers easier and more accurate. 

4. Source Internal Talent

Using your internal talent pool can be much faster than relying on external sources for many roles. And you don’t need to stick solely to employees who are ready for promotions—lateral moves can offer a great way to fill open roles and even increase employee retention. 

Hiring internally also allows people in new roles to start excelling in their new roles faster because they already have institutional knowledge and connections within the company. That relieves some of the burden on your existing employees who may have been covering for two roles while a position is open. 

5. Identify Recruiting Friction Points 

If your time-to-hire metric is still much slower than you’d like, or you’re struggling to get enough applicants for your open roles, it’s time for a close look at your recruiting friction points to determine the source of the issue. 

Perhaps your hiring managers are overwhelmed with other tasks and need additional support or training so they’re not holding up the hiring process. Or maybe your current applicant tracking system is outdated, or your recruiting software is slowing down your hiring process. A careful audit can uncover those issues so you know what to prioritize first to increase your hiring efficiency. 

6. Refine the Candidate Experience 

Finally, while it can be easy to get caught up in hiring faster and faster in such a competitive talent environment, always keep the candidate experience at the forefront of your recruiting process. Hiring efficiency isn’t just about speed—it’s about getting the right candidates to accept your offers as well so your company has the top talent it needs to succeed. 

Measuring your cNPS (candidate Net Promoter Score) can reveal what parts of your recruiting process are frustrating or discouraging the candidates you want from completing the recruitment cycle. 

Looking for a platform to help you reduce your time to hire and improve recruiting efficiency? Cangrade is here to help — learn more about our recruiting solutions.