Glassdoor has released a new study that shows that it is taking longer to hire candidates. The new report also tried to determine why.
According to Glassdoor, the average overall job interview process takes 22.9 days in the U.S. The interview processes has also been getting longer, both in the U.S. and abroad. The average interview processes have grown as much as 3 days since 2009. This trend of longer times spans all job titles and industries.
So what is causing the lengthening of the interview process?
Well it is not the candidates. Glassdoor reports that the personal characteristics of job seekers—such as gender, age and highest level of education—have no statistical effect on interview lengths.
It appears, at least on paper, that the hold up is the employers.
The study finds that the hiring policies of employers have a large effect on the length of the interview process. When an organization chooses to utilize group panel interviews, candidate presentations, background checks, and skills tests they statistically increase the hiring process. All of the recent growth in hiring processes appears to be driven entirely by economy-wide shifts in the composition of employers, job titles, hiring industries, and company HR policies.
Glassdoor also broke down what time policies are adding to the entire hiring process. The below screening methods added the indicated time to the overall process.
|
Interview Method |
Average Days Added to Hiring Process |
|
Phone Interview |
+6.8 to +8.2 days |
|
One-on-One Interview |
+4.1 to +5.3 days |
|
Group Panel Interview |
+5.6 to +6.8 days |
|
Presentation |
+2.7 to +4.2 days |
|
IQ Intelligence Test |
+2.6 to +4.4 days |
|
Job Skills Test |
+0.6 to +1.5 days |
|
Personality Test |
+0.9 to +1.3 days |
|
Drug Test |
+0.3 to +0.8 days |
|
Background Check |
+3.1 to +3.4 days |
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research, “Why Is Hiring Taking Longer? New Insights from Glassdoor Data,” by Dr. Andrew Chamberlain.
In a review of the complete study, Dr. Andrew Chamberlain had this to say about the growth of hiring times,
“While some of the growth in hiring delays probably reflects the need for more carefully screened job candidates, there’s also evidence that some delays could be avoided with more streamlined hiring processes.
As employers balance the tradeoff between screening and hiring delays, this study helps quantify the impact of today’s hiring policies on hiring times for the first time, and helps economists better understand the impact on job matching throughout the economy.”
