By Green Bee Recruitment x EC Human Resources
You found the perfect candidate. They’re interested. You’re interested. But then it happens. You need to get sign-off. You need to speak to someone else. You need to finish that other meeting, report or project first. Days slip by, and before you know it the candidate has accepted another offer, ghosted completely, or just lost interest. The process has been dragged out, and with it, your best option has disappeared. You, unfortunately, are in the sh*t.
The harsh truth is that good candidates don’t wait. In today’s market, the strongest applicants are applying for multiple roles at once, they’re being snapped up quickly, and they are judging the speed of your process as much as the quality of your offer. When you delay decisions, stretch timelines or create too many hoops to jump through, you don’t appear more thorough or professional. Instead, you look disorganised or uninterested, and that perception costs you the very people you most wanted to hire.
The business impact of dragging out the hiring process is far bigger than many realise. You lose top candidates because they move on, and they move on fast. You damage your employer brand because candidates talk to each other, especially when they feel they have been messed about. Your existing team suffers because the longer a role stays unfilled, the more pressure falls on their shoulders. And, of course, the cost is significant, from the expense of re-advertising to the lost productivity and the delays in getting someone new properly onboarded. Even if you eventually make a hire, there’s a strong chance that person was not your first choice, simply the last one left.
At Green Bee, we believe there’s a way to speed things up without rushing the process. Balance matters, and we focus on delivering both quality and pace. That starts with mapping out the hiring timeline before adverts even go live, making sure everyone involved knows the plan and their role in it. We manage the candidate pipeline, so no one is left in the dark, keeping them warm with updates and check-ins rather than leaving them to wonder. We take care of efficient shortlisting, meaning you only see pre-screened, compliant and genuinely relevant candidates, rather than wasting time sifting through endless “maybes.” To support decision making, we provide tools like scoring templates, feedback forms and frameworks that allow you to move forward with clarity. And when speed is critical, we arrange interviews that work around your schedule, whether that’s a quick phone call, a Teams meeting or an in-person slot that doesn’t derail your diary.
From an HR perspective, Emma has seen how long delays can undermine not only recruitment but also wider business culture. Offers are sometimes withdrawn because of internal changes. Trust with candidates can be broken before they’ve even joined. Misalignment between HR, recruitment and hiring managers leaves everyone frustrated. We’ve seen excellent candidates walk away not because of money but because the process itself felt painful and disjointed. That’s the kind of loss no business can afford.
The fix is simple in principle but powerful in practice. Get aligned early on who is involved and how decisions will be made. Set internal deadlines and stick to them. Communicate with candidates regularly, even if the update is simply to say you are still waiting. And work with recruitment and HR partners who know how to keep things moving. When you put these elements in place, you not only prevent the process from dragging but also show candidates that you are serious, organised and worthy of their commitment.
