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Best Practices10 min read2024-01-05

How We Reduced Time-to-Hire by 90% (And You Can Too, Probably)

By Priya Patel

How We Reduced Time-to-Hire by 90% (And You Can Too, Probably)


Let's talk about time-to-hire. You know, that metric that keeps your CEO up at night and makes your hiring team cry.


**The problem:** Traditional hiring takes forever. 6-8 weeks on average. By the time you find the perfect candidate, they've already accepted another offer. Or you've settled for someone "good enough" because you're desperate.


**The solution:** AI-powered hiring automation. We reduced our time-to-hire from 6 weeks to 4 days. No, that's not a typo. Here's exactly how we did it (and how you can copy us).


The Before: A Horror Story


Week 1-2: The Resume Avalanche

  • Post job → Get 500 applications
  • Manually review each resume (20+ hours)
  • Realize 90% are completely unqualified
  • Cry a little
  • Create shortlist of 50 "maybe" candidates

    • Week 3-4: The Phone Screen Marathon

  • Phone screen 50 candidates (another 20+ hours)
  • Realize 45 of them can't actually do the job
  • Cry a lot
  • Narrow down to 5 candidates

    • Week 5-6: The Interview Gauntlet

  • Interview 5 candidates
  • Realize 3 of them are still not great
  • Settle for the "least bad" option
  • **Total time: 6 weeks**
  • **Total sanity: Gone**

    • The After: A Success Story


    Day 1: Post Job

  • Post job → Get 500 applications
  • AI screens all 500 automatically (5 minutes)
  • Get ranked list of top 10 candidates
  • Review AI insights (30 minutes)

    • Day 2: Review & Schedule

  • Review top 10 candidates
  • Schedule interviews with top 5
  • AI handles all scheduling automatically

    • Day 3-4: Interview & Hire

  • Interview top 5 candidates
  • All are actually qualified (miracle!)
  • Make offer to best candidate
  • **Total time: 4 days**
  • **Total sanity: Intact**

    • The Secret Sauce: What Actually Changed


    1. Automated Resume Screening


    **Before:** 20+ hours manually reviewing resumes

    **After:** 5 minutes of AI screening


    AI screens all candidates automatically, identifying the ones who actually match your requirements. No more wasting time on unqualified candidates.


    2. Intelligent Candidate Ranking


    **Before:** Random order, or alphabetical (seriously?)

    **After:** Ranked by actual fit and predicted success


    AI ranks candidates by how well they match your requirements, their predicted success, and your company's specific needs.


    3. Automated Scheduling


    **Before:** Email ping-pong for days

    **After:** AI finds mutual availability and schedules automatically


    No more "how about Tuesday?" "Can't do Tuesday, how about Wednesday?" AI handles it all.


    4. Skills Verification


    **Before:** Trust resumes (big mistake)

    **After:** Actually verify skills with assessments


    AI can verify candidates actually have the skills they claim, not just the keywords they put on their resume.


    5. Continuous Learning


    **Before:** Same mistakes, over and over

    **After:** AI learns from every hire and gets smarter


    Every hire makes the AI better at finding the right candidates for your specific company.


    The Numbers Don't Lie


  • **Time-to-hire:** 6 weeks → 4 days (90% reduction)
  • **Screening time:** 20+ hours → 30 minutes (97% reduction)
  • **Cost per hire:** $5,000 → $1,500 (70% reduction)
  • **Quality of hires:** Variable → Consistently high
  • **Team happiness:** Low → High (priceless)

    • How to Copy Us (Step-by-Step)


    Step 1: Set Up AI Screening

  • Integrate AI recruitment software (2-day setup)
  • Configure your requirements
  • Let AI screen candidates automatically

    • Step 2: Review AI Recommendations

  • Review ranked list of candidates
  • Check AI insights and recommendations
  • Trust the data (it's usually right)

    • Step 3: Interview Top Candidates

  • Schedule interviews with top candidates
  • Focus on culture fit and team dynamics
  • Skip the "can they do the job?" question (AI already answered that)

    • Step 4: Hire and Iterate

  • Make offer to best candidate
  • Track results
  • Let AI learn from the hire
  • Repeat

    • Common Mistakes to Avoid


    Mistake 1: Not Trusting the AI

    **Problem:** You still manually review every resume

    **Solution:** Trust the AI. It's usually right. Review the top candidates, not all candidates.


    Mistake 2: Not Configuring Properly

    **Problem:** AI doesn't know what you're looking for

    **Solution:** Spend time configuring requirements. Better input = better output.


    Mistake 3: Not Using All Features

    **Problem:** You only use AI for screening

    **Solution:** Use AI for scheduling, ranking, assessments, everything. Go all-in.


    The Bottom Line


    Reducing time-to-hire by 90% isn't magic—it's AI. And you can do it too.


    Stop spending weeks hiring. Start hiring in days. Your team (and your sanity) will thank you.


    ---


    **Ready to reduce your time-to-hire by 90%?** [Book a demo](/#book-demo) and see how NordMatch AI can transform your hiring process. Or keep spending 6 weeks per hire. Your choice.


    *P.S. - If you're still taking 6 weeks to hire, we have some bad news: your competitors are already ahead. But hey, there's always next quarter!*


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