We all know that speed-to-hire is critical in today’s candidate-driven market. But we also know that companies want to make well-informed, solid decisions in their hiring process. Balancing the two can sometimes be a challenge. Read below a few suggestions that our clients find helpful to speed up their process while ensuring they are selecting the best fit for their company.

• Make sure everyone in the interview process knows what you really want. Have a prep meeting before the first candidates are interviewed. Everyone on the interview panel or in the process should understand your “must haves,” your “nice-to-haves,” and any other competencies that you feel are important for the role. Sending the job description and assuming everyone understands what you want will generally lead to more process time in filling the role and decrease the potential to find your ideal candidate.
• Create service level agreements with those in your internal recruiting process. Your internal recruiters should send resumes to hiring managers and have them returned with feedback within 24 hours.
• Ensure the hiring manager speaks directly to the agency recruiter to describe the “ideal candidate.” There is typically something not written on the job description that they are looking for. Is it a certain energy level, is it someone who worked during college, is it someone who has more than five years of tenure at each of their last three jobs? The partnership between a hiring manager, the internal HR department, and the agency recruiter is critical to finding your ideal candidate. This also helps the recruiter narrow their search and send fewer resumes with better candidates.
• Be on time for the interview and ensure all your interviewers are on time. You only get one shot at making a first impression. During an interview you want the candidate to feel they are important. Show them that filling this job vacancy is important to you and you will not let other tasks distract you. Also, remember the candidate probably took time off work to be there – your professional courtesy makes a big impression.

If you plan before the process even begins, you will allow yourself more time to have in-depth discussions with your interviewers and make great decisions.