The labor market continues to tighten and companies are almost desperate for quality talent to fill key roles, but a recent study by MRINetwork reveals that the hiring process has slowed in the executive, managerial and professional sector in 2015.

The report also found 90% of recruiters surveyed continue to feel the labor market is candidate-driven. This environment provides candidates with the confidence to reject undesirable job offers, with 47% of recruiters listing “accepted another offer” as the primary reason for offer objections.

Few business leaders truly understand the many negative business impacts that result from slow hiring. Often we think that having a lengthy and detailed process will ensure we make “quality hiring decisions”, when in fact the exact opposite can be true. High Demand candidates know it, and are not going to sit around while we take our sweet time. Even if candidates do stick around we run the increased risk of now having to compete for that candidate, which will result in either higher wages or the loss of top talent.

Establishing a process that enables us to quickly assess a candidate’s behaviors, skills & abilities is key to any successful recruiting strategy. By using Key Performance Indicators & Predictive Analytics along with Structured Interview’s and then benchmarking them against current “top performers” we can create a process that is repeatable, reliable and allows us to make timely hiring decisions with confidence.