Candidate screening too slow? Here’s how much it’s costing the company (and how to fix it)
It is one of the most important moments of any recruiter’s activity, but, let’s admit it, also one of the “heaviest.” We’re talking about when, having published a job posting, lots of applications come in and we have to sift through them all to see whether or not they are right for us: what is called candidate screening. But what happens when this screening is too slow? That is, when an HR takes weeks or even months to view the various CVs? And how can this screening activity be improved?
Let’s look at that in this article by starting with a better understanding of what candidate screening consists of, what can possibly slow it down, and how ATS software can speed it up. Making recruiters happy but also candidates.
Candidate screening: what it is and why it is important
Candidate screening refers to the process of reviewing and analyzing resumes received following the posting of a job announcement. In addition to resumes, HR is responsible for reading any cover letters, verifying responses to any questionnaires, or perhaps work already done.
Think about the case where you are looking for a copywriter or graphic designer: if you are asked to submit a list of articles or a portfolio, these materials also fall under application screening.
The review activity also involves checking whether what the open position requires matches what the candidates say they have in terms of skills and experience. In fact, at this first stage, one needs to be certain that the candidate or applicant is suitable so as to proceed with contacting them by e-mail or telephone to schedule an interview.
It goes without saying that this part is not only important, but crucial: if it somehow stops or does not work as it should by becoming slow, tiring, and burdensome, you have to try to figure out how to solve the problem. Not least because, although technology comes to HR’s aid, it seems that on average one hire or better decision to hire a person requires at least 23 hours of screening.
Obviously, it then depends on the HR team: if it is composed of one person, these hours might increase, if it is composed of 5-6, the time might decrease a bit, but consider that along with checking the match between skills/experience and the vacant position, HR increasingly uses social recruiting. That is, it tries to figure out what the personality of the candidate is also from the posts he/she publishes, the comments he/she makes on various social networks, photos, and so on. An activity that takes quite some time and should not be superficial at all.
There is also another thing to be said: on average, good people stay on the market for a maximum of 10 days. People who are looking for work for various reasons – dissatisfaction, desire to make a career of a certain type, economic needs, family, etc. – and do not want to wait too long, but above all who can be contacted quickly by other companies. Screening too slowly can have several consequences. Let’s see which ones.
The consequences of screening candidates too slowly
Spending too many hours evaluating whether a candidate is right for us can also have repercussions within the company. Let’s see what they are.
Turnover and low team performance
Slow screening affects not only the number of potential candidates you miss, but also the team that needs the new person(s).
What it means. That a group of people is working beyond their limits, making up for the absence of someone who is on maternity leave, sick leave, or has recently left, and is working understaffed and much more than they should and, in the long run, can do.
Each of us can take excessive workloads for a really limited time; if it goes on for weeks or months, team members, no matter how good they are, risk burnout.
And this, in cascade, leads to a decline in productivity and a deterioration in the quality of work that the customer also notices. In addition, the absence or unavailability of skilled people could lead to others having to try their hand at tasks, programs or tools that require skills other than their own. In this sense, if a technician could take 2 hours to do a particular job, those who are not could take as long as 2 days!
What does this entail? Slow screening of candidates can increase staff turnover. In fact, such a situation could lead to job abandonment and lead to burnout.
Candidate dissatisfaction and negative effects on candidate experience
But dissatisfied candidates can obviously be too: too long recruiting times, starting from screening and ending with scheduling the first interview, can also affect the candidate experience.
Those who feel neglected, disregarded or even “abandoned” during the selection process, what do they do? They undoubtedly tend to say so everywhere, and this leads to negative reviews that tarnish the company’s reputation.
And often a negative candidate experience also affects the company’s business. Think about whether the values you share include caring for people, transparency, etc., and then if this doesn’t translate into practice… Before applying, people read other people’s reviews, and if they are bad, this can put them off responding to the ad. And the same is true in the case of passive applicants as well.
Of course, this all benefits competitors: given the same situation or offer, the company’s reputation or the attention given to candidates during the selection process can make all the difference!
Time to hire and distorted recruiting metrics
Too slow screening then affects recruiting metrics, which is far from negligible given that for recruiters, time to hire is one of the most important indicators of success.
When a recruiter gets bogged down in hundreds and hundreds of CVs, this leads to really long time to hire, much longer than they had anticipated. And of course this also affects costs.
There are those who think that having vacancies doesn’t lead to big expenses, in fact it saves money because it’s one less person to pay a salary, contributions, welfare and so on. But no: if the missing profile is that of a technician, the annual cost can be up to 2 times of his or her salary.
But this applies to any figure. Say the press officer is missing and there is no one to replace him. Not being able to communicate what the company does means not being able to do promotion, advertising and corporate branding. But if this absence then goes on for months, the newcomer will also have to reinforce all the contacts, taking up valuable time.
Not to mention the HR team employed in a delayed hire. These are people who will not be able to pursue other activities such as meeting with employees on a regular basis, team building initiatives, and so on.
Every day that passes with a “vacancy” has a considerable impact on productivity, but also on innovation and revenue.
Negative impact on brand reputation
We’ve said it to some extent, but ripetita iuvant: a too-slow selection process invalidates a company’s hard-won online and social reputation. It really takes very little to ruin a company’s brand reputation, and in a hyperconnected world, a negative review can take a turn we don’t expect and set off a chain reaction that is hard to stop.
Poor success of the selection process
Last but not least: if the selection process has poor success, it goes without saying that it cannot be continued in this way. What does this mean? That you have to redesign and define a more effective recruiting strategy, and this involves both unanticipated time and resources. It also moves the time when the ideal candidate will be found further and further away. That’s why it’s important to make sure the strategy is right from the start and avoid screening candidates too slowly.
How to improve and speed up screening with an ATS
Of great help can be technology and in particular an ATS software such as Inrecruiting.
An ATS allows you to collect all applications in a centralized database and keep track of all the important information–CVs, applications, interviews, feedback, etc. – and store it in one place. You will have a true overview of the candidate’s profile: at a glance you can see the important information you may need in the eventual interview.
The same candidate will be able to access his or her restricted area and update his or her CV with other materials (video CVs, documents, portfolios, etc…)
Using an Applicant Tracking System then allows you to collect applications as you receive them and communicate with candidates. You can send a message to those who sent you a CV to let them know that the application has been accepted, individual emails to administer a pre-screening questionnaire, or send a newsletter to indicate new job openings in line with a target pool of candidates. Having these tools to interact with candidates will help you accompany them through all stages of selection with personalized communications, never making them feel neglected.
An ATS software also allows you to create a candidate pipeline also known as a talent pool: whenever you need to start a new selection process, you can first check who has applied in the past, how the selection went, etc., and if necessary try to contact them again. This is also thanks to Inda‘s semantic engine that allows you to use synonyms and keywords similar to those used for the search to make it more accurate.
These are useful systems for avoiding slow, ineffective application screening that can turn into a boomerang. Learn more about them in a dedicated Inrecruiting demo.
Digital Marketing presso Inrecruiting