Businesses' Missing out on Top Talent due to Interview Time-Lag, Warns Parity

Parity warn that businesses are losing the best candidates as interviewees refuse to play the waiting game

(PRWEB) May 13, 2007 -- Parity, the Business and IT Services specialist, is warning IT companies against keeping potential recruits in the dark during the average two week time-lag in the recruitment process, or face missing out on the best employees.

According to Parity (http://www.parity.net/ ), some companies are not responding fast enough to job applications or the follow up to interviews, forcing highly skilled workers - tired of waiting for an answer - to go elsewhere. In the worst-case scenario, potential recruitment candidates could be snatched up by a rival company.

In the IT jobs (http://www.parity.net/jobsandresources) market, where some skilled workers are in short supply, recruiters can no longer afford to keep valuable candidates waiting. Companies can suffer from a negative image, spread by word of mouth from interviewees that were ignored or forgotten. This can have a detrimental effect on the company's perception by future applicants.

Parity believes the factors at play are simple but often overlooked, and offers the following six tips for best practice during the recruitment process:

1. Plan the whole recruitment process carefully at the outset and agree interview schedules with agencies before releasing the requirement

2. Acknowledge job applications within three days of receipt, either explaining that the candidate was not suitable for the position or progressing them onto the next stage of the interview process

3. Ensure interviews are conducted within the following week

4. On the day of the interview do not leave the interviewee waiting in reception for longer than 5 minutes - an interview is a two-way process and if the candidate does not feel valued, they may not accept the job

5. Immediately after the interview, explain to the interviewee when they can expect to hear a decision from you on the position

6. Call the interviewee, or the recruitment agency involved, as directed in point five, either giving them the good news or giving useful feedback as to why they didn't succeed this time.

"Companies are at risk of wasting valuable time and resources by having to repeat the recruitment process if they fail to make decisions quickly enough and the intended employee chooses not to wait around for an answer," said Alan Rommel, Public Sector director at Parity Resources. "Keeping skilled applicants waiting on your decision is unfair on the individual and subsequently detrimental to your business. If skills go elsewhere in a market that is already tipped in favour of the skilled worker, the business will not be able to function at its optimum level."

"Employers must remove time delays and drastically improve the recruitment experience for the candidate if they want to win over potential recruits," Rommel concluded.

About Parity Group plc

Parity is a UK-based Business and IT Recruitment Services (http://www.parity.net/jobsandresources/forclients/services/

) organisation, delivering technical, resource and training solutions that contribute to the business transformation and economic performance of both private and public sector clients.

Established for over thirty years, Parity has developed deep industry expertise in recruitment for clients (http://www.parity.net/jobsandresources/forclients/ ) in Finance, Utilities, Telecoms and the Public Sector delivering, people, skills and concepts for IT enabled projects and programmes throughout the UK.

Parity believes that better relationships deliver better results. Many current client relationships span more than ten years, and include; Barclays Bank, British American Tobacco, BT, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Department for Work and Pensions, HBOS, Ministry of Defence, Northern Ireland Electricity, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Power, The Cabinet Office, The Charity Commission and the NHS.

Parity Group PR Contact:

Caroline Overholt

Parity Group plc

Wimbledon Bridge House

1 Hartfield Road

Wimbledon

London

SW19 3RU

+44 (0)845 873 6943

c.overholt @ parity.net

http://www.parity.net/

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