WASHINGTON — Companies large and small are increasingly complaining about the difficulty they have filling jobs, but part of the problem may be the hiring process itself.
While a mismatch between skill sets and jobs available is a dominant problem, qualified candidates are in demand, and thus not likely willing to wait patiently for a job offer.
A new survey by placement firm Robert Half says nearly 60 percent of active job-seekers said the most frustrating part is the long wait after the interview. Of those who have been interviewed, 40 percent of candidates think a hiring process that takes even one or two weeks is much too long.
The survey also found job-seekers will scratch one potential job off the list and move on to the next prospect in as little as two weeks.
Robert Half suggests that if you’re the one doing the hiring, speed up the process.
“In the private sector, the organizations that have a streamlined process that can move a candidate through that process in a quick fashion and, maybe just as importantly, communicate well with people, are the ones that are able to land candidates,” Steve Saah, at Robert Half’s Washington-region office, told WTOP.
Robert Half says job-seekers in fields such as compliance, cybersecurity, big data and finance can get up to six offers within a week, and they often choose the company that has an organized recruiting process.
Nearly a third of the 1,000 U.S. workers surveyed said a protracted hiring process makes them question a company’s ability to make other decisions.
The federal government’s hiring process is notoriously slow — one of the main reasons government agencies are losing top talent to the private sector.
