The United States is witnessing a decrease in the unemployment rate. In December 2019, the US unemployment rate fell from 3.6 in October to 3.5. The numbers haven’t been this good since December 1969.

With many companies switching to retention based hiring in the last year, 2020 is expected to be the time of drastic changes in hiring to reduce turnover.

The gig economy is also on the boom, from multinational companies to students depending on freelancers such as EssayService Writer platform for high-priority jobs.

Among the upgraded strategies, accelerating the recruitment process is one of the primary goals.

Here are a few tactics that HR can incorporate to reduce recruitment time this year.

The Importance of Reducing Time to Hire
The simple answer to why reduce your recruiting time is money.

Speeding the hiring process is imperative to save on recruiting costs. The lower the time to hire, the less expensive the cost per hire will be.

Companies that take longer than three weeks to fill a vacancy end up spending an average of $3000 to $4000 per hire. On the other hand, companies who finish the process in less than three weeks see a reduction of at least 50% of the recruitment cost.

Not only that, but a fast hiring process can also help in improving the candidate experience.

According to the global human resource consulting firm Robert Half, 57% of job seekers say that it is a long wait to hear back after an interview. This makes them lose interest in the job.

23% of the candidates mentioned that they wait only for a week for an answer, while 39% find 1-2 weeks a long period to wait.

In today's landscape, reducing the hiring time is of crucial importance. The competition for skilled talent is fierce in every industry. With the unemployment rate at historic lows, the faster you can get someone on board, the better.

The Factors That Impact the Hiring Time
Hiring time is calculated by different metrics to allow quantifying and qualifying its effectiveness.

Time to Fill

This term refers to the time to find and hire a candidate. It is usually measured as the number of days from publishing a job opening to employing the candidate.

Time to fill could also be measured from the day the job was open for approval from HR. It is indisputably influenced by factors such as industry, supply, and demand.

The metrics provide a realistic view of assessing the time it takes to attract a candidate.

Time to Hire
The more common metric is time to hire. It measures the number of days between approaching a candidate to the moment the applicant accepts the job offer.

It is the duration of the recruitment process calculated after the candidate has applied for the role. Time to Hire indicates how fast you spotted the best candidate and moved them into fast processing.

Measuring both of these will equip you with metrics that will help in taking necessary actions to hasten the process.

How to Reduce the Recruitment Time
Set up a Structured Hiring Process

One might assume that every HR in a firm follows a specific algorithm. However, that is not the case.

Many companies out there still lack a structure meaning that they end up starting from scratch every time a position opens.

Establishing a structured process is necessary to compare and monitor the data, cost, and scope of improvement.

Use an Applicant Tracking System
The right ATS can speed up your recruitment by keeping track of the process right from posting the job to dozens of career portals until the position is filled.

An ATS can help boost efficiency by notifying every application, scheduling interviews, streamlining, and sorting them. It is one of the effective ways to structure the recruiting process.

Build a Talent Pool
With a structure set up, it would be easier to create a candidate database instead of having to look for specialists for each new vacancy. There are several ways to build a talent pool, from lead generation to networking.

Having a good ATS will make it easier to store data of qualified candidates and how far they have come in a hiring process the last time.

Streamline Transparency and Feedback
Setting the candidate expectations from the beginning will spare you valuable time. It is best to share the salary range with the candidate in the initial stages itself to avoid any miscommunication later on.

It is also highly recommended to provide feedback after each interview. Especially when it comes to negative instances, this will improve the candidate's recruiting experience. At the same time, a positive image of the company will be promoted.

There needs to be open communication within the company between the recruiting team and the hiring manager. Transparency in hiring can avoid many unpleasant situations as well as help in minimizing time.

Wrapping Up
Hiring is not expected to get any easier in 2020. There is a notable shift in hiring for company culture, and increasing demand for diversity and inclusion.

It is thus paramount to stay on top of recruitment trends and develop a strategy to optimize the way your company employs the right candidates.