Candidate Experience Watercooler: What Happens When You Have to Double a Team In a Few Months?

Rapid growth like this tends to happen in organizations hitting a growth spurt, with teams of around 10 to 15 or less. If you’re doubling a team of even larger size, it becomes even more challenging.

With Dice-DFH Vacancy Duration Measure reporting that the average time to fill at 27 working days – the highest it’s been in 15 years – doubling a team in a short amount of time is even harder.

But it’s not just hard on the recruiters, it can be hard on the candidate too, who has to make a serious life decision, give the proper notice, and adjust their lives in a short amount of time.

In most cases when it comes to candidate experience, the problem isn’t too much speed, it’s too little communication. In fact, candidates spend a lot of their time trying to elicit any response from their applications.

Recruiting Daily reports the important of candidate feedback:

“5.5% of candidates were given feedback that they found even moderately useful from employers when notified that they were not selected; of that, a scant 2.6% of candidates received ‘specific and valuable feedback.’

Of course, candidates were lucky to receive any feedback at all; 55.9% reported not receiving any feedback in the first place. Another 20% of those that did were provided ‘general or limited feedback.’”

This is precisely the problem with fast hiring. Your biggest challenge is going to be providing all of your candidates the proper feedback they need to stay engaged, and have a good candidate experience, all in a very short time frame – no pressure.

This process can be made easier if you keep the following candidate experience factors in mind when you’re crunched for time during a hiring growth spurt.

It’s harder for the candidate to determine if they’re the right culture fit.

Remember that you’re not just interviewing the candidate – the candidate is also interviewing you. If you’re rushing to explain the particulars of a certain position, or providing them with scripted answers in the interest of time, it will be hard for a candidate to read through the lines and determine whether or not they will be happy in your organization’s culture.

14.4 percent of candidates told Recruiting Daily that the most important marketing material influencing their decision to apply was the company’s values.

If they’re not able to gain a proper grasp on these values because of rushed communication, their candidate experience will suffer, and you may lose some top choices.

The hiring manager may need help preparing for interviews.

According to LinkedIn’s recent survey of talent professionals, the hiring manager’s interview with the candidate is key. As a matter of fact, 55 percent of candidates said the interview with the hiring manager had the biggest impact on their interview experience.

That’s a big deal, since the same survey shows that the interview is make or break for a candidate – 83 percent say a negative experience can change their mind or role about a company they once liked, whereas 87 percent say a positive interview experience can change their mind about a company they once doubted.

If the hiring manager’s schedule is packed with interviews, it might be hard for them to give each candidate the attention they need. Make sure your hiring manager is up for the task when doubling a team.

When the decision is made, things move really fast on the candidate end.

Don’t forget about the candidate’s end of the deal. Chances are, if you’re doubling a team in just a few months, you’re going to move your candidate through the hiring process fast.

This means they’re going to have to figure out life things like their budget, commuting changes, possibly living arrangements and other life adjustments in a short amount of time. If they’re not feeling like you’re working with them, you risk losing them.

The compensation will have a lot to do with this aspect of speedy hiring – compensation is 49 percent of the top factors for talent around the world when considering a job offer.

If you’re looking to throw a candidate through the loop during the speeded up hiring process, you may find success in making up for it with compensation.

Agencies are often brought in for support.

Sometimes, you just won’t have the bandwidth to provide good candidate experience when you have to double a team so quickly. In these cases, your organization may lean on direct hire recruiting agencies to increase your internal recruiting team’s bandwidth.

Direct hire recruiting agencies are often brought in on times when hiring needs to be done fast – and when it’s crucial to your organization. They take on a lot of the candidate experience duties for you, keeping in constant communication with the candidate, and ensuring all of their needs are met.

If you know you’re going to be using direct hire recruiting agencies a lot this year, plan for it accordingly. Download our Recruiting Leader’s Guide to Strategic Direct Hire Agency Planning for help.