It is of no surprise that companies are weighing carefully their decisions to bring on new hires — cautiously vetting prospective candidates, testing rigorously, and drilling deeply into the backgrounds of those who escalate through the rounds of interviews to finalist. The wrong hiring decision can be agonizing and costly (both in human costs and dollars-and-cents) and create delays and roadblocks for any organization.
In a recent issue of Human Resource Executive, the editor, David Shadovitz, quoted a Glassdoor study that found “the average interviewing process for job candidates increased from 12 days in 2009 to 23 days in 2013.” At the senior-executive and C-suite level, most of my clients are finding this process has extended to several months (minimum) in the majority of cases.
Some strategies for preparing for this marathon instead of a sprint? Pay close attention to the tools-of-the-trade. Each point of contact, every follow-up email, phone call/voicemail, and text message matters. Be sure your points of connectedness are on brand and reflective of your keen attention to detail/professionalism that typifies everything else you do. Don’t let up on the search for a moment — even when you are in play for a coveted position and advancing through all steps in the process, “confident” you’ll be selected. Keep all the momentum going that you’ve worked so hard to cultivate. And know (usually) that when your recruiter (or the hiring manager or CEO or board) says, “we’ll get back to you in a week,” it means several weeks… and when the decision is anticipated to be within the month, it’s two months… and when you’re told that “we hope the selected candidate will be on board by… Labor Day,” you can more safely presume Columbus Day.
Have the endurance and patience of a marathon runner: You’ll be all set to cross the finish line!
– Jan Melnik, M.A., MRW, CCM, CPRW • President, Absolute Advantage • www.janmelnik.com
Be inspired. It’s your career. It’s your life.