The time lag involved in offering the suited candidate a position in the company, has increased over the years. According to a recent Glassdoor analysis, it examines the reasons for hiring process delays fuelling the current trend in recruitment followed by HRs across the globe. What are the key factors driving this time lag in recruitment? What kind of job seekers are facing the longest delays and why?
On examining, 344,250 interview reviews from six countries the analysis found that hiring process delays on an average interview process has increased from 3.3 to 3.7 days in 2009. A variety of factors affect the length of the interview process to include company, country, difference in job titles, industry niche and also change in the interview methods for screening candidates used by employers contribute to hiring process delays.
The Glassdoor analysis findings were outlined in a report titled, ‘Why is Hiring Taking Longer?’It also reflects on the international time differences required for conducting interview that results in delayed hiring. Average overall job interview process takes 22.9 days in the U.S, while in France, Germany and UK, and Australia they take an average 4 to 9 days longer as in comparison to US and Canada.
French job candidates report the longest duration at 31.9 days, followed by Germany at 28.8 days, the United Kingdom at 28.6 days, and Australia at 27.9 days.
Also hiring policies followed by employers result in delayed hiring of the best candidate suited for the job. This also results in impacting the length of the interview process, wherein some employers choose group panel interviews to decide on the best candidate for the vacant position.
See: Hiring downtrend in second half of 2015, says survey
Other processes that form a part of the interview and scanning of candidates include skills test, background check, candidate presentations, and more which have significant impact on the hiring times. Also personal characteristics of job seekers to include gender, age and education levels have zero statistical effects on the lengths of an interview.
“Right now hiring delays can represent money left on the table both for workers and employers. There has been surprisingly little research on ‘interview durations’ from the job seeker’s perspective, and how company HR policies influence delays in job matching throughout the economy,” noted Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor Chief Economist.
Economy-wide shifts are leading to recent spurt in the hiring processes globally being driven by job titles, hiring of industries, company HR policies and composition of employers.
Considering employee skill tests, background checks and drug tests is becoming more common among employers looking to hire talent on board. Stating current trends, “increased reliance on job candidate “screening” methods is a likely contributor to the recent trend toward longer interview times.”
Only job candidates in Canada report shorter hiring times at 22.1 days on average. Also employers with 10 to 49 employees, candidates experienced a hiring process that took between 15.2 and 16.9 days across the U.S., Canada and UK. For comparison, for employers with more than 100,000 employees, candidates experienced a hiring process that took between 23.0 and 36.1 days across these three countries.
Jobs that take the longest for candidates to go through the hiring process were typically government, academic or senior executive positions. In the U.S., police officers report the longest process (127.6 days), followed by patent examiners (87.6 days), assistant professors (58.7 days), senior vice presidents (55.5 days) and program analysts (51.8 days).
The shortest process is typically found among more routine, lower-skilled job titles. The shortest hiring times were for entry level marketing jobs (3.9 days), followed by entry level sales (5.4 days), servers and bartenders (5.7 days), entry level account managers (5.9 days), and dishwashers (6.9 days).
Also read: Hiring Remote Workers? Here are 5 Considerations
