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Does hiring time make a difference?

With organisations trying to bring more people on board in the quickest possible time, are they in any way compromising on the quality of candidates? Sudipta Dev analyses whether the hiring time makes a difference

For an industry which is currently witnessing a voluminous hiring spree, the pertinent question remains: does the time-to-hire make a difference to the quality of talent being inducted into an IT company? The answer can be ambiguous. While on one hand quick hiring can ensure that you are inducting the right number of people at the right time, on the other hand prolonged hiring processes can be the solution to finding the best pick from the vast number of applicants. In the Indian IT industry the typical hiring time can vary from one day to a month; this of course stretches with the seniority of the position. The hiring time in fact depends on several factors—the designation, the volume of hiring, the size and nature of the organisation and the recruitment market scenario. In most cases it is the need of the business which is the primary determining factor.

Recruitment experts agree that the hiring time is critical for finding the right candidate. The reason is obvious. “Often because of undue time lags between identification of candidates and making the selection, a good candidate may lose interest in that specific role and take up another opportunity,” says Tarun Bali, CEO of ABC Consultants. This is precisely the reason why many recruitment experts advice their clients to make spot offers. Says Kris Lakshmikanth, founder CEO and managing director of the Bangalore-headquartered The Headhunters India, “In today’s dynamic scenario, where every good software candidate is walking around with two or more job offers, hiring time makes a big difference. We strongly advise our clients that they should they make on-the-spot offers. Today, most good companies make on-the-spot offers. This means that their HR team has to work very closely with the technical team which has to clear the candidate technically. The same is true for BPO candidates.”

Spot offers are the norm for freshers, particularly in case of campus recruitments. They are also recommended for people with 3-8 years experience to ensure that the offers are converted into hirings. “For middle levels, we advise that the whole process should be completed within 3-4 weeks. For senior levels, that is, CEO, COO, CTO, vice-president, etc., the whole process could take between 3-4 months from the start of the search,” adds Lakshmikanth.

Speed hiring

Managing existing employees is as important as hiring new ones Tarun Bali CEO Abc Consultants	We strongly advise our clients that they should make on-the-spot offers Kris Lakshmikanth CEO The Headhunters India	If the recruitments are well-organised, speed hiring can be successful S C Bhatia CEO Datamatics Staffing Services

While speed hiring can get people quickly on board, there are a few disadvantages as the risk factor is evidently higher. Bali of ABC Consultants acknowledges that speed hiring may sometimes be disadvantageous because not enough prior research has been done in terms of identifying the total pool of available, relevant and competent professionals, and therefore the person selected may not necessarily be the best one for the job.

S C Bhatia, chief executive of Datamatics Staffing Services, disagrees. He does not believe that a faster process results in bad hiring. “If the recruitments are well-organised and systems are in place, speed hiring can be successful and effective. A company like Cognizant hires in volumes and the turnaround time is hardly a week for junior levels. Their exercise is professionally organised.”

Slow hiring

The hiring process should be slower while hiring people for top positions. A bad hiring at a junior level might not impact the organisation much, but if an error is made while recruiting for a top position it might result in a debacle for the company. Though cautiousness slows down the hiring process, the company cannot take the risk of hiring a wrong person for the job. “At very senior levels, the impact of decisions taken are revealed over a long period of time, even 12-18 months. For instance, by cutting down on advertising, R&D budgets and new investments, you can make your balance-sheet look good in the short-term. Many companies’ CEOs do it, more as a measure to meet the quarterly expectations of Dalal Street. “Such measures while making the company look good in the short-term may affect its long-termperformance,” points out Lakshmikanth.

Slow hiring also makes it possible for HR managers to differentiate between candidates who are desperate to leave their jobs, and those who are happy in their present positions and are willing to move only if a much better opportunity is offered to them. It is a known fact that the most suitable people are not always active job-seekers. Rajaram Agarwal, managing director of TalentAhead India, believes that this category of people may not mind a slower recruitment process. “The organisation might lose people who are keen to change their jobs due to personal reasons. But yes, a slower hiring does make it possible to understand whether the candidate is desperate or not, and also find out the real reason for change. Many a time it happens that candidates give a personal reason to hide the real reason for leaving their present job,” adds Agarwal.

The precautions

It is imperative for organisations on a fast expansion mode, hiring dozens of candidates every month, to take necessary precautions. This would include having a scientific hiring methodology with the process guidelines in place.

“Fast expanding organisations should pay a lot of attention to keeping employee attrition low, as well as to ensure that their career paths are well defined and that enough succession planning is done. While it is a difficult task to hire key people, it is equally if not more challenging to replace trained staff with new people. Hence, managing existing employees is as important as hiring new ones,” states Tarun Bali.

Another major mistake that most hiring managers make is that they get carried away by ‘big names’ on the CVs of candidates being interviewed. “It is common to see the hiring team being unduly impressed by a candidate only because he is working with a big brand company. This should not be a selection criterion. If a person works for a large organisation it does not mean that he is exceptionally good; similarly, someone working for a small organisation should not be presumed dim,” says Agarwal.

It is not uncommon for recruitment firms as well as companies to adopt short-cuts which border on unethical hiring practices. “Care should be taken to ensure that the hiring process is effective as well as complies with ethical values; this attracts good candidates to the organisation,” states Bhatia.

Pre-employment screening is a must for all candidates irrespective of the designation. This should preferably be done through an independent agency, and by involving a broader base of reference checks. If the hiring time is less, pre-employment screening is inadvertently left-out. As organisations vie to bring more qualified people on board as soon as possible, they fail to do sufficient background checks—a must in today’s times to reduce the chances of any unforeseen problems in the future.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com