It has never been harder for companies to find solid, quality candidates. Competition for talent is at an all-time high, thanks to the “Great Resignation.” Employees know they’re in demand and are able to be much more selective about their employment. 

What can employers do to convince top talent to apply for open positions and accept their offers? 

To address this unique moment in the hiring landscape, companies will need to learn how to hire faster. Their challenge is finding innovative ways to recruit and land top talent—before the competition does.

The Problem: Employers are Facing a Talent Shortage

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 11 million open jobs in the United States. Meanwhile, 4.5 million people voluntarily left their jobs in just one month. 

Why is it so hard to attract and retain employees? 

• Fast economic expansion after the pandemic. Employers and employees weren’t quite ready to quickly fill roles amid widespread reopening. 
• Projects that were delayed due to COVID-19 are resuming. Similarly, projects that were postponed are suddenly back on; the talent that was laid off needs to be rehired. 
• There is a widening talent gap. With experienced workers leaving the workforce for various reasons, the people who are actively looking for jobs are less likely to be qualified for those positions (which makes finding the right candidates in a sea of resumes even harder). 

Traditional Solutions Won’t Help Employers Meet Hiring Needs

Employers are eager to fill these open positions quickly, but fixing a new problem with old methods won’t work. That means paying for job board posting won’t reach your top talent. Just as the pandemic has upended everything else, hiring methods also need to change.  

Traditional hiring methods tend to require a lot of time spent sorting through resumes, chasing applicants or digging for the “right” candidates. That’s time lost actually interviewing a qualified candidate who’s interested in the role. 

Additionally, now is a good time to reevaluate processes that simply haven’t been serving employers or employees. Resumes are a historically poor indicator of who is going to be successful in a role. Using resumes as a basis for which applicants to chase can lead to recruiters wasting their time on the wrong candidates—and losing out on the best ones who may not have great resumes/applications. Plus, resumes can lead to hiring biases.

The current job market offers an uncertain future for employers. Companies looking to get ahead need to think creatively for alternative ways to win talent. 

Employer Solutions for How to Hire Faster

If companies aren’t moving fast in their hiring process, they are losing out on talent to the competition. 

Here are some bottlenecks that might be holding up your hiring:

• You’re looking in the wrong places. Your top prospects might not be looking on the job boards where you post. They may not be actively looking at all. Instead, you’ll need to sell them on the job—and make it super easy to collect their application. 
• You’re spending too much time scheduling and conducting phone screens. By the time you’ve settled on a date and time that works for both parties, conducted the interview, typed the notes, sent them to the hiring manager … another company might have swooped in with an offer. 
• You’re asking the wrong questions. A hiring manager might have a standard list of screening questions, but do they actually encourage the type of answer you’re looking for? Without the right information, it can be hard to know whether to move a candidate forward. 

Let’s dive deeper into that second one. Video screening can help employers fast-track the best applicants. Video showcases candidates beyond their resumes, making it easy to identify the most committed and passionate people. Asking for video resumes upon application eliminates the need for the administrative screening work earlier in the process and reduces time to hire.

For example, an impressive candidate applies after business hours on a Tuesday evening. She is automatically taken to a page where she can submit a video answering the screening questions. The next morning, a recruiter comes into the office to find a completed video interview. Since the candidate did an excellent job, the recruiter forwards the candidate on to the hiring manager. Boom—a qualified candidate moved forward in less than a day.

Reduce Time-to-Hire and Stay Competitive

Companies want to keep growing, but the talent shortage isn’t slowing down. Employers need to move faster on hiring and scaling up in order to keep up with competitors. 

Wedge one-way video interview software reduces time-to-hire by 50%, helping you land top talent before the competition does. Request a demo today and never sit through a phone screen again.