12 Effective Ways to Reduce Time to Hire at Your Startup

By Brett Farmiloe

In a tight labor market, reducing the time to hire—the amount of time from when a candidate applies for a job and when that same candidate accepts an employment offer—is important if you don’t want to lose out on quality talent.

To learn ways to cut down on your time to hire employees, especially if you have limited resources, we asked successful startup founders and business owners for their best advice. From using prehire assessments to utilizing an applicant tracking system, here are 12 tips to try.

How to reduce your business's time for hire

1. Fast-track HR tasks with an online platform 

"For a startup to grow quickly, looking outside your state or for qualified team members is essential. Tax laws vary, and setting up employees in other states is difficult, considering the tax laws and business registration requirements.

"Our company uses Gusto to quickly onboard new team members. Gusto charges a small amount per employee or contractor you onboard. The cost is nominal, considering Gusto can replace an entire HR department. Another benefit of Gusto is that it already connects to all the major accounting platforms, such as QuickBooks."

—Brian Greenberg, Insurist

2. Make job requirements very clear

"A startup business with limited resources can experience a hiring snag if there are too many candidates in the talent pool. The first round of short-listing often takes far longer than subsequent rounds of screening and interviewing, leaving viable candidates in the dark about the progress of their application. This is a net negative for the candidate experience, and you may even lose out on top-tier talent if you can't present an offer in time. Though it may seem indirect, the solution is simple: have clearer job descriptions.

"By being transparent about the role, its requirements, and the ideal qualities that a candidate must have, those who are unsuitable will not apply. This saves you from having to review their applications and ultimately turn them down. With limited internal resources at your disposal, getting this time back can make a big difference and allow you to give the right candidates your full attention so you can arrive at a quicker decision."

—Aaron Gray, Agency 101

3. Use prehire assessments

"One of the most important things you can do to reduce the time to hire is to ensure the right people are applying for the position. This will save you time and energy because you will only be interviewing qualified candidates. Prehire assessments, such as cognitive ability, personality, and motivation tests, are key to the selection process. They help you predict a candidate's ability to succeed and thrive in a given position as well as help you to move faster while getting the best quality of candidates. These assessments help you look beyond the candidate's CV and find a perfect fit for the position."

—Mark Daoust, Quiet Light

4. Set up systems and processes before accepting applications

"A huge resource suck in the hiring process is time wasted on processing applications from applicants who have already moved on. If you want top candidates, you need to move fast! If you are in a position to hire, make it a priority. Deal with applications within 24 hours, and have interview slots, questions, and criteria ready to go before sending the invites.

"If none of these elements are ready, don't accept applications. Period. Setting up these systems and processes before you begin accepting applications will save you time and allow you to give top candidates answers immediately, instead of waiting for "batches" or not processing until the application deadline."

—Gates Little, altLINE Sobanco

5. Outsource the hiring process 

"When you're first starting out, it takes time to find the right people, but it takes even more time to truly understand what positions you need to fill. The solution is to outsource. Find freelancers that you can hire, even at a higher rate than you plan to pay long-term, so that you can use them temporarily and determine exactly what you need.

"Startups often think they need to fill a certain position when in reality there are other positions that need to be filled first, and hiring fast through outsourcing can help highlight those."

—Rafael Romis, Weberous Web Design

6. Streamline the process with an applicant tracking system

"I believe there are numerous benefits to employing a strong applicant tracking system (ATS). An ATS can help you save time and money by placing your job ad on several job boards and notifying you in real time when candidates apply. It also can help you streamline your hiring process and minimize your average time to hire by scheduling interviews, streamlining applications, developing a talent pipeline, verifying for compliance, and automating the process.

"Before making a decision on an ATS, it is important to take your time and thoroughly evaluate your demands."

—Max Whiteside, Breaking Muscle

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7. Use networking sessions in your industry to canvas for hires

"The best way we have found to reduce our time to hire has been to attend as many networking sessions in our industry as possible. It becomes easier to find your next hire when you connect with other people in your industry who know what you do and who can potentially help you out. Plus it saves big on recruitment fees."

—Mike van der Heijden, Portal Ventures

8. Showcase your startup's culture

"Showing off your startup's unique culture is a great way to speed up the hiring process and woo high-quality talent to your company. If you can crystallize your company values and the culture of your organization, you will be more likely to attract like-minded people who want to be part of your brand.

"For example, showcase how you encourage your employees to be creative, highlight your new projects, and let potential talent know about your respectful and collaborative work environment. Prospective employees will take notice of your company's culture, which will often make them more motivated to work for you. More motivated candidates mean easier and faster hiring."

—Georgi Todorov, ThriveMyWay

9. Create a talent pipeline with vetted candidates

"On average, it takes about 42 days to fill a role, so startup owners should keep that in mind when they're thinking about filling a role. Owners should first look at building a talent pipeline. A talent pipeline is a pool of candidates who are ready to fill a position.

"Begin by building a talent pool with a group of candidates who haven't been fully vetted. Next, create a sourcing strategy to fill your position. To increase the number of submissions you get, enable the Easy Apply features on LinkedIn or Indeed. Set aside time to go through each candidate and compare their application to the required skill set in your job description. Once you vet your candidates, they'll enter into the talent pipeline and you can move on to the next phase of the process to conduct interviews and determine if they're a good fit.

"Make sure you stay on top of communication with the candidates, and don't forget to notify unsuccessful candidates."

—Michelle Beauregard, Quietly

10. Check references early

"Check references early. Ask candidates to include references on their resumes, so that you can contact a reference immediately if you are interested in a candidate. If it takes a reference time to respond or you get a negative comment about the potential candidate, you'll either know not to proceed further or you won't be worried about waiting because the interview process is just getting started."

—Simon Bacher, Simya Solutions

11. Use an online staffing agency

"One strategy to help reduce the time to hire for a startup business is to use an online staffing agency. Using an online staffing agency can help you find highly qualified candidates who are available and ready to work immediately, as well as candidates who are available for hire at a later date. You can also use an agency to manage your employee's work schedules. The best part about using an online staffing agency is that it allows you to focus on what matters most: growing your business."

—Ben Price, Heatable

12. Hire candidates from your networks

"By hiring from your networks and prioritizing referrals, you can greatly reduce your time to hire as you’ll have fewer candidates to filter, better quality candidates, and a way to vouch for candidates' skills, experience, and character to ensure they’re a good fit for your team. When you hire from your network, you can easily verify their experiences, check their recommendations, and take less time screening them or conducting longer interviews."

—Jordan Fabel, ApprovedCourse

RELATED: Hiring Your First Employee: 8 Key Questions to Ask