The importance of minimizing down time in the hiring process, for both employers and applicants

When I was looking for a new position a few months ago, I encountered a certain pattern in how communications and scheduling went with new potential employers:

I reach out in some way (LinkedIn, application on their site or through another provider). From most of these companies I either didn't hear back at all or got a form rejection letter after some time (between one hour and two weeks). With the rest, I had an initial call with a recruiter (normally scheduled about a week after initial contact). I got a rejection email following these calls from most (~75%) of these. From the rest, a pattern emerged:

1. Schedule an interview for sometime in the next few days (from the sequence of tech screen, first and second-level architecture interviews, up to 3 interviews with managers of different levels, as well as an interview with the hiring manager).
2. Have the interview (in person or in Zoom, sometimes just one interview and sometimes a couple back-to-back).
3. Wait in suspense and nervousness for sometime between 1-4 business days to hear an answer. In the meantime I try to decide about whether or not to start to get emotionally involved in the process and to feel optimistic (which makes you a better candidate), or to remain indifferent, try to forget about it, and keep refreshing on the Jobs section of LinkedIn.

I went through this process (phone screen + somewhere between 3-6 interviews) with four companies.

With the first three companies, on average a month elapsed from initial contact until final rejection (not including time that everything shut down for a few weeks immediately following October 7). All of them had legitimate reasons for not making me an offer, and all of them were pleasant and treated me well through the process. But with all three of the companies, in at least one point or another I was waiting for days on end for word back from a recruiter about how the last interview went (and then more days until the next scheduled time). My average time in process for each of these was around a month or so, with at least half the time being in a state of uncertainty about "how did I do". It is not a fun place to be in.

Things were different with Intuit . I applied for a role on October 30. Heard back from Ortal . in less than one day and spoke to her the next week (November 5). The next day we scheduled a tech screen for later that week, which was held on November 8. The very next day (!!!) I was invited to a round of interviews to be held the next week, which Bella Zuckerman helped to set up. These took place on the morning of November 14 (four interviews in total with different combinations of stakeholders and potential peers). The very same day I got a call from Ortal with the good news that they wanted to make me an offer.

It took only two weeks to go through the entire interview cycle and get an offer (which came on the same day as my final interview). I signed the offer a couple of days later and started in December.

Dear Employers: Please do whatever you can to minimize the waiting periods in the hiring process. Anything you can do in this area will pay off for you. Enforce a culture of avoiding delays in scheduling and decision-making. You will almost always be best equipped to make a decision when you are closer to the interview or last interaction with the candidate (and waiting "in case someone better comes along" is an overall losing strategy). Doing so is better for you and for your candidates. You will fill your requisitions faster while helping to improve quality of life for your potential future employees while they go through what is a stressful process even in it's best manifestation.

And for those job-seekers out there, if you are interested in joining a company that has taken the time to optimize and maximally respect your time, efforts, and investment during the hiring process, check out the job board at Intuit and feel free to message me - I'd be happy to give feedback on resumés and help you out with an internal referral if appropriate, for both my team/site in Israel, or any of our sites worldwide.