If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
When you’ve got open positions to fill in your business, time is always of the essence — in-demand candidates aren’t likely to stick around through an application process that seems too lengthy, and your competitors will quickly snap them up if your recruitment structure is bottlenecked in any way. There could be any number of reasons why it feels like there’s a slow-down in the time it takes you to set up a job post online and when you send out an offer letter to the ideal client: not having a consistent hiring process, only relying on candidates finding you, ineffective resume screening, etc. But it’s just a matter of knowing which tools you can use to automate your hiring process, and we’re here to help you figure out the best ways to hire employees online.
According to ZipRecruiter’s data, employers found that their most time consuming hiring tasks included interviewing candidates, sifting through applications, and scheduling interviews. While you can certainly outsource these recruiting steps to potentially reduce hiring costs in the long run, these can also increase short-term expenses, and you’re not at the wheel when it comes to controlling the full hiring process. Creating a quick search-and-placement recruiting system can make it possible to meet your company’s goals via acquiring high-caliber employees, while saving you valuable resources like time and business costs related to the open position.
You have all the technology you need at your finger tips to post your job listings and get them seen by a broad audience of potential employees, and using services like ZipRecruiter‘s employer tools can help streamline the hiring process and meaningfully reduces the time it takes to hire. Knowledge is power in the game of talent acquisition, and by addressing these 5 common hiring time-wasters, you can streamline your application process, attract top talent more efficiently, and maybe even reduce some hiring costs at the same time.
1. Spending Too Much Time On Writing Your Job Descriptions
Writing job descriptions can be time-consuming, and though you certainly want to be comprehensive, sometimes less is more. While you may think that getting creative with your job title (like “sales ninja” or “software guru”) and description will showcase your company culture or “vibe”, it pays to have a succinct listing that outlines the responsibilities of the job, and the skills and experience required, so only job seekers with the most relevant experience in their field will apply.
If you’re stuck on what keywords and phrases are important so that your listing will show up on the relevant online searches, ZipRecruiter offers customizable templates for job descriptions, different positions, and screener questions so you can get your listing up quickly and hire in no time. You can also take down a job posting and swap it for a new one when the position is filled, so there’s no more waiting a certain number of days to keep a posting live.
2. Posting to Each and Every Job Board Individually
It’s always wise to cast a wide net when you’re initially looking for potential applicants, especially if you’re filling several positions all at once. But you shouldn’t just be relying on posting about the job to your social media or your company’s hiring website to fill your open positions. It’s easy to improve your odds of finding the best candidates for your roles by posting on the best job board sites.
But you don’t have to manually post your job ads to multiple, individual job sites and spend days tracking separate campaigns for each one. Just create and post your job listing on ZipRecruiter using one of their customizable templates, and with just one click, the platform will automatically send it to 100+ top job sites. With this increased visibility, you’re more likely to find the most qualified candidates in a shorter period of time.
You can also get more direct — ZipRecruiter’s “Invite to Apply” feature finds the best candidates for your open roles before they even apply, showing past employers’ detailed information about the candidate. Then you can send a pre-written, personal message to your favorite candidates so they’re more likely to notice and apply for a job. In fact, with “Invite to Apply”, you can instantly receive 8X more great matches for your job posting (ZipRecruiter Internal Data, average Jan. 1 – Dec. 31 2024).
3. Searching for Potential Applicants Yourself
When you’re looking to fill a position fast, searching for qualified candidates and doing outreach yourself can be one of the most time-consuming hiring tasks — especially if your small business doesn’t have the luxury of a large internal network you can draw upon to promote from within. Curating a candidate database will help you draw upon information such as resumes, relevant experience, and contact details from a healthy pool of specific applicants. Not only that, but maintaining a database will allow you to track and reach out to specific candidates you want to interview instead of searching through LinkedIn for anyone with only slightly relevant experience.
ZipRecruiter does this well, with industry-leading AI matching technology that uses billions of job seeker and employer data points to recommend relevant candidates based on their skills and experience. You can find qualified candidates in minutes with their Resume Database, which lets you streamline your search with smart, intuitive filters and unlock contact info instantly. ZipRecruiter also intelligently learns from your ratings and sends you similar applicants to the ones you liked before, so you won’t waste precious time interviewing under-qualified or ill-fitting candidates.
4. Sifting Through Applications Manually (Or With Outdated Technology)
When you’ve finally got a sizable pool of interested job-seekers, sifting through applications is a major time drain. If you’re manually screening each application, consider how many more qualified candidates automated recruiting software could bring to your organization. Or are you using clunky tech that makes it difficult to sort and organize candidate applications you do like? ZipRecruiter tackles this with smart matching technology that surfaces qualified candidates, taking information about an applicant’s skills (such as education, skills, and experience) and connecting them with your business.
Don’t already have an established process to manage hiring? Job applicants are captured inside ZipRecruiter’s Applicant Tracking System, or ATS. Their ATS centralizes and simplifies the decision-making process, so your hiring team can review, rate, manage the status of, and ultimately decide which candidate to hire faster than ever before. Even if you’re already using a third-party ATS, ZipRecruiter seamlessly populates candidates into your existing workflow with over 200 ATS integrations. These integrations can enable your business to streamline the recruiting process with your ATS of choice while tapping into ZipRecruiter’s marketplace, which gives you access to millions of job seekers, accelerates your time-to-hire, and improves the quality of candidates in your pipeline.
5. Scheduling Screener Interviews One by One
According to ZipRecruiter’s data, 81% of employers say they believe they would save a significant amount of time in their hiring process if they could quickly vet candidates over video. But scheduling an initial call takes time via email, especially if you’re contacting a larger pool of applicants, and can add another unofficial interview “round”. Not only is this a waste of your time and theirs, such a lengthy interview process may cause you to lose quality candidates to a competitor.
One tool from ZipRecruiter called “ZipIntro” lets you quickly screen candidates via short introductory videos, replacing time-consuming initial calls. It does all the work of finding and scheduling candidates for you: pick a time and ZipIntro will create a shortlist of qualified candidates for you to meet. Just choose who you want to talk to, and ZipIntro will do all the scheduling for you.
