If you were to Google “how long does it take to find a new job?,” the results would vary from roughly one month to up to five months. Since 2014, the average time it takes to fill a job or land a new job has increased annually. At Ezekiel, we want to help you place the right candidates faster with pre-employment assessment tests.

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Interestingly, when asking a group of recruiters how long it takes to place a candidate or fill a job, the average response was 60 days. That number aligns with a recent poll by Clutch.com, in which 58% of 507 job seekers surveyed said it took them about two months to find and land a new job.

Why are other companies taking longer to place candidates while Ezekiel,  Clients are experiencing faster placement times and more efficient recruitment processes?

Here are the top reasons why it takes others so long to place candidates:

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Indecisiveness – When the unemployment rate is as low as it is now, there is a theory that employers have less openings and take more time to find the very best fit possible, thus increasing the time to hire.

Botched Negotiations – It is a candidate market. Job seekers are taking longer to negotiate offers and make counter offers, which is also due to low unemployment numbers. Job seekers are leveraging offer letters and taking more time to decide.

Recruiter’s Problems – The process is broken. There are problems with the entire process from start to finish that need to be improved and repaired. Traditional gut feel hiring decisions mean the process is inefficient and candidates often don’t work out.

How can employers place candidates faster?

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The Job Description – Some suggest that creating better job descriptions will speed up the process. The reasoning is that if the job description is better, then the quality of candidates should be better, and the decision-making process should be easier. Job descriptions are often overly wordy, and most job seekers only read the title and qualifications. Consider streamlining your job descriptions and making them more focused on the candidate experience.

The Job Placement – Where you post your job can be just as important as what you put in the description itself. There is a temptation to use platform giants like Indeed and Monster simply because everyone else does. Using a job board with hundreds of millions of hits each day will get you exposure, but more exposure does not mean better candidates. More exposure simply means there are more résumés to screen. If the goal is to speed up the process, then a job board with a narrower niche of job seekers may be your best bet.

Applicant Tracking System –The applicant tracking system (ATS) rejects nearly 75% of all resumés. High rejection rates cause the job requisition to remain open longer, which makes it more difficult and longer to fill an open position. Maybe it’s time to reconsider your ATS’s algorithms.

The Application Process (part 1) – Test your own application process and decide if it is too complicated or has redundancies. For example, if your application process allows for a candidate to attach his or her résumé, then it should not require the same data to be entered manually. Choose an online application platform that does not require an applicant to create an account prior to applying for a job. This is a time consuming, frustrating, and nonessential step.

The Application Process (part 2) – To place the right candidates faster, use pre employment skills testing. At first blush, one might think that adding an assessment test would increase the time to place a candidate, but that is not true.

By incorporating assessment tests with the application process, you dramatically increase the likelihood of the applicant completing the test, and sharing real world aptitude, which helps you make better decisions regarding who to interview and who to reject.

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Creating customized pre-hiring tests can help eliminate wasted time  screening candidates and other resources associated with the recruitment process.

eSkill clients have reported faster job offers and placements when using our fully customizable pre-employment skill tests.

Interested in learning more about how you can speed up your hiring and increase your placement success, please contact us.