Slow hiring seems to be at an all-time high. Could it be that employers are taking longer than ever to fill vacant positions? The rationale behind such lengthy hiring processes is a mystery to job seekers who need to find work. However, there are valid reasons why employers are taking their time hiring candidates.
Why Some Employers Are Slow Hiring
Why would any employer wait weeks to fill a vacant position? There are several reasons for this, one being fear of over commitment; having too many employees on staff can result in paying out too much money. Also, employers want to hold out for the most qualified candidates, but they don’t understand that slow hiring can actually leach money from their businesses and let high calibre candidates slip through their hands.
Slow Hiring Hurts Businesses
Long hiring processes can end up costing businesses money; serious money. In fact, HR thought leader Dr. John Sullivan writes, “The impact [of slow hiring] at most corporations exceeds tens of millions of dollars each year.”
Besides causing companies to lose money, slow hiring has many other negative repercussions such as causing employers to lose valuable candidates. Qualified candidates are often only on the job market for a short time before they are snatched up by employers. Because of this, if you are an employer who has several competitors, you may want to be even more efficient with your hiring process.
More so, in some instances slow hiring might negatively affect a business’s current employees. As long as there is a vacant position, there is an employee (or multiple employees) filling that role. Taking up the slack for missing employees can draw a business’s current employees away from the jobs they were originally hired to do.
Slow Hiring Damages a Company’s Brand Image
It should also be taken into consideration that quality job candidates might lose interest in employers who take too long to hire. This is because slow hiring can actually damage a company’s brand image. As candidates are dragged through a long and tedious hiring process, they will certainly let people know via word of mouth and social media.
The Myth That Propagates Slow Hiring
Some employers believe that slow hiring will help them secure high quality recruits, but this is a myth that propagates slow hiring. In actuality, Dr. Sullivan states, “the longer (employers) take, the lower the quality (i.e. the ‘on-the-job performance’ of new hires) will be. The primary reason for this drop off…is that with an extended hiring process, all of the top candidates will likely drop out, leaving only weak ones to choose from.”
As an employer, it is wise to not take long to fill a vacant position. Doing so could sorely hurt your company and cause you to lose out on securing game-changing employees. Set your company apart from the competition by being known for efficient hiring.
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