How to improve your recruitment process and reduce your time to hire

Taking too long to fill a role, or having an unnecessarily lengthy recruitment process, can be detrimental to your business. This is especially true when it comes to recruiting fast-moving and high-quality candidates who may be speaking to several employers at the same time.

That’s why a thorough recruitment process is important. You need confidence that you have found someone with the skills and experience needed for the role and your organisation. But taking your time does not necessarily lead to a better hiring decision.

If the process is too slow, the best person for the role may have accepted another opportunity before you reach the offer stage.

The aim should therefore be to create a recruitment process that is thorough, consistent and efficient.

That means looking at every stage - from agreeing what you actually need, through attraction and interviews, to making and managing the offer.

What is 'time to hire'?

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they measure different things.

Time-to-hire focuses on the candidate journey. It looks at how long it takes to move the successful candidate from initial contact or application through to offer acceptance.

Time-to-fill measures the overall time taken to fill a vacancy, usually starting when the vacancy is approved or opened and ending when a candidate accepts the role.

Time-to-fill therefore includes the period before the successful candidate enters the recruitment process, such as advertising the vacancy, sourcing candidates and waiting for suitable applications.

Both measures are useful. 

A long time-to-fill might tell you that attraction, sourcing or another part of the overall recruitment process is causing delays, while a long time-to-hire may suggest that your shortlisting, interviews or decision-making are taking too long. 

Whichever measures you use, define the start and end points clearly and apply them consistently so you can make meaningful comparisons over time.

Why a lengthy hiring process can be detrimental

It is important to regularly review your recruitment and selection process and make sure the experience of applying to work for your organisation is as smooth as possible.

A slow recruitment process can create several problems:

Vacancies remain open for longer

The longer a role remains vacant, the longer your organisation may need to redistribute work across the existing team, arrange temporary or interim cover or manage with reduced capacity. This can increase costs and put additional pressure on day-to-day operations.

Vacancies can also put additional pressure on existing employees if responsibilities have to be redistributed for an extended period, particularly in teams that are already stretched.

It is also worth considering how much time your hiring managers spend coordinating recruitment, and whether parts of the process could be streamlined to make better use of their time.

Candidates can lose interest 

Taking too long to come back to candidates you have interviewed could result in them feeling disengaged or frustrated. 

In a competitive market, good candidates are unlikely to put every other opportunity on hold while waiting for one employer to make a decision.

By the time you are ready to progress or make an offer, they may already have accepted another role.

Candidate experience can affect your employer brand

Your recruitment process is often one of the first direct experiences somebody has of your organisation.

Long periods of silence, repeatedly rearranged interviews or unclear next steps can shape how a candidate feels about the employer – regardless of whether they eventually receive an offer.

A strong recruitment process therefore needs to be efficient and provide a good candidate experience.

How to improve your recruitment process

Reducing time-to-hire is not about rushing candidates through interviews or cutting corners.

Often, the biggest improvements come from making key decisions before recruitment starts and removing avoidable delays between stages.

Here is how to review the process from start to finish.

Agree exactly what you need before going to market

One of the easiest ways to create delays is to start recruiting before everybody involved agrees what they are looking for.

Before the vacancy goes live, agree:

• The purpose of the role
• The main responsibilities
• The genuinely essential skills and experience
• What is desirable rather than essential
• The salary or salary range
• Working arrangements and location
• Who needs to approve the appointment
• Who will shortlist candidates
• Who needs to be involved in interviews and decision-making
• How many stages there will be
• What each interview or assessment stage is designed to establish
• Who will make the final decision

This may sound basic, but changing the brief once candidates are already being interviewed can waste a significant amount of time.

For example, if the brief says a particular skill is desirable rather than essential, it would not make sense to reject suitable candidates later because the hiring team has decided it is suddenly a mandatory requirement.

Get those decisions made at the beginning.

Get the salary right from the start

Salary can become another source of delay if expectations are not agreed before recruitment begins. Make sure the budget has been approved and that the salary reflects the skills, experience and level of responsibility required for the role.

If you are unsure whether the salary is competitive, a specialist recruiter can provide current market evidence on comparable roles, candidate expectations and how your overall package compares with other employers.

They can advise on:

• Current salaries for comparable roles
• Candidate expectations
• Skills that are particularly difficult to find
• How your overall package compares with other employers
• Whether your brief is realistic for the available budget

It’s far better to address a salary mismatch before advertising than after you have spent several weeks interviewing candidates.

Write a clear job description and advert

Whether you advertise through a job board, recruitment agency or your own careers page, candidates need enough information to decide whether the opportunity is relevant to them.

Your job description should provide a clear but concise explanation of:

• The purpose of the role
• Key responsibilities
• Essential skills and experience
• Desirable skills
• Reporting lines
• Working arrangements
• Salary and benefits, where possible

Be clear about what is genuinely essential.

An unnecessarily long or overly restrictive list of requirements can discourage suitable candidates from applying.

The job advert should then turn that information into clear, engaging candidate-facing copy. Explain what the role involves, what the organisation can offer and why someone might want to apply. 

Where relevant, link through to your careers site, benefits information or employee value proposition.

Choose the right attraction and sourcing methods

Relying on a single attraction method may limit the number and range of suitable candidates you reach.

Think about where the people you want to hire are likely to be.

Your recruitment strategy could include:

• Your own careers website
• Specialist and general job boards
• LinkedIn and other professional networks
• Employee referrals
• Previous applicants or existing talent pools
• Direct sourcing
• Industry networks and events
• A specialist recruitment agency

Different roles will require different approaches. A high-volume vacancy may generate plenty of applications through advertising, while a specialist or senior position might need a more targeted search. 

If you are making a long-term appointment, working with a specialist permanent recruitment partner can help you identify and approach candidates who may not be actively looking for a new role.

Think about the type of candidate you need to reach, how likely they are to be actively job seeking and which channels are most likely to reach them.

The important thing is to decide this early rather than losing several weeks to an attraction method that is unlikely to work for the people you need.

Give everyone responsibilities and deadlines

Recruitment often slows down in the gaps between activities rather than during the interviews themselves.

A CV sits in an inbox waiting for feedback. An interview can’t be booked because diaries have not been checked. Final approval is delayed because the right person was not involved earlier.

At the start of the process, agree who owns each stage and how quickly it should happen.

For example:

• Application or CV feedback within an agreed timeframe, for example two working days
• Interview availability supplied before the vacancy goes live
• Interview feedback completed as soon as possible after the interview
• Final decision made within an agreed timeframe
• Candidate feedback communicated promptly

Those targets can be adjusted for your organisation, but having an agreed expectation is better than leaving every stage open-ended.

Hiring managers also need to make recruitment a priority when there is a live vacancy. If diaries routinely delay interviews by a week or two, strong candidates can easily disappear from the process.

Changes to the brief, difficulties coordinating diaries, slow feedback and delays approving an offer can all add unnecessary time to the process. Agreeing responsibilities, timescales and decision-makers before recruitment begins can help keep the process moving and reduce the risk of losing strong candidates.

Shortlist against agreed criteria

Shortlisting should be based on the criteria agreed at the start of the process.

Consider creating a simple scoring framework based on the most important requirements for the role. This helps hiring managers compare candidates consistently and avoids the brief gradually changing as different CVs arrive. It can also support a fairer and more consistent process by keeping the focus on evidence that is relevant to the role, rather than subjective impressions.

The goal isn’t to interview everybody who looks potentially suitable. It’s to identify the candidates who most closely meet the agreed requirements and move them through the process efficiently.

Use a structured assessment process

Interviews should help you gather evidence that supports a hiring decision.

Decide in advance:

• What you need to assess
• Which questions will be asked
• Who will assess each area
• How responses will be scored
• Whether a task, presentation or technical assessment is genuinely required

Using a consistent set of core questions linked to the requirements of the role can make candidates easier to compare and support a fairer, more evidence-based process.

Any assessment should also have a clear purpose. Only include a task, presentation or technical assessment where it gives you useful evidence that you cannot gather effectively through the interview alone.

Cut unnecessary interview stages

More interviews do not automatically mean a better hire.

Ask yourself what each stage is adding.

If the first and second interviews cover almost identical ground, could they be combined? Could two decision-makers attend the same interview rather than meeting candidates separately?

For some positions, several stages will be necessary. Senior appointments, technical roles or jobs involving multiple stakeholders may require a more detailed assessment.

The important question is:

“Does every stage help us make a better decision?”

If the answer is no, consider removing it.

You should also tell candidates at the beginning what the process is likely to involve and, where possible, when each stage will take place.

If the process changes, explain why and keep candidates updated. Unexpected additional stages can cause frustration and may make candidates question how well the recruitment process has been planned.

Keep candidates informed

Keep candidates informed throughout the recruitment process, not just when you need something from them.

Set clear standards for:

• Confirming applications or introductions
• Providing interview details
• Explaining the next stage
• Letting candidates know when they can expect a decision
• Updating them if there is a delay
• Providing feedback after interviews

If a decision is delayed, tell candidates what has changed and when they can realistically expect an update. A brief, honest update is better than leaving them unsure whether they are still being considered. 

Prompt, honest communication can help keep good candidates engaged.

Make decisions and provide feedback quickly

Try to gather feedback from everyone involved in an interview as soon as possible.

Delaying feedback can make it harder to compare candidates consistently and increases the risk that important details from interviews are forgotten.

Structured interview notes or scoring can help.

If a candidate is unsuccessful, provide feedback promptly where appropriate. This supports a better candidate experience and allows them to move forward with other opportunities.

If they are successful, move quickly to the offer stage while the candidate is still engaged and the opportunity is fresh in their mind.

Prepare the offer before you need it

The recruitment process is not finished when you decide who you want.

Offer approval can become another unnecessary delay if salary, notice periods, pre-employment checks or internal sign-off have not been considered in advance.

Before making the offer, make sure you know:

• The approved salary
• Any flexibility available
• The benefits package
• Proposed start date
• Notice period
• Any pre-employment checks required
• Who needs to approve the final offer

Where possible, make the verbal offer promptly and follow it with written confirmation.

If you are working with a recruiter, they can help confirm salary expectations, notice periods and other priorities before the offer is made, as well as raise any concerns that could affect whether the candidate accepts.

Reduce the risk of offer rejection and candidate withdrawal

A quick process helps, but speed alone will not guarantee an accepted offer.

Candidates may be more likely to withdraw if expectations change during the process or if the final offer differs from what has previously been discussed.

Throughout the process, keep checking:

• Salary expectations
• Other opportunities the candidate is considering
• Notice period and potential start date
• Working pattern expectations
• Location and travel
• Benefits or other priorities that matter to them
• Whether anything about the opportunity is causing concern

Do not save all these conversations until the offer stage.

If you are working with a recruitment partner, they can maintain regular contact with candidates throughout the process, check whether expectations have changed and raise concerns early enough for you to address them.

Measure your recruitment process

If you want to reduce recruitment delays, you first need to understand where they are happening.

Track the journey from sourcing and application through shortlisting, interview, decision and offer. Useful recruitment measures include:

Time-to-hire

How long does the successful candidate spend in your recruitment process?

Time-to-fill

How long does the vacancy remain open from approval to accepted offer?

Offer acceptance rate

What proportion of offers are accepted?

If this is low, look at salary, candidate communication, speed of decision-making and whether expectations are being managed consistently.

Candidate withdrawal rate

Where are candidates dropping out of the process?

A pattern of withdrawals after a particular interview stage could tell you something important about the length or experience of the process.

Source effectiveness

Which channels produce candidates who reach interview and offer stage?

High application numbers do not necessarily indicate a successful source if very few applicants meet the criteria.

Quality of hire

Ultimately, faster recruitment only helps if you still appoint the right people.

There is no single measure of quality of hire. Depending on your organisation, you might look at probation completion, performance, retention, hiring-manager feedback or a combination of these measures.

Track these measures consistently over time and look for patterns by role type, team or recruitment stage. A single figure is useful, but the trend will usually tell you more about where the process is improving or slowing down.

The aim is to find the right balance between speed and quality, rather than focusing on one number in isolation.

Where can a specialist recruiter help reduce recruitment delays?

Using a recruitment partner doesn’t simply mean outsourcing the advertising of a vacancy. A specialist recruiter can help you make better-informed decisions throughout the process, reach relevant candidates more quickly and keep the recruitment process moving when internal time or resource is limited.

A specialist consultant can bring current market knowledge, challenge unrealistic parts of the brief and help identify potential delays before they affect the search.

For example, they can:

• Advise whether your salary and requirements reflect the current candidate market
• Help distinguish essential skills from an unrealistic wish list
• Provide access to active and passive candidates
• Recommend the most appropriate attraction strategy
• Pre-screen candidates against agreed criteria
• Coordinate interviews and availability
• Keep candidates engaged between stages
• Gather honest feedback from both sides
• Manage salary and offer expectations
• Provide market evidence if the search is not producing the expected candidates

This can be particularly valuable for specialist or hard-to-fill roles, where the available candidate pool is limited, the brief needs testing against the market or delays are already creating pressure elsewhere in the organisation.

By involving a specialist recruiter early, employers can reduce time spent searching in the wrong areas, identify potential problems sooner and maintain momentum between each stage of the process.

For more on the wider advantages of working with a recruitment partner, read our 5 benefits of using a specialist recruiter.

Recruitment process audit: where are you losing time?

Use these questions to review each stage of your recruitment process and identify where delays are occurring.

Before recruitment begins

• Is the vacancy fully approved before you go to market?
• Do all decision-makers agree on the purpose and requirements of the role?
• Have essential and desirable skills been clearly separated?
• Is the salary agreed and appropriate for the market?
• Are the working pattern and location clear?
• Is the full interview and assessment process agreed?
• Does everyone involved understand their role and responsibilities?
• Are likely interview dates already available?
• Is it clear who has authority to make the final hiring decision?

Attraction and shortlisting

• Is the job description clear, accurate and up to date?
• Does the advert explain why someone should want the role, as well as what you need from them?
• Are you using the right channels to reach the candidates you need?
• Are applications and CVs reviewed within an agreed timeframe?
• Are candidates shortlisted against consistent, pre-agreed criteria?
• If suitable candidates are not coming through, how quickly do you review the salary, brief or attraction strategy?

Interviews and assessment

• Does every interview or assessment stage have a clear purpose?
• Could any stages be combined or removed?
• Are interview questions linked to the requirements of the role?
• Are candidates assessed against consistent criteria?
• Do candidates know what the full process will involve and the likely timescales?
• Is feedback gathered promptly after every interview?
• Are delays between interview stages causing suitable candidates to wait unnecessarily?
• Are candidates kept updated if the process takes longer than expected?

Decision and offer stage

• Can everyone involved in the decision provide feedback quickly?
• Is the salary already approved?
• Have the candidate’s salary expectations been checked during the process?
• Have notice period, working arrangements and potential start dates been discussed?
• Are any pre-employment checks understood in advance?
• Can the final offer be approved quickly?
• Is the candidate kept informed between the final interview and offer?
• Is someone maintaining contact with the candidate between offer acceptance and their start date?

Measurement

• Do you know your average time-to-hire?
• Do you know your average time-to-fill?
• Can you see which stages of the process create the longest delays?
• Do you track offer acceptance rates?
• Do you know why candidates withdraw from the process or reject offers?
• Do you measure which recruitment sources produce suitable candidates?
• Do you review candidate feedback or experience?
• Do you have a way of assessing quality of hire?

If you answer no to several questions in one area, or regularly see delays at the same stage, that is a good place to focus your improvements. You do not necessarily need to shorten every part of the process. The priority should be removing avoidable waiting while retaining the stages you need to make a robust hiring decision.

Improve your recruitment process with Sellick Partnership

Reducing time-to-hire is about removing avoidable delays, not removing the checks and assessment needed to make a sound hiring decision.

An efficient process starts with a clear brief and continues through targeted attraction, structured assessment, prompt communication and a well-managed offer.

Regularly reviewing your recruitment data can also help you understand where delays occur and whether changes are actually improving results.

If you would like support reviewing your recruitment process, benchmarking a role against the market or finding candidates for a current vacancy, speak to Sellick Partnership. Our specialist consultants can help you test the brief, understand candidate expectations and build a recruitment process that keeps suitable candidates engaged from first contact through to offer.