10 tips for faster recruiting in France and Germany

How to accelerate recruiting as an English-speaking company in the EU? A recent study by Eurojob-Consulting, the consulting firm for French and German talent acquisition, concluded that the hiring process in both countries currently takes between 8 and 12 weeks on average. This means that companies can still optimize and speed up their recruitment process. We give you 10 tips to achieve this goal.

Indeed, several important factors depend on the speed of these processes. If you're too slow, your employer brand will be affected, and the costs will be high.

In addition, a lengthy search does not necessarily lead to the best candidate. If the applicant doesn't seem keen on a quick process, that can actually be a sign of a lack of interest.

At some point, your priority may shift from finding the best person for the role, to merely wanting to find the next best candidate to finally put the searching behind you. This, of course, must be avoided.

Finding the right candidates will take all the longer if you haven't clearly defined your own expectations first. This will save you the tedious process of evaluating candidates that do not meet your company's needs.

You'll kill two birds with one stone: better sourcing results & less weeding out of unfit CV’s.

"The job description should be as fleshed out and precise as possible, to avoid unsuitable applications."

Jérôme Lecot
CEO
Eurojob-Consulting

A co-option system is often more efficient and faster than any other recruiting method. It comes down to a referral by a person in whom both the candidate and the company can place their trust.

In most cases, the person submitting the referral will thoroughly avoid providing an unfit profile, because it would reflect poorly on their judgment. As for the candidate, they will want to live up to the recommendation. Thus, the turnover rate, which would otherwise double the time invested, remains very low. Furthermore, this method skips time-consuming steps of the process: sourcing, selection and interviews with too many candidates.

The internal recommendation system can also be automated. For this purpose, a digital process should be developed. It can take place on social and professional networks. This way, you will be notified when a fitting profile pops up.

If, for any, reason this is not an option in your company, you can resort to the indirect methods. For this scenario, we have compiled & compared 12 job boards in France for sourcing and recruiting.

The back-and-forth between the HR department and other responsible parties drags out the recruiting process. That's why the right people for the job should be identified from the start.

A clear line ought to be drawn between indispensable decision-makers and employees who are merely consulted. Are they on site in Germany or France, or in your home country ? It shouldn't be both at once. The longer you wait for everyone's answers, the more the actual hiring is postponed. These decisions shouldn't have to go through a complex hierarchy of people, nor should they be affected by excessive consideration for everyone's individual preferences.

Instead, it is better to rely on a smaller team that can make decisions and stand by them. Once this is established & functional, weekly meetings or notification systems can become the platform for whatever feedback is needed.

"Less is more", even when it comes to selecting your hires. Determine in advance which stages applicants need to complete, and be sure to inform your applicants as well.

There's no need to have a candidate do several tests and interviews. With the right approach, you can probably find out everything you need to know in one or two steps. If you're not convinced after that, it will probably not be the right person.

According to a survey by Eurojob-Consulting, only 48 % of candidates in France and Germany are inclined to accept doing a second interview. By overdoing it, you risk discouraging good candidates and damaging your image.

Rank the most important criteria on one essential grid and stick to it.

This may seem obvious to you, but ask yourself, are your deadlines set up in the most efficient way? Instead of a single deadline, break up the process into step by step timeframes within the sourcing, pre-selection and decision phases.

The same applies to interviews, which shouldn't be far apart in time, so that comparisons can be made more quickly and directly.

Modern technology shortens many processes, including the search for talent. Among other things, artificial intelligence offers solutions for initial selection. In times of sanitary crises, when face to face meetings might not always be possible, this has become even more useful. Large corporations such as L'Oréal and Amazon have already chosen these alternatives.

AI can recognize keywords in resumes and motivation letters, analyze language and vocabulary. There are also supporting programs for video interviews, for example, which can decipher a candidate's body language.

Incidentally, AI is already integrated into many ATS (applicant tracking systems) that have become best practice. Overall, there are many new ways to apply in 2023 and recruiting trends in France that you can use to your advantage.

A realistic look at today's job market leads to the conclusion that recruiting must remain agile and adaptable. You can't have everything, and it's perfectly normal to hire people who are not exactly what you pictured.

It is very common that companies suffer from what HR refers to as "the curse of the perfect candidate". We can only reiterate how important it is to clearly rank all skills you are looking for.

For example: which soft skills are absolutely necessary? Missing hard skills can be acquired through training in the onboarding phase. Changing the personality, on the other hand, is more difficult and hardly tenable in the long run.

Losing a good candidate is not only a missed opportunity, it also unnecessarily drags out the recruiting process. This is often due to a poor candidate-experience.

There are several methods you can use to keep shortlist candidates from losing interest. However, even if you manage to do so, there is still the risk of quick resignation and high turnover.

To avoid termination, the candidate's expectations ought to be taken seriously, regular communication should be maintained, and the onboarding must be well managed. Today's candidates are not afraid to be picky, so this is a key step to winning the "talent war" in France.

The greatest enabler for speedy recruiting may just be the capacity for internal promotion. That way, you won't even have to publish an offer in the first place. This requires an HR plan that predicts the new competencies you will need in the future.

Another trick to develop the necessary internal resources is hiring interns or apprentices. This will greatly increase your chances of having the right candidate available on short notice. They can be hired before they are really needed and trained with regard to your future needs. An educational contract can evolve into a full-fledged employment contract.

This saves not only time, but also recruitment and training costs, and is even subsidized by the French and German governments.

Last but not least, a team of specialists can of course get you quicker, high-end results. They have access to larger talent pools in the specific target area and master the tools needed to discover top talent.

There are indeed many details to be aware of when hiring in France or Germany, and specialists will help you get the fine tuning right, given they are up to speed on the ever-changing recruiting trends for headhunters in France and Germany.

Of course, beating your current speed is just one way in which recruiting can be optimized. We can also advise you on how to recruit effectively in France and Germany in general.

Nikolai Rabald