There is no hard and fast rule about how long it will take employers to respond to you with a job offer (or a job rejection). The hiring process can vary from employer to employer, the type of job you apply for, and the industry in which you work. You may receive an offer in a day or two, or it may take weeks. How long does it take to hire a new employee? According to SHRM, the average time it takes to hire a new employee is 36 days.
Finally, since the cost of poor hiring is so high, companies are adding more stakeholders to the interview process in the hope of avoiding a hiring error. LinkedIn states that hiring tends to progress at a faster pace in non-technical fields, such as sales, human resources and customer service, which typically hire and place candidates in new positions within 38, 39 and 34 days, according to the study. Four years ago, the owner and managing partner visited us and expressed frustration at the time it takes to find a new employee, especially when it comes to filling a position unexpectedly. In addition, many companies begin the hiring process with a long “wish list” of skills or experience they are looking for in a new employee.
Take the necessary steps to first identify the best candidates in the market and then streamline the hiring process so that those candidates remain engaged until you can successfully recruit and hire them. Large, well-known companies attract thousands of candidates, which takes much longer even for a cursory review. According to the United States Department of Labor, the cost of a bad hire is around 30% of that employee's first year's income, so companies want to make sure they take the time to research potential employees before making any commitments. Molly Graham, a technology executive who is also quoted in the report, says: “Companies in the technology sector tend to value precision, sometimes false precision, over speed.
This will keep you too busy to worry about just one position and could even cause multiple employers to compete to hire you. Let's say that one of the top candidates is interviewing four companies and that those four companies, including yours, are interested in that candidate. In many cases, finding the perfect employee who meets all of these requirements isn't realistic, but hiring managers may still need time to decide which skills are truly critical. Companies with more than 5000 employees take an average of 58 days to make an offer, even for non-technical positions.
Over time, companies may come to the conclusion that in hiring, as in the rest of the company, time really is money. In a competitive labor market where the time needed to hire can make the difference between hiring top-tier talent and settling for the second option, lengthy interview processes are a source of frustration for hiring managers and candidates alike.
