Finding the perfect hire usually takes time, money and resource. You only have to digest Glassdoor’s top 35 facts for UK recruiters report to truly understand that.
For starters, their research revealed that it costs an average of £3,000 to hire someone and the interview process alone takes many businesses up to 27.5 days to complete.
It’s for this very reason that spurred 76% of hiring decision-makers to claim that attracting quality candidates is their number one challenge.
With this in mind, it’s hardly surprising that you’re naturally curious as to how you can find the perfect hire in less than 29 days.
(Yes, this includes the screening, interviews, making offers and onboarding processes!)
Understanding the key philosophy
Before I start unveiling some valuable top tips, it’s essential that you understand the philosophy our team adheres to at Coburg Banks.
What’s made us so successful as a recruitment agency is our ongoing commitment towards hiring quality over quantity.
No, this doesn’t just apply to you if you’re trying to fill multiple roles.
It’s applicable every single time you look to find the perfect hire.
One of the most common misconceptions in the recruitment industry is that receiving an influx of applications equates to a top-notch job ad.
Want to know why recruitment agencies will always beat you to the best candidates? Find out here.
But who’s to say that any of these candidates are the right cultural fit for your business?
When you do things quickly, half-heartedly or vaguely, you could miss out on some of the biggest talents in your industry.
You see, hiring within 29 days is only possible if you find a group of real quality candidates who want the job.
If you fail to address this, you’ll end up with masses of CVs, which subsequently slows up the shortlisting process, leads to interview “no-shows” and dropouts, plus making a poor hiring decision.
Can your business afford to rehire again in the next 12 months?
Writing a perfect job advert
The whole process of finding the right hire in less than 29 days all starts with the job advert.
Get this element right and your company will appeal to relevant applicants.
When putting it together, follow our essential checklist for job advert success. This includes:
- Using the right tone – sell the role and make the reader feel warm. You want to invite people to apply, not put them off.
- Choose the right length – always go below 700 words. If you exceed this, you’ll start to lose the candidate’s attention.
- Make it searchable – active job seekers will look for specific roles. So, if you use the right job titles and keywords, you’ll receive applications from people who actually want to be considered.
- Focus on the job itself – don’t get bogged down on selling your company. Candidates want to know what the job entails. This way, they can decide whether it’s right for them before applying and wasting your time further down the line.
Remember, you need to advertise in the right places too.
So, if you’re hiring someone in the hospitality sector, LinkedIn probably won’t attract that kind of audience.
You need to think about what job boards your ideal candidates will use.
Or if you’re looking for entry-level candidates, attending a job fair can prove very effective as well.
Telephone interviews
The next way to find the perfect hire in less than 29 days is to cut back on the number of face-to-face interviews you conduct by having an initial phone interview stage.
Having a set of pre-set questions in place will allow you to identify whether they’re the right cultural fit for your business before meeting them.
Here are some examples taken from our previous blog:
- Where are you currently living? Are you willing to travel?
- What made you leave your last job?
- Do you have any hobbies outside of work?
- What attracted you to this position?
- What motivates you as a person?
All of these questions will help you get to know the candidate more and make smarter decisions moving forward.
Face-to-face interviews
By this point, you should only have a select few progressing.
However, it’s always worth following our four step interviewing technique guaranteed to suss out time-wasters.
If you sense a lack of communication or an inappropriate/relaxed tone in their communications with you in the lead up to the interview, this isn’t a good sign.
Similarly, if a candidate turns up late, is dressed unprofessionally or demonstrates negative body language during the interview, there’s a high probability that they’ll either let you down during the onboarding process or they’ll make an awful employee altogether.
Assessing these kinds of behaviours will help you recognise the serious candidates.
To make sure you avoid missing any of these tell-tale signs, get someone else in to cast their opinion on the candidates.
An extra set of eyes will allow you to focus on certain elements and give you a more rounded opinion of an individual.
Offer and onboarding
If you want to hire within 29 days, you need to be prepared.
Getting your offer and onboarding processes set-up beforehand will allow you to get the ball rolling almost immediately.
To successfully do this:
- Have all stationery, the workspace, software, logins etc. in place
- Prepare all of the documents ready to sign
You can read more about this in our blog: ’10 Tips for Successfully Onboarding a New Employee’.
Final thoughts
The art of how to find the perfect hire in less than 29 days mostly depends on your preparation.
Following these steps will allow you to work efficiently, identify the best candidates and only attract quality results.
To speed up the process more, it’s also worth thinking about building your talent pipeline beforehand.
This way, you can cut straight to the interview stage without having to waste a serious amount of resource and money advertising.
Want to read similar content? Then subscribe to our free blog today.
