Hiring Fast or Slow: Which Produces the Best Results?

Taking time with your recruitment process may seem the best way to ensure you make the right decisions for your team. After all, rushing into a hiring decision can mean you end up with a candidate that isn’t ideal for your finance role.  

Unfortunately, while slowing the pace of your hiring process can be a good way to make more informed, well-thought-out decisions, it also leads to several other problems. Dragging your feet when it comes to making a decision is one of the best ways to lose a quality candidate.  

This is particularly true in an environment where the finance landscape faces a significant skill shortage. By 2023, experts predict there will be a talent shortage of more than 85 million people; therefore, failing to snap up the right candidates quickly could mean you spend months searching for another appealing hire.  

The Consequences of a Delayed Recruitment Process 

 

 

Recruitment has notoriously been a relatively slow process for many finance companies. On average, jobs in the U.K. remain available for as long as three months as employers dither over who they should be hiring. Unfortunately, slow hiring processes cause a multitude of problems.  

Finance companies with long and convoluted recruitment strategies frequently lose top talent to competitors, struggle to maintain ongoing productivity and revenue, and even end up with damaged employer brands. The longer your roles remain unfilled, the longer your business struggles without access to the talent required to complete essential financial tasks.  

Here are some key reasons why hiring faster delivers better results for finance employers. 

1. Fast Hiring Preserves Productivity 

Slow hiring doesn’t just negatively impact your future hires; it directly impacts your existing employees too. Unfilled positions in any business can often mean managers and supervisors need to distribute more tasks among available workers, leading to overwhelm and even burnout.  

The more your other finance employees need to “fill the gaps” left by vacant positions, doing tasks not included in their job description, the more their engagement and satisfaction levels can dwindle. In some cases, overworking your staff during a slow hiring process can cause more employees to leave the business, giving you even more empty roles to fill.  

Even if your employees stay with your business, taking on additional work will often mean they’re more likely to make mistakes and “rush” through tasks which need their full attention. This can negatively impact your bottom line, and cause significant, time-consuming errors.  

2. Rapid Recruitment Saves Your Reputation 

In a skill-short landscape, your employer brand is one of the key factors determining whether you’ll successfully attract the right talent. Today’s employees want to know they’re working for a company that values their time and prioritises a good candidate experience. The slower your recruitment process is, the more likely your candidates will lose faith in your business.  

Not only does this mean your candidates may decide they don’t want to work with your business after all, but it could also cause significant damage to your employer brand. Around 43% of job seekers now say they would consider writing a negative review about an employer of the hiring process takes too long, regardless of whether they take the job.  

Since today’s finance talent have endless options for choosing where they want to work, they’re actively avoiding employers with a poor reputation. The more your employer brand suffers, the harder it will be to recruit candidates and build your talent pipeline. 

3. Speed Improves the Candidate Experience

 

Alongside new perks and benefits, today’s top financial talent is searching for empathy, inclusion, and phenomenal support from their potential employers. This is why it’s so important for business leaders to ensure they’re delivering an excellent candidate experience.  

Providing a good candidate experience improves your chances of a professional accepting your job offer rather than seeking other opportunities. It can also accelerate a hire’s “time to value” by instantly ensuring your new team members are engaged and committed to your company.  

Recruitment processes with lengthy delays, poor communication, and roadblocks damage the candidate experience. The more time it takes to communicate with your candidates and decide who to hire, the less enthusiastic your new team members will be about working with your company.  

4. Faster Hiring Ensures You Get the Best Talent 

Contrary to popular belief, slow hiring doesn’t necessarily improve the quality of the candidates you hire. Some employers believe taking their time and embedding multiple tests, and stages into the recruitment process will result in better hiring decisions. However, the opposite can often be true. 

While taking your time with hiring will give you more opportunities to consult with your C-suite about which finance professionals to bring on board and assess each candidate’s skill, it also increases the chances that other employers will swoop in and steal your top talent.  

Most would-be employees don’t want to wait weeks or months to find out whether they’ll be able to work for a new company. This means they’ll be actively looking elsewhere while you make your decision. You could end up with fewer, less-qualified candidates to choose from by the time you decide, because your best hires have already received other offers. 

5. Quick Recruitment Saves Money and Resources 

 

 

In an industry as short on talent as the finance sector, most employees receive multiple job offers when waiting to hear back from each company.  

Moreover, around 68% of job seekers say they’ve accepted another offer because they’re tired of waiting too long for another business to get in touch. The more time you waste choosing which finance candidate to hire, the more chance you have of starting the whole recruitment process again from scratch.  

Every time you lose a potential candidate, you need to invest more time, money, and resources into finding additional candidates to “fill the gap”.  

It’s Time to Speed Up Your Hiring Process 

The best candidates in the finance industry are in high demand. They’re receiving multiple offers all the time, and they’re constantly on the hunt for the best possible employee experience. If you’re not prepared to act quickly, there’s a good chance you’ll lose out to your competition. 

Fortunately, recruiting faster doesn’t have to mean giving up on your standards. However, it does mean you need to make your process more efficient and streamlined. Working with a Finance recruiter to help you find talent faster, screen the best candidates, and make rapid decisions should ensure you don’t miss out on the talent you need.  

About Rebus Financial Recruitment 

Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.     

We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs, and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. Contact one of our team today to find out more, or you can call us on 01282 930930.