Study: How long does it take to hire?

Glassdoor recently released a new study on the length of time it takes for companies to hire new employees.

For this analysis, Glassdoor looked at 83,921 interview reviews shared anonymously on their website from 25 countries with at least 100 reviews between January 1, 2017 to June 13, 2017, in which job seekers recorded the length of a recent interview they experienced.

Based on these reviews, they are able to take the pulse of hiring delays so far in 2017 by job title, industry, country and city.

Key Takeaways

• The longest job interview processes are in Brazil (39.6 days), France (38.9 days) and Switzerland (37.6 days). The shortest reported interviews are in India (16.1 days), Israel (16.9 days) and Romania (19.2 days).
• A key driver behind interview process duration across countries is differences in labor market regulations and institutions. Countries with more flexibility in hiring and firing tend to have shorter interview processes.
• Among U.S. cities, the slowest hiring processes are found in Washington, D.C. (33.2 days). The fastest hiring processes are found in Kansas City, Kansas (16.9 days).
• The U.S. industries with the longest interview processes are Government (53.8 days), Aerospace & Defense (32.6 days) and Energy & Utilities (28.8 days). The sectors with the shortest interview processes are Restaurants & Bars (10.2 days), Private Security (11.6 days) and Supermarkets (12.3 days).
• Companies have substantial control the length of interview processes. C-specific factors explain about 14.7 percent of variation in hiring delays around the world, about twice as much as job-specific factors, or factors like industry, location and company size.

Although long interview processes are costly — both in terms of lost productivity for employers and foregone salaries for workers — they are not always wasteful.

Employers should be aware of the balance between moving quickly and effectively screening candidates. Often, although not always, extra interview layers tend to mean better candidates and more valuable employees.