How long does recruitment take

With all application materials reviewed and all qualified candidates interviewed, companies decide who they'd like to have join them as an employee. The hiring process isn't complete until the company makes an offer and the candidate accepts it. There may be some negotiating involved during this step. To understand why the hiring process takes as long as it does, consider that employers may have anywhere from a few to over candidates apply for an open position. The more applicants, the longer the overall process will take.

Other factors influencing the length of the hiring process are the size of the company — the larger the company, the longer it usually takes — and the level of the role being filled. The more complex the open position is and the more experience or training it requires, the longer it generally takes companies to find the right candidate. Other hiring tasks like background checks, personality evaluations, skills assessments and drug testing also add to the time it may take for companies to hire new employees.

Another reason that the hiring process can take a long time is that while companies are posting positions, reviewing applications and scheduling interviews, they still have to conduct their primary business as usual.

As much as you'd like their focus to be on you and your application, the company still needs to attend to business. In other words, as much as being hired is your priority, hiring managers are on their own schedules, not yours. Occasionally, a job opening may be put on hold due to management changes, budget changes or other personnel changes that you may not know about, which could further extend the hiring timeline.

As an applicant for a new position, recognize that there are certain things in your control and other things that are out of your control.

The speed at which the hiring process occurs is entirely up to the employer, but you can influence that timeline by precisely following all of the instructions the employer gives you.

Once you've done everything the employer asked—submitted the requested application, resume, cover letter, references and work samples, for example, and made yourself available for interviews—you can sit back and wait for a response. The rest is up to the company. There are various reasons you may not have heard back yet after your recent interview.

These include:. You don't have any way to know where you are in the roster of applicants. Many times, companies prefer to evaluate all applicants before contacting any of them. The process of collecting, compiling and reviewing feedback from all interviewers takes time.

Remember, while you are focused on getting the position, the company is still focused on doing everything it usually does. Daily operations don't stop while they source and hire new employees.

Sometimes, not hearing back indicates that they haven't reached a final decision about who to hire. It's possible that you weren't selected for the role and the company is waiting until someone has accepted an offer to contact applicants who are no longer under consideration.

If it's been 10 business days since your interview and you haven't heard back from your potential employer, follow up with a phone call or email to your HR contact. First day on the job! When start dates are being agreed upon, you and the employer are doing new-hire math.

So there you have it: In my experience, three-plus months is probably the best-case scenario with regards to processes and normal setbacks that the best candidate for a single job can expect.

Oftentimes, however, it was longer. So you may go through false starts of this process several times before you actually make it all the way through. For that reason, I often suggest that job seekers give themselves on average six months for the job search from start to finish. Keeping your energy up for the job search can be tough, but your mission as a job seeker is to keep your eye on the prize.

Regardless of how long the hiring process takes, the timing itself is not something you can control. It's best to work on yourself, making sure your candidacy is as strong as possible. Start with perfecting your resume. Want some help with that? G et a free resume evaluation today from the experts at Monster's Resume Writing Service.

You'll get detailed feedback in two business days, including a review of your resume's appearance and content, and a prediction of a recruiter's first impression. It's a quick and easy way Monster gives you an edge over the competition.

Follow her on Twitter at vickisalemi. Thank you! You are now a Monster member—and you'll receive more content in your inbox soon. By continuing, you agree to Monster's privacy policy , terms of use and use of cookies. Search Career Advice. A drawn-out hiring process often includes multiple interviews — four, five, even six rounds. Often, companies are holding out for the 'perfect candidate', and string along workers in the process.

But increasingly, job-seekers are losing patience, and this marathon process is causing workers to walk. Company size is also a factor in recruitment timelines. These firms will likely have longer processes and ask candidates to meet more people. In many sectors, extra hurdles like drug tests, personality tests, background checks and skills assessments have become more common , adding more steps to the recruitment process.

But hiring has always come with time-consuming logistics: screening CVs, interviewing candidates, scheduling follow-up interviews with other hiring managers. Though artificial-intelligence systems and HR departments can take on some of this, busy managers juggling multiple priorities will also have to be involved — potentially causing delays.

Behind the scenes, hiring someone is a complicated process that involves many people, and it's only gotten more complicated as time has passed Credit: Getty Images. For decades, research has shown structured interviews — in which interviewers spend extra effort to prepare questions and possible assessments ahead of time — produce better recruits than unstructured interviews involving a chat with a candidate about their CV.

Of course, none of this really makes candidates waiting days or weeks to hear back from prospective employers feel much better. While some applicants understand why the process takes so long, many still have to endure interviewing processes that seem interminable , which can be worse depending on the company.

The recruitment process also seems to have become less courteous; ghosting by both employer and candidate is widely reported, as is breadcrumbing , when potential employers lead candidates on.

Long recruitment processes can, of course, backfire on employers, when candidates end up losing interest in the job.