The average time-to-hire is 27.5 days, but when the market becomes saturated with candidates that figure can swell. No hiring team wants to see their time-to-hire creep past the month mark which is why it’s important to equip yourself with hiring strategies that will demand less of your recruiters time and ensure you’re engaging only with the best talent in the market. Here are four ways to stop your time-to-hire spiralling out of control.

Refine your job specification

Could your job specification do with a little touch up? Chances are if it was drafted up quickly or written over a year ago then the answer is yes. An outdated job specification will increase the number of un-fit applications you receive, and this will do no favour for you time-to-hire. Consider that you have a vacant sales executive role and you post the job description directly from the shared files folder. This file may ask for a minimum of one year experience in B2B sales but now you think of it, you’re going to have to onboard your sales recruit remotely so two years’ experience is much more reasonable.

Pre-recorded first round interviews

HR teams and candidates have become more accepting of virtual in recent months and a recent survey found that 89% of companies are taking advantage of video interviewing software. Conducting a one-way interview where a candidates record their answers to a set of pre-determined questions will save you a lot of prep time and streamline the process too. This will allow you to eliminate unsuitable candidates more efficiently, leaving you more time to engage with those who are more qualified.

When dealing with large volumes of applications, it’s important to pick out the informed candidates – those who are evidently engaged with your company and have done their research. These people will turn out to be the best fit for your company because their values are more likely to align with yours. Not only does this mean they’ll be more productive and mesh well with your team, but they’re also likely to remain with your company for longer.

Make use of SMS

Almost two in three candidates admit that employers aren’t in contact often enough throughout the recruitment process and here lies your opportunity to offer a superior candidate experience. Companies who fail to engage with prospective employees regularly, risk losing those candidates to competitors. Also, unsatisfied candidates who’ve had a negative experience during the hiring process are less likely to accept a job offer. But keeping in touch with candidates when applications are the through the roof is impossible, right?

Enter SMS. Rather than leaving your email to be buried in amongst the candidate’s junk mail, you can generate automated yet personalised SMS messages using various different software packages. Research reveals that SMS open rates are an astounding 98% while for email they’re only 20%. This will provide vital when it comes to letting candidates know if they’ve been successful – because no one wants to get a reputation for ghosting a candidate

Partner with a recruitment agency

With well-established relationships in their industry, a recruitment agency will have access to some of the best talent on the market. Not only do you need to worry about protecting your employer brand when application numbers skyrocket, but an influx of CVs can also make picking out the top talent a tricky task. After all, which HR teams have the time to sort through countless applications?

It’s common for employers to stick to hiring candidates from safe sectors when they’re inundated with CVs, immediately ruling out people who don’t have experience in their industry. But this risks losing the top talent to competitors. Agencies know how to pick out the top-performing candidates and have the high-quality recruiting technology that is designed to improve quality of hire. If you’re looking to onboard your next recruit remotely you need to make sure you hire someone who can hit the ground running, and partnering with a recruitment agency is a sure way to get results.

Choose BMS to help you find the next top-performing team member

Since 1990, we’ve been helping our clients find the top sales and marketing talent out there and with 15 specialist divisions, our Consultants can offer you support that is specific to your market. At BMS, we’re confident sourcing that top talent from a large pool of candidates, so if your time-to-hire is spiralling out of control and you’re struggling to spot quality candidates from a sea of CVs then it’s time to get in touch.