In early 2021, US-based software engineering manager Mike Conley shared his frustrating recruitment experience in a LinkedIn post that attracted more than 2.6 million views. Over a period of two weeks, Conley had attended three interviews for a job that he genuinely wanted. When the prospective employer called to schedule interview rounds four to nine, he decided to withdraw from the race.

“Increasingly making interviews more and more lengthy and difficult can lose you the talent you are making the process more difficult for,” wrote Conley. “With this withdrawal, I make a stand. A stand against never-ending interviews.”

At a time of chronic talent shortages, recruitment should surely be a well-oiled machine. The sooner you make a job offer, the sooner your preferred candidates can get to work and fill the skills gaps that can stymie economic growth. However, Conley’s experience is hardly unique. Recruitment experts lament the protracted hiring practices that can weigh down companies big and small. How many interviews should it take to bring on a new recruit and how can companies speed up the process?

Active recruitment

The accounting sector is feeling the talent squeeze. The 2022 Australian Financial Review Top 100 Accounting Firms report shows that a skills shortage has been the main impediment to company growth for the past two years. In New Zealand, auditors were included in the Straight to Residence Green List pathway in May this year, due to a scarcity across both public and private sectors.

The talent shortage is causing many employers to change their approach to recruitment.

Michael Edelstein, a former auditor and founder of specialist accounting recruitment firm Recruitment Expert, says that rather than waiting for applicants to come to them, more employers are contacting accountants directly via professional networking sites like LinkedIn. It’s the recruitment equivalent of a cold sales call.

“In the past, employers would mostly rely on inbound or active candidates who had responded to their job ad,” he says. “They’d drill down on the list of applicants and choose a few to interview.

“Now, with labour shortages and low unemployment rates, more organisations are being proactive when it comes to recruitment. This means tapping into the passive market of potential candidates who aren’t actively looking for a job.”

This approach often comes at a higher cost, adds Edelstein.

“There tends to be huge salary expectations from a passive candidate in order to make a move from their current job,” he says. “There’s also a lot more reneging on contracts because the week before someone’s due to start at your company, someone else has reached out to them and offered them more money. This is another reason why recruitment processes need to be tightened up.”

Slow processes, fast-moving market

With candidates holding the balance of power, a smooth recruitment process is more important than ever. However, an unduly drawn-out approach to talent sourcing remains commonplace, particularly among larger firms.

“The bigger you are, the more rigid processes you tend to have,” says Edelstein. “This may be great from a rigour perspective but in a tight candidate market, being nimble will get you better results.

“I’ve seen it play out multiple times, with a larger accounting firm with very rigid processes in terms of multiple rounds of interviews, psychometric testing, reference checking, and background checks that go on for weeks and weeks. When an actual offer is ready, it then needs to be approved internally across multiple levels. I’ve seen them consistently lose out on great talent because it’s now such a fast-moving market.”

Stringing along

Megan Alexander CA, managing director of Robert Half New Zealand, says another challenge is that many employers often don’t really know what they’re looking for in a candidate.

“So often, they just aren’t clear on what they want,” she says. “In a time of candidate shortages, some of the big organisations in particular have had multiple roles turn over in relatively short periods of time, so they might be recruiting for two or three positions. As they often don’t know what they’re really looking for, they can send very confused messages to the market.”

Indecision slows down the recruitment process, says Alexander. “What we often hear is, ‘I like this person, but’, or ‘Let’s just keep them warm’ but not make an offer just yet because who else might be out there. The outcome of this indecision is that the candidate is not hired.

“It’s a bit like dating,” she adds. “You like the person, but maybe you’re just stringing them along because there might be someone better out there who you’ll want to marry. Let me tell you, the notion of ‘keeping them warm’ doesn’t work in a candidate-short market and it’s not good practice in general.”

“Let me tell you, the notion of ‘keeping them warm’ doesn’t work in a candidate-short market and it’s not good practice in general.”

Other practices risk slowing down the recruitment process. Richard Holmes, co-founder and director at HPR Consulting, a specialist finance recruitment company, says many hiring managers are ill-prepared for job interviews.

“I know of some employers who’ll look at a candidate’s resume just before they walk in the door to interview them,” he says. “How are you going to create a good experience for a candidate if you don’t take the time to prepare before you meet them?”

Salary resistance

Another impediment to a smooth recruitment process is that many employers don’t understand the market dynamic, particularly when it comes to salaries.

The CA ANZ 2022 Remuneration Survey shows members’ total full-time median salary was A$150,000 in Australia and NZ$136,000 in New Zealand, which is a year-on-year increase of 11% in both countries. However, Alexander says many employers “can’t quite accept” that salaries have outstripped inflation.

“Many hiring managers are hiring a level or two below their own position, but the salaries for those roles are moving faster than their own because bigger pay increases generally happen when you move jobs,” she says. “As a result, salaries for lower-level roles are catching up to their own salary and so they’re resistant to it. They are just not thinking about salary as a market condition, and this can slow down the process.”

From job ad to job offer

David Cawley, senior regional director of Hays, says there are instances where a long recruitment process may be acceptable. However, this must be clearly explained to candidates from the outset.

“There are some very large, complex organisations who go through six to 10 stages of interviews,” says Cawley. “However, these companies tend to articulate a very strong employee value proposition and explain why those stages are crucial.

“The feedback that we hear from those who engage with these organisations is that they manage to create a feeling with candidates that, yes, you will jump through hoops for us at the beginning, but there’s a pot of gold at the end if you are successful in joining the ranks.”

Some employers, such as tech giant Google, have already tightened their recruitment process.

Prior to 2017, Google conducted more than 12 interviews with candidates before deciding whether to hire or pass. After analysing past interview data, the company found four interviews gave them 86% confidence they were making the right appointment.

The consensus among most recruiters is that the shorter the recruitment cycle, the better for everyone. When you’ve chosen the candidates to interview, Alexander suggests limiting the process to two rounds of interviews, or three for more senior roles like chief financial officers.

“For senior roles, more important factors come into play, such as the culture fit between a CEO and a CFO,” she says. “That relationship is paramount.”

Alexander adds that recruitment tools like psychometric testing can help to gauge behavioural styles or key personality traits.

“I see a lot of companies where, if they’ve got a seed of doubt, then they could consider using psychometric testing,” she says.

Holmes says a successful recruitment process starts with a clear understanding of what a role requires. What skills are you actually looking for?

“Get all the stakeholders in a room to agree on what you need,” he says. “I’ve seen the goalposts move in the middle of a recruitment process and suddenly the candidates you have already interviewed don’t match the requirements of a new job description.”

Alexander says it’s also important to identify who needs to be involved in the recruitment process.

“Who within your organisation should be part of it and why? Are you doing in-person interviews or video interviews? Have you mapped out the timing for interviews and are all the relevant people available to be there?”

A two-way street

Edelstein says that the process between job interview and job offer should be as short as possible and suggests aiming for a maximum of two weeks.

“For high-calibre candidates, it should never drag out for longer than a week, because they will get another offer and you risk losing them in this market,” he says. Cawley suggests treating job candidates as potential clients.

“Employer review websites like Glassdoor means your washing may be out there on the line for everybody to see. If you don’t understand that recruitment is now a two way exercise, candidates are probably going to choose another employer that does,” he says.

“If you don’t understand that recruitment is now a two-way exercise, candidates are probably going to choose another employer that does.”

Holmes’s advice is to put yourself in the shoes of your candidates.

“We were recruiting for a senior role recently and it went on for nine weeks because the company just couldn’t get their ducks in a row,” he says. “The candidates dropped out.

“I think that many companies just assume that candidates will want to work for them and maybe that’s true before they experience your recruitment process, but candidates now have a lot more choice,” he says. “Treat candidates how you’d expect to be treated if you were applying for that role and consider what your recruitment process says about your organisation.”

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What should you expect from the recruitment process?

If you’re in the market for a new job, you may have your resume ready to go. However, your job applications should also include a cover letter that explains why you’re interested in the role and the company, your relevant skills and qualifications, and an example of an experience or a project you worked on that illustrates the value you’d bring to the role.

“Cover letters also act as a filter to see if a person has paid attention to instructions in a job ad, especially if you ask for a specific question to be addressed,” says Michael Edelstein from Recruitment Expert.

If you are invited for an interview, do your homework about the company – this will help you to prepare for a common interview question: “Why do you want to work here?”.

The recruitment process may also include psychometric testing or other competence tests. They usually occur between the first and second interview, to help an employer confirm that you have the right skills and personality for the job.

If you’re interested in the job after your first interview, let the interviewer know by sending a follow-up email.

“Sending an email that thanks an interviewer for taking the time to speak to you shows a level of respect and professionalism,” says HPR Consulting’s Richard Holmes. “It helps leave a good impression and shows your continued interest in the role.”

Job offers may hinge on reference checks, so make sure you’ve briefed your referee(s) about the role. The offer will include the salary, the preferred start date and information about the company’s benefits package and policies. If you accept the offer, you’ll then be asked to sign a contract.

“Contracts are relatively standard these days,” says Megan Alexander CA from Robert Half New Zealand. “It’s the policy documents that have information about things like hybrid working, training and various benefits. You may have already discussed these during interviews, but it’s still worth reading the policy documents closely.”

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Three FAQs

1. When do we discuss salary/benefits?

Whether you’ve been approached directly or you’ve applied for a job, it pays to ask about salary early in the process. “Most employers expect to be asked about salary these days but rather than just focusing on money, make it part of a broader conversation about company benefits,” says David Cawley from Hays. “For example, what kind of training and development opportunities does the company offer? What is its approach to flexible working?”

2. I haven’t heard back after an interview. How long should I wait to follow up?

Richard Holmes from HPR Consulting says some employers will explain their recruitment process to you, so you’ll know when to expect to hear from them after your first interview. “If you haven’t heard anything from them after two or three days, it’s worth following up,” he says.

3. How do I ask my former managers for a reference or to act as a referee?

When asking a former manager to provide a reference, share details about the role you’re applying for.

“Show them the job description, or at least the job ad,” says Cawley.

“The more they know about the job, the better equipped they’ll be to explain why you’re the ideal candidate.”

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