The Monty Heat Treat News has worked closely with International Search Partners, a US search firm which is known for being the only recruiting agency in the world working exclusively in the heat treatment industry, for many years now. In 2023, The Monty is pleased to announce that this relationship will continue with ISP offering a regular exclusive feature where they will answer questions about salaries, interviewing, negotiations, and a host of other topics related to recruiting and job searching for companies and/or individual professionals in the heat treat industry.

This month, Managing Recruiter, Josh Hale answers a question from the HR Manager of a large commercial heat treater:

How many interviews does it take before we can feel confident that we’ve seen enough candidates to make our hiring decision?

Josh: Short answer –one. Long answer – seriously, it only takes one.

In today’s hypercompetitive job market, employers face unprecedented challenges finding and retaining key talent. As the demand for skilled workers continues to outpace supply, the war for talent becomes a fierce battle; one where speed wins.

The days of a leisurely hiring process where you can look for multiple candidates and seek comparisons across a broad swatch of resumes are long gone. Today, companies who hesitate will lose the best candidates to more agile competition.

With more options than ever before, top performers have the luxury of choosing their employers and are consistently gravitating towards those with a frictionless and speedy hiring process.

Still not convinced? Here are three reasons why an employer should move quickly on extending an offer, even before they’ve had additional interviews for comparison:

• Fast hiring signals a company’s culture. The speed of the hiring process is a telling indicator of the company’s culture and values. A fast and efficient system for hiring suggests that the company values its employees’ time and is committed to creating a positive work environment. The best employees are drawn to this type of environment.
• A quick offer demonstrates the company’s commitment to the new hire. A prompt offer shows that you are genuinely interested in the hire and value their skills and experience. This goes a long way toward building rapport and engagement and is the first step in a smooth and successful onboarding process.
• Candidates are being filtered in other ways. Even though you may have only had one interview, how many resumes have you reviewed? How many other potential applicants didn’t apply because they screened themselves out? Are you working with a recruiter, and, if so, how many did they pass on before the candidates got to you? Even if it doesn’t feel like it, you’re often at a narrower end of the proverbial funnel that you think you are…

Now that your convinced that you only need one good candidate and are ready to extend an offer as soon as you realize that this is someone who can add value to your team, here are a few quick tips for streamlining and expediting your process so you can make hires more quickly:

• Clearly define the role and requirements.
• Avoid wasting time with obviously unqualified individuals.
• Schedule multiple interviews in a day or within a short period of time – don’t drag this out.
• Be upfront and as transparent as possible re: salary and compensation.
• Set realistic expectations from the beginning.

We may address more ways to improve your hiring process in future issues of ATHTR but this will give you a head start amongst much of your competition who are still living in the days of high unemployment when it was an employer’s market. Under current conditions, when there’s an outright war for talent at all levels, speed is a powerful weapon. By acting quickly and decisively, you gain a competitive edge and can secure more top hires.

Remember, in today’s fast-paced world, hesitation is the enemy of success.

Josh Hale collaborates with companies to identify, engage, and hire top performers as a professional “headhunter” where he’s focused exclusively on the thermal processing industry as part of International Search Partners since acquiring the firm in 2015. He works closely with Jessica Maier to support the practice, and, together, they’ve helped dozens of companies make hundreds of hires in a variety of roles within the industry, including engineering, sales, quality, metallurgy, and management. For more information email [email protected] or call 619-465-9621.