Why Does It Take So Long To Fill A Job?

Have you ever seen the same job consistently advertised ? You think your experience matches the job specifications exactly but you still don't get a call from their Human Resources Team. You see the same role posted 3 weeks later. Why does this happen? Let's explore this.

Companies are trying hard to fill their open job requisitions. They understand that it can be costly both in time and money if they hire the wrong employee for the role. An unsuccessful hire can cost the company not only time, but also money paid out in salaries, lost revenue and a potential negative work culture environment.

Let's explore why does it take so long to fill a job.

Corporations Do Not Invest In Their Recruitment and Hiring Processes

If you ask a company, "have you improved your sales process within the last 5 years" or "have you re-vamped and improved your material workflow". The obvious answer is "yes we have. These are critical important workflows that increase efficiency and revenue". When asked the same question about their Recruitment Processes, I find many companies lag behind in reviewing, evaluating and assessing their current recruitment process and recruitment strategies. There have been many technological advancements in the recruitment process throughout the past 10 years. Companies refuse to invest and update their recruitment processes.

One important metric to measure in a company is the "Time to Hire". This is a critical metric every company should measure in their recruitment process. The inefficiency of not having a critical employee at the right time can cause the production line to stall which yields in loss revenue.

Recruitment Does Not Yield Productivity or Increase in Gross Revenue. It is seen as a Liability

Recruitment has always taken a back seat when it comes to productivity. Recruitment has become an undesirable word that all companies have to face. The challenge in searching the market and on-boarding a new employee can be daunting. No one wants to spend the time, money and effort to interview multiple candidates only to have the candidate not take the role at the end. It is more efficient to promote someone from within or spread the work across the multiple employees in the department. However, during the pandemic, there has been a sharp surge in material and labour shortages and in increase in job openings to alleviate the stress that is spread through multiple employees. This causes a negative and toxic work culture where employees can be overly stressed leading to Stress Leave and a toxic work environment.

Recruitment Can Be A Costly Endeavor

Recruitment can be expensive. For example if you want to hire 10 people in a given year and your average cost per hire is $8,500, then you can expect to spend $85,000 per year just on recruitment expensive. These expenses range from advertising, software, on-boarding and potentially relocation expenses related to the hire. Companies should be consistently tracking how much they spend on recruitment and see if there are significant changes YOY. It would make sense to spend money on retaining the employee as standard attrition rate for a company is roughly 30%.

We are increasingly see a push to reduce the amount of money spent per hire. Technology like ZipRecruiter and Indeed makes corporations think technology can solve their recruitment challenges. This is not the case. With my experience, I find that recruitment needs a human touch. When recruiters truly understand the candidate's motivation for career change , we can put forth a compelling understanding of why the company should be hiring 'said' candidate. Further down the line, you will need a human touch to navigate delicate issues like salary and offer negotiation which will (hopefully) lead to a close. This is why Recruiters exist and Technology cannot replace what we do on a daily basis.

If you want to talk more about cost per hire or why it takes so long to fill a job and what you can do to stand out...

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