How Long Should Your Interview Process Be?

The real problem with this debate is that there is no right or wrong answer. It really is dependent on your industry, your business and your candidates.

That said, the candidates need to be dealt with in the right way throughout the interview process. For example, you need to give candidates consistent feedback and constant communication. Lots of businesses don’t get back to candidates. This leaves candidates feeling unwanted or that the position has been filled. In turn, they will apply for other roles.

This is very much a candidate driven market. Your perfect candidate may be applying for you role and three other roles. A delay in getting back to them, a long interview process or lack of communication could result in them going elsewhere. This is even the case if they thought your vacancy was best for them. Candidates can’t afford to wait around in case, they need a job just as much as we all do.

As a general rule of thumb, the recommended timeframe for your interview process should be between two and four weeks. If your interview process takes longer than this, you could risk losing that great talent you interview. In turn, this could mean you have to continue starting the interview process over and over again. The length of time of the interview process means that the dream candidates are getting snapped up by the competition before you get back to them.

How do you know how long your interview process should be? Think about when you have interviewed in the past. Have you gone back to the perfect candidate to offer them the job, only to find that they have landed a job elsewhere? Have candidates dropped out as they thought you weren’t interested?

When it comes to interviewing, it is important that you streamline your interview process to the best of your ability. You need to make sure that your candidates stay engaged every step of the way. Make sure they are aware of the interview process, what’s involved and how long it could take. Further to this, stay in touch with them and give them feedback. This way they will know you are interested. In turn, this will reduce the risk of them looking for work elsewhere or accepting a different job offer with one of your competitors.

If you are looking for ways to improve your recruitment and interview process, call our team now. We will go through your interview process with you and make recommendations to improve it or streamline it where possible.