“Measure Twice – Cut Once” is a saying used by a wise carpenter. This proverb means to save the wood from being ruined. In other words, it’s faster to double-check than to make a mistake.

This same proverb could be just as easily applied to the recruitment process of any organisation. If we don’t measure twice, we may actually be wasting time and money and harming our brand by running an inefficient recruitment process.

Below are some common sense approaches to help streamline your recruitment process to maximise getting a positive outcome.

1. Be Clear

Decide on the skills and attributes you need the ideal candidate to have. Occasions where hiring managers are unclear about the ideal candidate can lead to a failed or sloppy recruitment process.

Lack of clarity can lead to a downward spiral; have a conversation and agree on exactly what you’re looking for before you start the recruitment process. Of course, you may need the input of a recruitment professional to ensure you are asking for a realistic candidate skillset and not setting yourself up for failure.

    2. Be Interview Ready

It’s important to be prepared for interviews once you have identified which candidates meet your shortlist criteria. Decide what questions you’re going to ask. Will the questions be technical or behavioural? Do you want to see a presentation or example of previous work? Consistency is key here so you can truly benchmark the candidates against each other and make an educated hiring decision.

   3. Keep the Process Efficient

Avoid a lengthy, drawn out recruitment process with too many interview rounds or unnecessary assessments. Minimise the time between 1st and 2nd stage interviews so that candidates don’t lose their enthusiasm for the role.

Also, don’t waste any time on ‘maybe’ candidates; it may sound harsh but if you have any doubts you must follow your instincts and only spend time on people you’re genuinely interested in.

   4. Make Notes

It’s important to make notes and document throughout the recruitment process; how many candidates have you seen, what were they like on the phone screen, what was the level of detail in their answers in the face to face interview? Can you visualise them working in your business and representing your brand?

By documenting, you can compare notes and make an informed decision. These notes will also help you to go back and probe in a second round interview or gain more details from a targeted reference check.

    5. Give & Receive Feedback

This is a crucial part of the recruitment process. The ability to give feedback requires courage and it will serve your business well to share constructive feedback based on your interview notes. The unsuccessful candidates will learn from and appreciate the honest approach. You never know, perhaps there is another role in the business for them. Now is also the best time to give the successful candidate some constructive feedback too, they will be more inclined to listen and take on board the feedback before they have the job offered to them. Use this feedback process as an opportunity to gain feedback from the interviewed candidates also, what they valued or didn’t in the recruitment process, this can help you to tweak your process where necessary.

    6. Onboarding

Now that you’ve made the decision to hire, ensure that the onboarding process is detailed and streamlined. This is an important part in the recruitment process that is often overlooked. You need to set the tone and kick the working relationship off as you mean to go on. IT system access set up, meeting and greeting new colleagues, clean desk with stationary and training program prepared are all part of the induction process to have ready.

So, there you have it, 6 ways to help streamline your recruitment process, most companies have this in place by default. Do you need to give some of these stages some more thought or are there areas you feel you could improve?



If you would like to talk about your recruitment process, feel free to reach out to talk to the Quay Appointments team on 02 8275 0500 or email quay@quayappointments.com.au