Speed up for the win: effective ways to reduce time-to-hire

Use data to remove process snags

Data can be your greatest weapon if enough of the right data is collected. 

The first step to improving your time-to-hire is understanding how long you’re taking at the moment. Test the time it takes for a candidate to move through each stage of your recruitment funnel, noting any bottlenecks so you can optimise your process further (FYI, this is where Weirdly’s live analytics come in handy).

Map out your recruitment process

Time to put your hiring process under the microscope. On average, if it’s taking candidates two days to upload their resumes and another week for store managers to say yay or nay, automating some of those tasks will quickly reduce your time-to-hire. 

For example, bulk-send contracts that can be signed digitally and automatically trigger working rights processes with Vsure – tasks that can both be automated with Weirdly. Sweet!

Make interviewing fast and automate scheduling

Scheduling interviews in high-volume recruitment can be a full-time job in itself. But it’s also an area where some nifty automation can speed up the process for everyone involved. 

Weirdly’s self-service interview scheduling feature gives candidates more control while reducing work for store managers. Here’s how:

• Drag and drop candidates into the ‘interview’ bucket (or let Weirdly move high-scoring candidates over automatically). 
• That’s it. That’s all you do. The system triggers comms to the candidate, inviting them to choose a time to interview with the store manager. 

For Meisje Powley, Head of Talent Acquisition for Kmart and Target, our Calendly integration has been a game-changer for store managers.

“This piece of getting candidates to interview is so slick and quick.”

Take advantage of skills assessments

We’re big, loud believers in skills assessments for lots of reasons. 

They’re a great way to assess values alignment and gain insight into a candidate’s potential success in a specific role. For recruiters, this helps you stay focused on the candidates that’ll add value to your culture – rather than the applicants who ‘tick’ the resume boxes. 

They can also be lots of fun – and fast! Weirdly’s soft skills assessments can be customised to sound and feel like your brand, and once a candidate is finished, they get instant feedback about which of your values they align with most closely. 

Using the Weirdly assessment, Australian retail giant Target can automatically filter candidates based on location, availability and values-fit – all without looking at a single resume. 

Build a talent pipeline ahead of time

One of the most effective ways to reduce time-to-hire is creating a talent pipeline – a group of pre-screened, qualified candidates you’ve got on speed dial. Forget having to advertise the role and sift through applications – all you need to do is reach out to candidates who are keen and ready to work. 

Building a talent pool is one of the reasons that motoring organisation, RACQ, is hiring people a week faster than ever before. 

“Now that we’ve got Weirdly always actively building the talent pool, we have 200 potential applications pre-screened and ready to go,” says Nick Leach, manager of talent acquisition. 

Manage job requests on the go

Most store managers have a gazillion things on their to-do lists. So, when it comes to keeping track of job requisitions or figuring out candidate application status, it’s like looking for a needle in an email haystack. The same goes for high-volume recruiters dealing with hundreds of stores and job postings. 

The solution? One place where everyone can see what’s going on. Introducing Weirdly’s Manager App. It cuts back-and-forth comms between HQ and store managers and creates instant hiring and onboarding.

Don’t be afraid to give candidates a nudge

There’s plenty that can be done to improve your hiring process at your end, but sometimes all it takes is a gentle prod at the candidates to keep things moving. 

With Weirdly, you can nudge candidates down the funnel faster with SMS. This can be text messages triggered by actions (for example, ‘Congrats! We’ve sent you a contract’) or a friendly reminder to check their emails.   

Curious to learn more? Book a demo today.

‍