Recruitment efficiency: How to hire smarter and faster

Hiring is a game of speed—and most organizations aren’t even coming close to winning.

Even worse, time-to-hire recently increased from 43 days to 44, according to a Josh Bersin report. Another survey shows an even higher average time-to-fill of 47.5 days.

This puts hiring teams in a tough spot, especially since time-to-fill is just one of many challenges they’re facing. They’re under pressure to not only hire qualified, skilled talent but also create a positive candidate experience—all while racing to move candidates through the hiring process in just a few short days.

It’s no easy feat, especially in such a competitive market.

However, with a few changes, it is possible for teams to revamp their hiring processes so efficiency is front and center. 

Common challenges in achieving recruitment efficiency

Hiring is not what it used to be 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. With the rapid evolution of technology, candidate expectations, and hiring speed, talent teams must be able to adapt and evolve at any moment.

When this doesn’t happen, recruitment efficiency becomes a challenge. Let’s take a look at just a few of the efficiency challenges that teams commonly face:

Outdated and lengthy processes

There’s no question: in hiring, time is of the essence. Talent teams can no longer afford to interact with candidates through outdated methods, like manually replying to every candidate, reviewing resumes, or scheduling interviews. A sluggish hiring process will create bottlenecks and quickly cause candidates to lose interest and look elsewhere.

Unclear evaluation criteria

Without consistent hiring guidelines, it’s easy to let unconscious bias influence decisions. This leads to overlooking highly qualified candidates who don’t fit subjective or stereotypical expectations. Not only can this get in the way of finding the right fit, but it can also hurt the overall candidate experience and extend the time-to-hire.

Overlooked skills

There’s been a shift towards hiring for skills or potential rather than former achievements or credentials. Yet, without the effective tools and processes in place, many talent teams struggle to evaluate specific skills needed for a role—ultimately leading to inefficiencies, potential bias, and missed raw talent.

There’s a common theme amongst these hiring challenges: teams aren’t equipped with the right technology and automation to help them move faster, work smarter, and create a better experience for their candidates.

How to measure recruitment efficiency

We pointed out earlier that time-to-hire has increased from 43 days to 44. This was an average stat based on a large survey of employers across the globe. While some industries reported a time-to-fill of just 14 days, it took others 2-3 months…or more.

To boost efficiency, talent teams should first analyze their hiring metrics—like time-to-fill. This will help them pinpoint inefficiencies, refine their strategy, and find the tools they need to maximize impact.

Once talent teams have evaluated the health of their recruitment process, they can begin adopting technology to maximize their hiring efforts.

Strategies to improve recruitment efficiency

Here are some critical hiring tools that can boost hiring efficiency.

Candidate matching

Waiting for candidates with the right skills to apply for open roles is fine. But why not widen the talent pool by opening doors for candidates who have not yet realized roles that best match their skills and potential?

Find My Fit empowers candidates to identify roles that match their potential—not just roles they search for. It quickly assesses skills, interests, and personality—then presents candidates with open roles that are a better fit.

Not only does this give candidates more opportunities, it also helps talent teams access a wider pool of talent and find that ideal match much faster.

Skill assessments

The old "rearview HR" mindset—focusing only on what candidates have done in the past—doesn’t serve candidates or hiring teams well. Why? Because a resume’s history pales in comparison to a candidate’s future potential.

Skills assessments not only evaluate candidates for critical job competencies and potential, but they also reduce the amount of time talent teams spend interviewing unqualified applicants.

With access to a complete library of interview, game-based, virtual job tryouts, and technical assessments, decision-makers can evaluate skills and competencies that actually predict success—so they can more fairly find qualified candidates much faster.

Text recruiting

Nothing stalls efficiency like manual, back-and-forth communication. With direct messaging, employers can schedule interviews, share updates, or send last-minute updates—all via text. This automated process keeps candidates in the loop 24/7 while freeing up hiring teams to focus on other priorities.

On-demand and live video interviews

On-demand and live video interviews make it easy for recruiters to evaluate candidates from anywhere, without the hassle of scheduling conflicts or geographic barriers. This means a faster, more accessible hiring process for everyone involved.

Plus, with access to real-time evaluation tools and interview guides, candidates are then offered a much faster, fairer interview process.

Recruiting efficiency example: 43% faster time-to-hire

When Great Southern Bank faced an increase in vacancies, a 60% drop in applications, and over 5,000 candidates to evaluate in just one year, they turned to HireVue’s video interviewing and assessment solutions. 

After working with HireVue’s IO Psychologists to develop role-specific assessments, the company cut their average time-to-hire nearly in half—from over 40 days to just 23—even while filling twice as many roles.

Even more, candidate screening time decreased by 60%, and 38% of assessments were completed outside business hours, enhancing accessibility for applicants. 

The result? A streamlined process, higher-quality candidates advancing to interviews, and a candidate satisfaction score of 87%.

The future of recruitment is efficiency—and it starts with tech

Thirty-eight percent of HR professionals said time-to-hire was their greatest hurdle—and it’s no surprise. It’s clear that inefficient hiring processes get in the way of a fast hiring process. 

The good news? Hiring technology is the golden ticket to efficiency. 

Ready to bring on hiring tools that will boost your efficiency? Request a demo today.