The Hiring Dilemma: Moving Quickly Without Sacrificing Quality
In recent conversations with clients, we’ve noticed a bit of a pattern. See if one (or both) of these scenarios sound familiar to you:
Two different clients were hiring for roles. Both reported an amazing interview with the very first candidate they spoke with. But the clients had different outcomes:
- One decided to move forward immediately and hired that first candidate, even though they had no one to compare them with.
- The other decided to see other candidates before deciding, and they lost the first candidate. Although they did ultimately hire another candidate, there was a bit of “did we lose the best fit?” sentiment in the end.
Hiring the right person for a key role is a tightrope act of speed and accuracy. Leaving a role unfilled too long can be frustrating and costly, but an imperfect hire can have long-term negative ripple effects, too. At NW Recruiting Partners, we work with our clients to balance these competing needs – and it’s both an art and a science.
The Pros and Cons of Speed
As with most things, there’s an upside and a downside to a quick hiring process. Speed alone isn’t enough to qualify a search as a success.
Pros to a fast search include:
- Avoiding the costs of leaving an open role
- Competing for top talent who have plenty of choices
- Gaining a competitive edge
- Securing talent in fields with smaller talent pools
- Building a reputation as an employer that values candidates’ time
On the other hand, some risks include:
- Hiring a bad fit culturally or skills-wise
- Incurring onboarding and hiring costs (multiple times if the candidate doesn’t work out)
- Overlooking red flags or lacking qualifications
- Disrupting team dynamics with a poor hire
Hiring quickly doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing quality, but it requires careful planning to get it right. Our approach at NW Recruiting Partners is designed to help our clients identify and successfully hire the best fit for each individual role. We conduct extensive pre-screenings to take the early-stage pressure off of our clients’ teams, evaluating hard skills and soft skills or culture fit. We leverage our initial interview, client feedback, continued client communication, candidate references, and we emphasize clear communication throughout the whole process. It’s a streamlined process, but a thorough one.
The Importance of Choices
Having too many options can be overwhelming, but having too few can be limiting. When we work with clients at NW Recruiting Partners, we aim to have at least a few well-vetted, pre-qualified candidates so that the client has choices. What do you do, though, if you run into a situation like the clients above: where you love the first candidate, but aren’t sure if you should keep searching?
There’s no one right answer! Ultimately, you have to be content with taking the inherent risk either way.
If the role is particularly challenging or niche, and there aren’t many candidates in the market to begin with, sometimes it’s best to jump at that first candidate if they make a strong impression.
If you’re not completely convinced, you might choose to wait – but you’ll need to be okay with the possibility that you won’t find the “purple unicorn” you saw in the first candidate. When you work with NWRP, you can always be confident you’re being presented with exceptional candidates, whether they’re the first, third, or tenth person you see!