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Making a Hiring Decision

There is one common reason why employers lose out on talent: their decision-making is painfully slow.

In a candidate-driven market, the best talent can often choose who they want to work for and, whilst it pays to be thorough during the decision-making process, taking too long to provide a job offer can reduce the likelihood of securing your first choice candidate. However, there is plenty you can do to prevent this from occurring.

Set a ‘Hire by Date’

Strict deadlines can be an effective way to keep us accountable and on track to meet strategic timeframes. However, many businesses fail to set ‘hire by dates’ for their vacancies even though they’re easy to set up and often highly effective. A ‘hire by date’ can give you a sense of urgency and help mitigate the risk of missing out on the best talent. 

Draft an Offer Letter Early

A great way to save time during the decision-making process is to have a draft offer letter already prepared for candidates who reach the final interview stage. Sending an offer of employment on the same day you inform the ideal candidate that they were successful will leave a strong impression, and often provide them with less time to consider alternative opportunities.

Communicate with Transparency & Honesty

It is important to acknowledge that you will sometimes face unavoidable delays during the recruitment process. When this happens, open and honest communication will be key to hiring talented people. An easy way to do this is to make it habit to explain every step of your recruitment process as your candidates move through them. This will help to keep applicants engaged with your business and informed of what’s happening next.

Falling silent for days and weeks whilst you deliberate with your colleagues can alienate candidates. It will cost you time and money if your first choice candidate accepts another role due to unplanned delays. When you face delays, communicating the reasons as to why these delays exist and what the next steps are will reduce the negative impact they can have on your candidate's experience.

Seek Feedback

Your recruitment journey is an incredibly complex process. To ensure you’re able to identify and address potential issues, you need to seek honest feedback from various points of view. This includes existing employees, candidates you hired, candidates you didn’t hire, and internal or third-party Recruiters you work with. 

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