Here at Eleven Eleven Talent, our Recruitment Collective is consistently keeping an eye out on market trends to serve our clients and candidates better and with intention. This past month has brought to light a HOT piece of market intelligence regarding the hiring process climate.

The trend? Lengthier hiring processes are edging their way back in and becoming the norm.

Who is this important for? Organizations, recruiters AND candidates.

As the hiring process has evolved and solidified from company to company, employers have created more thorough interviews that include extensive screenings along with candidate assignments or projects. According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, the average time-to-hire includes multiple interviews and lasts around 43 days. However, 62% of working professionals say they lose interest two weeks after an initial interview if they haven’t heard back. Today we’re sharing our top five tips to ensure candidates stay engaged throughout these lengthier processes. Here’s how to come out on top during this time:

1.Don’t Wing It!

Ensure your interview process is established up front from start to finish. No one likes surprises that throw them off – especially during interviews! Make sure you prepare your candidate questions, get clear on both company & role requirements, ensure timelines are clear and know how you’re going to handle each step of the hiring process from the get go.

2.Communicate Expectations

Go above and beyond and provide your candidates with an outline and expectations up front as to what will be involved (some still don’t practice this!). Additionally, check with the hiring manager on assignment components, if the interview will be hosted virtually or in-person, and what the expected time-to-hire will be. These are all valuable pieces of information you can provide to candidates ahead of time to make sure they’re good and ready to show up as their best selves.

3.Aim for Less

Do try to keep the process as short as possible while allowing for ample connection, assessment and alignment to still hold focus. Whether you’re an internal recruiter, working with an agency or you’re flying solo as a freelancer, sometimes the time frame isn’t always in your control – this is where communicating expectations will come back into play to ensure everyone involved feels clear on the process.

4.Be Efficient With Meetings

Nobody wants to have an unnecessary amount of meetings during the interview process whether they be internal or external meetings with the candidate that could be condensed down to a few. Aim to limit these meetings along with the duration between meetings for a more efficient process. If a delay pops up, communicate with your candidate to make sure they aren’t left in the dark.

5.Transparency is Key

Transparency hasn’t always been at the forefront of the recruitment process, but if there were ever a time to go all in, 2022 (and beyond) is it! A little TRC – Transparency, Respect, and Communication – is KEY and allows candidates to feel engaged and excited about the process rather than fearing it – even if time-to-hire is growing longer!

With today’s candidate-driven market persisting, it’s important to note that although hiring processes are longer, you should still aim to make them as efficient as possible in order to retain your candidates for the duration – even if you’re the most talented and engaging recruiter they’ve met, if the process takes longer than is worth their time, your company will lose out and the candidate will move on to greener pastures.

Looking to hire top talent but need some additional support?

We would love to help you build your team with purpose and keep candidates engaged throughout the process. You can connect with us here – we can’t wait to connect!

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