Balancing Speed and Quality: How to Optimise Time-to-Hire in Volume Hiring

In volume hiring, where organisations must fill multiple positions quickly, time-to-hire becomes a critical factor. Moving too slowly risks losing top candidates to competitors, while speeding through the process without care can lead to poor hires. Achieving the right balance between speed and quality is essential. A key part of this balance is creating a streamlined hiring process that assesses only what matters, utilizes technology efficiently, and ensures a positive candidate experience, all while maintaining the validity of the process.

The Importance of Time-to-Hire in Volume Hiring

In high-volume hiring scenarios, such as retail, customer service, and logistics roles, employers need to fill positions quickly to keep their operations running smoothly. Lengthy hiring processes not only frustrate candidates but can put companies at a competitive disadvantage. The longer a hiring process takes, the higher the chances that candidates will lose interest, disengage, or be scooped up by competitors with faster processes.

However, speed alone isn't the goal—quality hiring must be maintained to avoid costly turnover and mismatched hires. The challenge lies in creating a process that is both fast and effective, harnessing best practice assessment processes and excellent technology to reduce unnecessary steps, while also ensuring the right people are hired for the right roles.

How to Shorten Time-to-Hire Without Sacrificing Quality

1.        Only Assess What Matters: Conduct a Job Analysis

To avoid overwhelming candidates with unnecessary assessments, focus only on evaluating the most important qualities needed for success in the role. Conducting a thorough job analysis will help determine which skills, competencies, and behaviours are essential, and allow you to design assessments that measure these directly. By cutting out non-essential elements, you save time for both the candidate and the hiring team.

For instance, if a customer service role doesn’t require advanced numerical reasoning skills, there’s no reason to include a numerical test in the hiring process. Instead, focus on assessing communication, problem-solving, and empathy—qualities that directly impact job performance. Tailoring assessments in this way shortens the process and improves the relevance of the evaluations.

2.        Utilise Technology: Automate and Self-Schedule

Technology plays a critical role in reducing delays and manual tasks in the hiring process. Automation tools can help candidates progress through the stages of the application seamlessly, such as automatically moving them to the next step when they pass an assessment. This means candidates are not waiting for recruiters to manually advance them and keeps the process moving at a steady pace.

Additionally, allowing candidates to self-schedule their interviews or assessments eliminates back-and-forth communication, which is often a source of delay. Self-scheduling empowers candidates to choose their preferred times and ensures that interviews or additional assessments happen without unnecessary downtime.

3.        Blended Assessments: Assess the Whole Person in One Step

Rather than requiring candidates to complete multiple assessments spread out over several days, use blended assessments that evaluate multiple competencies in one sitting. These assessments combine various types of evaluations—such as cognitive tests, personality questionnaires, and job simulations—into a single assessment session.

Blended assessments not only reduce the time needed to assess candidates, but also provide a more comprehensive view of the candidate’s abilities and fit for the role. By consolidating the key assessments into a single blended assessment, companies can move faster without sacrificing the depth and quality of the evaluation.

4.        Use One Platform to Avoid Delays and Frustration

A fragmented hiring process that requires candidates to switch between multiple platforms, logins, or wait for email confirmations creates unnecessary delays and frustration. Using a single, unified hiring platform simplifies the process for both candidates and hiring teams.

With a centralised platform, candidates only need to log in once to complete their assessments, view their status, and schedule their interviews. This reduces the risk of candidates dropping out due to technical issues or confusion and streamlines the entire process from start to finish. A single platform also allows recruiters to track candidates in real time and take immediate action, further reducing delays.

5.        Maintain a Balance Between Speed and Validity

While it’s crucial to reduce the time-to-hire, speed should never come at the cost of validity. An overly rushed process can lead to poor hiring decisions, increasing the likelihood of turnover and underperformance. It’s essential to ensure that the assessments you use are valid and predictive of job performance, even if you’re shortening the time it takes to complete them.

One way to maintain this balance is by focusing on predictive assessments that have been validated through research and data analysis. These assessments can help ensure that the candidates who move through the process are the ones most likely to succeed in the role, even if the process is accelerated.

In volume hiring, achieving the right balance between speed and quality is crucial. By assessing only what matters, utilising technology to automate and streamline processes, using blended assessments, and consolidating platforms, companies can significantly shorten their time-to-hire without sacrificing the validity of their decisions. Fast hiring processes that still evaluate candidates thoroughly are key to staying competitive in today’s fast-moving job market, ensuring that the right people are hired quickly and efficiently.