Why Use Our Checklist?

HR compliance is one of those certainties in life you can always count on. But with ever-changing laws and regulations, it can be difficult for businesses to keep up. And, if it seems like it gets harder every year, many businesses agree that it has. In fact, an important 2022 survey confirms it.

Compliance was a universal stressor for many organizations over the past year.

In fact, 63% of respondents report that their HR department felt significantly more pressure to maintain compliance. As a result of the pandemic, 77% of organizations were forced to spend more time and energy on new and expanded compliance issues.

Our complete HR compliance checklist can help you stay on top of changing deadlines and create policies and procedures that minimize business risk. It includes everything human resource specialists like you need to prepare for an HR audit.

What’s Included

Our HR compliance checklist has the documents you need, critical laws you need to be aware of and the best ways to alleviate your compliance concerns. See the deadlines, laws and top tips you need to tackle compliance in these crucial areas of your business. 

 The checklist is broken down into these basic categories:

• Interviewing and hiring employees
• Time management
• Payroll and taxes
• Employee benefits
• Company policies
• Diversity, equity and inclusion

Download our HR compliance checklist to get key compliance deadlines and help with some of the hardest HR compliance issues. (Step 1: Use this checklist. Step 2: Sleep better knowing your company won’t get penalized or fined.) The more you use it, the less you have to worry — we know you have enough to focus on as it is. 

As an HR leader or business owner, you’re busy. We understand. If you’re interested in spending more time on growing your business and less time worrying about compliance, you’ve come to the right blog.

With EmPower as your HR partner,  you can rest easy knowing your compliance is locked down. Contact us to put some reliance in your compliance.

Don’t get us wrong– we love to compete! But to win top talent, business owners need to understand how their hiring process timeline compares to the competition. 

Use this guide to help you find the optimal interview and hiring process timeline for your business. We’ve included our best advice on how to cut the hiring process timeline and recruit quality employees faster. (We know you can compete with the big players!) Plus, we’ve thrown in expert tips to help you find your latest and greatest employee.

What Is The Timeline For Hiring?

In general, the hiring process for most professional services takes between 2 weeks and 30 days on average. Jobvite’s 2021 Recruiting Benchmark Report shows a time-to-hire of 14-30 days for 54% of employers, with 70% of employers filling openings in less than 30 days. So, if your hiring process takes longer than 4 weeks, you risk losing your top-tier candidates to competitors. 

Note that the timeline for completing the hiring process, from the initial job posting to the acceptance of an offer, varies among industries. Even with these averages, the hiring process timeline will undoubtedly look different for each business. Plus, you should be somewhat flexible with the hiring process timeline to make sure you’re getting the best candidates for the job. 

How Long Should The Interview Process Be?

The interview process timeline is the biggest roadblock in your hiring process. The job interview process can be lengthy. Many companies have an involved interview process starting with screening interviews, which often take place on the phone, followed by in-person interviews, second interviews and even third interviews. (That’s a big chunk of the hiring process timeline!)

A recent article by the Balance, breaks down the average amount of time to get an offer, but the average interview process timeline depends on industry and skill level. It takes new college grads 24 days on average to receive a job offer after an interview. An extensive Glassdoor survey shows that just the interview process of the recruitment process usually takes about 23 days.

HR Pro Tip

Because of how much time interviewing takes, it’s critical to interview effectively. As we’ll discuss later in this guide, there are steps you can take to better interview and recruit the right people for the job. Ask candidates insightful questions to see if they’re just looking at this position as a stepping stone, or if they’re in it for the long term.  How they answer will say a lot.

How To Cut The Hiring Process Timeline And Recruit Faster

Don’t give your favorite candidate the chance to wander off to a different opportunity. Here are just a few tips to let you get ahead in the competition.

Use Video Content In Your Job Ad

Job seekers get tired of scanning through the job postings with the same format. Adding video content can be a huge differentiator for your brand. (Take that, other stale job ads!) It’s also a great way to showcase your company culture and build a relationship with new applicants. 

Adding video to your job ads can help you:

• Showcase your brand and culture
• Highlight job perks and incentives
• Encourage sharing and engagement on social media
• Expand your talent search by increasing your visibility

Use video content in your job ad to show applicants around your company, highlighting key employees and their experiences. It doesn’t have to be glamorous! Having a manager talk about the role and company culture has the potential to resonate with candidates on a different level.

Strategically Place Your Job Ad

There are tons of places where you can post a job ad. From Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster (and infinity and beyond!) The list of places where you can post a job opening never ends. It takes a keen eye to understand the best place to post a job advertisement and why. 

Most recruiters turn to LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, but it’s become so crowded with recruiters that it’s actually grown harder to source passive candidates. Oversaturation on LinkedIn is the main reason that 52% of hiring managers claim that passive candidate recruiting has become less effective. Our advice? First thing’s first, determine your budget and timeline. Then, do some research and find out which channels are best suited to your target audience and budget.

How Can You Promote Your Job Posting?

If you want to attract high-quality candidates, it is not enough just to publish your job openings on your career site and job boards. Your best job candidates are passive job seekers, who are not actively looking for a new job. Some of the top places to post your job ad to recruit passive candidates are:

• Job-specific websites where your target audience frequently visits. Industry-specialized websites like forums and blogs are a ​​great place for promoting your job postings.
• Your company newsletter. Make sure to include your job posting in your company’s newsletter to spread the information about your new job opening. 
• Social media platforms. Facebook and Twitter’s targeted search capabilities can be used to find high-quality passive candidates. You’re probably familiar with social platforms like Snapchat and Instagram, but you might not have considered incorporating them into your recruiting strategy. These platforms can be used in unique ways to attract passive candidates.

The right marketing technology or recruiting software can help you utilize the right platforms for your job ad and get in front of your ideal candidates.

HR Pro Tip

Not seeing results? Try outsourcing an HR professional for your talent acquisition. Outsourcing your company’s recruiting efforts can help you expand your talent search and build a pipeline of experienced talent.

Interview Effectively

When done effectively, asking the right questions during an interview can have a huge impact on the hiring process timeline. Asking the right questions upfront can help you determine if an applicant’s skills, experience and personality meet the job’s requirements. Here are just a few things you can do to interview better:

• Ask open-ended questions. Open-ended questions encourage candidates to provide longer answers and to expand on their knowledge, strengths and job experiences. They also provide greater insight into a candidate’s personality.
• Prepare questions in advance. We’re always surprised at how many interviewers don’t prepare questions in advance. (Save winging it for open mic night!) 
• Avoid certain questions. Don’t ask about age, ethnic heritage, or church they belong to. These questions directly ask for personal information and can get you in trouble with federal law. It is important for interviewers to be familiar with federal employment laws, so they don’t discriminate against potential employees.

It’s one of the biggest hiring mistakes we see: lack of adequate planning for an interview. It can help to have a written outline or checklist of important points to be covered, even in addition to the specific questions you will be asking candidates. Download our guide below for an exclusive look at how to guide an interview and our best 10 questions every employer should be asking during an interview. 

Download Now

Outsource Your HR

You may find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the hiring process. (It happens to the best of us!) Did you know that outsourcing your HR allows you to better recruit and onboard your employees? No seriously, it does. When you outsource HR, you’ll get to work with HR professionals who know the ins and outs of the recruitment process – from strategic job advertising to qualifying candidates. At EmPower HR, we can help with:

• Writing a killer job description and ad
• Targeted recruitment advertising
• Interview best practices and guidance
• Candidate review and shortlisting
• Strategies to recruit passive candidates

Long story short, we’ll develop a rockin’ recruitment and hiring strategy to help you fill your open positions with the best talent out there. Contact us today!