How to Balance Time and Candidate Quality In Your Interview Process
informed candidate interview

How to Balance Time and Candidate Quality In Your Interview Process

Is the time it takes to hire slowing your company down? After all, slower time-to-hire means lost productivity and extra work for current employees. On the other hand, waiting to find the right fit can benefit your company in the long run by reducing turnover.

“Companies face a tradeoff between more carefully screening job seekers and filling vacant roles as quickly as possible,” says Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D, Glassdoor Chief Economist about the results of his new study How Long Does it Take to Hire? Interview Duration in 25 Countries.

The study offers a look at interview times by country, global city, and industry for the United States. The average length of job interview processes in 2017 was 23.7 days across all 25 countries. The United States came in at just about the average, at 23.8 days. Additional findings include:

  • The U.S. industries with the longest interview processes are Government (53.8 days), Aerospace & Defense (32.6 days) and Energy & Utilities (28.8 days).
  • Top 3 Fastest Jobs to Hire For in the U.S.: Waiter (8 days), Retail Representatives (8.5 days) and Delivery Driver (8.5 days).
  • Among U.S. cities, the slowest hiring processes are found in Washington, D.C. (33.2 days), home of many federal government agencies. The fastest hiring processes are found in Kansas City, Kansas (16.9 days), a hub for rail transportation, manufacturing and distribution.

Getting your interview process right is about managing the tricky equation of candidate quality and time-to-hire, while keeping in mind the norms of your industry and your market. Glassdoor interview reviews can be a valuable source of feedback on the candidate experience. Improving your interview process right could even land you a spot on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Interview list.

To find out more about how companies can make sure their interview processes are quick, seamless and effective, we asked Glassdoor CHRO Carmel Galvin for some tips. Here’s what she had to share:

  1. Look for informed candidates. Spend your time on the job seekers who demonstrate they’ve come prepared. Prioritize candidates who have done their research and have a list of informed questions to prove it. In fact, candidates who use Glassdoor are 2X more likely to be hired because they’ve done the work to determine if they’re a fit for your organization, saving you time and resources.(1)
  2. Lose the unnecessary procedures. Industries like Government have particularly long interview durations due to robust background checks and necessary security clearances,  but that doesn’t mean every industry has to operate this way. Examine your interview procedures and assess whether you need all of the mechanisms to find the best candidates. Identify the 1-2 steps that work best, and ditch the rest.
  3. Think local when you hire global. When you’re hiring in local markets, know the typical hiring cycle for the location, whether in the U.S. or abroad, and make sure you’re matching or beating the local labor market standard. For global hires, check out average hiring times by country in our recent study.

Starting your interview process with more informed candidates, streamlining your procedures, and paying attention to standards in your local market can all add up to a great interview experience that brings in better hires faster. For more tips on interviewing, download our guide How to Conduct Better Interviews today.

Did you know? Glassdoor’s latest Interview Trends Report lets you quickly and easily discern patterns in how your company conducts interviews and paces toward a hire, so you can build on what works and pivot where needed to strengthen your ability to draw top talent faster – and for less.

(1) A leading third-party recruitment agency. As measured by application-to-hire ratio compared to other job sites based on a study of 2015 hiring data for 30 million applications.