Why startups should delegate initial phone screens for better hiring outcomes
Max Kolysh
CEO @ Dover
August 15, 2024
•
4 mins
Making great hires is critical for startups, as they drive your success and shape your company culture going forward. This gives many founders the impression that they need to take a hands-on approach to the entirety of the hiring pipeline. Conventional wisdom might say this means handling initial phone screens for candidates, but an analysis of 1,000 Dover jobs found the opposite is true. Delegating these initial phone screens can significantly improve hiring outcomes.
Our analysis found that founders and hiring managers who handled all of the phone screens themselves saw a 30% lower conversion rate to offers than when they delegated to in-house recruiters or Dover recruiting partners.
A narrow top-of-funnel has the illusion of efficiency, but it can be pretty limiting during the hiring process. When you screen too few candidates, you could miss out on potential top performers who could excel in the role. You might have a homogeneous talent pool, leading to a homogeneous team that doesn’t have the diverse approaches and skill sets to lead to the creativity and innovation startups need.
Of course, handling all of these initial phone screens can also suck up a ton of time. Founders should have a say in the hiring process and be involved at some point, but this isn’t the stage where their involvement is needed. They could be focusing on other crucial business activities instead. In fact, this can actually bottleneck the hiring process, causing delays for the hiring stakeholders and delays in bringing on the talent your startup needs. Not to mention the fact you could be missing out on candidates that are interviewing with other companies that have a more efficient hiring process.
It might seem counterintuitive, but casting a wider net and adding an extra layer of screening actually gives you access to a broader pool of candidates and more data for evaluating these candidates. This means better hiring conversions and more great hires for your team. Delegating these screens can help you gain critical insight that you might not have had time to glean if you were fielding each and every candidate.
Here are some quick tips to help you improve your hiring conversion rates:
Kick Things Off - As a founder, it’s not a bad idea to handle the first 5 to 10 phone screens to help calibrate the process and kick things off. This helps you understand what you’re looking for, so you can delegate without having to worry.
Broaden Your Search Parameters - Don’t get too hyper-specific with your job descriptions. It’s good to have skills if they’re absolutely required, but be open to hiring adaptable generalists. Startups need versatile and flexible team members, and broadening your hiring pool can help you find the perfect candidates that are willing to grow with the company.
Use Structured Screening Processes - Make sure you have your hiring process structured and consistent. It can take some time to iron out your hiring process, but it’s well worth it in the long run. Make sure to reassess and optimize on a regular basis so you can make things as efficient, thorough, and fair as possible.
Delegate Initial Screens - We might be hammering this point into the ground by now, but it’s truly a great way to optimize your hiring conversions quickly. Delegating your initial screens to in-house recruiters or external interviewers saves time, broadens your hiring pools, and gives you more insight to make hiring decisions in the final round.
Collect and Analyze Data - Use data from initial screens to identify patterns and refine your hiring criteria. This can help in making more informed and objective hiring decisions.
The benefits of delegating candidate phone interviews
Delegating candidate phone interviews comes with several benefits that can improve both your hiring process and your company overall. These benefits include:
More Efficient - One of the most obvious benefits is making initial phone screens more efficient. A steady flow of candidates can be pushed through the screening process into the next stages, leading to a faster hiring process overall.
Diverse Pool of Candidates - External recruiters bring a more diverse pool of candidates to the table, reaching out to their network and various other channels to ensure a wider net is cast and more qualified candidates get the chance to interview.
Recruiters Come with Knowledge and Expertise - Recruiters are equipped with years of knowledge and expertise in the screening and hiring process that startup teams might not necessarily have.
Reduced Bias - If you have multiple screens in place, you can mitigate individual biases and create a more fair and objective hiring process. It also means you have more people to compare notes with on potential candidates.
Better Use of Founder's Time - Founders can always hop into the hiring process in later stages when there are fewer to interview. But until then, founders can spend time elsewhere and let recruiters handle the early stages.
Leverage Dover’s expert recruiters
If you don’t have an in-house recruiter or if your in-house recruiters already have a full workload, Dover is here to help. Our Recruiting Partners are expert, full-cycle recruiters who can help you at every stage of the hiring process – from sourcing to negotiating. They also work closely with you to ensure your hires align with the needs and culture of your company.
Our Recruiting Partners act as if they were in-house, without the cost of hiring an in-house recruiter. That means they’ll represent your company the way you want them to. Our Recruiting Partners are also priced for startups, with an hourly rate where you can use them as little or as often as you need. Get more great hires and connect with one of our Recruiting Partners today.
Try Dover’s free ATS for founders
Dover also helps streamline the hiring process with our free applicant tracking system. Our ATS is a powerful platform that gives you the tools to track candidate progress through the hiring processes, communicate with candidates and hiring stakeholders, sort resumes by best match, post to job boards, generate job descriptions and much more. Essentially, it puts your hiring pipeline in one convenient and intuitive place. Plus, it’s priced perfectly for startups at the low cost of nothing. Ready to supercharge your hiring? Give the Dover ATS a try today.
