We’re having our kitchen renovated, a couple of walls have been knocked down or through and new bi-fold doors installed. We’ve been using the laundry as a make-shift camp kitchen.
This kitchen reno was due to be completed yesterday, but we have had another delay with the plumbing still incomplete and the electrician running out of down lights…..Yesterday I thought ‘we will be able to use the oven and cook top tonight’. I was wrong.
Our floorboards have been sanded and re-polished and carpets ripped up. We’ve even had to move out for a few nights while the estapol on the floorboards dried. It was really exciting at first, this new adventure, I’ve never had a new kitchen before and they told us 4-6 weeks max. I guess we have been told one thing in terms of time to complete and it’s actually turned into something a little different. Not in terms of time to complete, but just how it’s been handled along the way.
We’re just wanting a functioning kitchen and a dishwasher now. At first sinking my hands, with washing up gloves, into our large laundry sink full of lovely bubbly dish washing detergent and water to wash countless dishes and glasses was cathartic. I am well over it now, need the dishwasher back!
Seven weeks now, but I do believe within the next fortnight we will have a beautiful new space including open plan dining and it will be well worth the wait.
Is it worth your wait to find the right job?
We speak to candidates regularly who are on the ‘job hunt’, frustrated with how long the recruitment process is taking. They may have a couple of jobs in the pipeline, one is moving quicker than the others and the other may have stalled for three weeks while the hiring manager is on annual leave, or they have to wait until the next interview is convened. Sound familiar?
Whether the recruitment process is being managed directly through the company (through HR and the hiring manager), or through a recruitment company we hear the same story.
Sometimes you have just got to hang in there.
Our time to fill (from when we take a job brief from the client to when the successful candidate it offered a job) in 2018 was seven (7) weeks. Down from our time to fill a job in 2017 which was eight (8) weeks. Depending on the industry you work in, the time to find a job varies.
Glassdoor cited that the global average for a candidate to secure a job is 22.9 days, that’s just over 3 weeks. https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/how-long-should-interviews-take/
Wouldn’t that be great if it were only 3 weeks?
In the above-mentioned article by Glassdoor, you will see an inference that the longer the hiring process takes directly correlates with what the company is really like. For example, maybe they are disorganised, maybe they aren’t really sure what exactly they are looking for from a person specification, maybe they have decided that they want Joe Smith from Finance to meet you too? We all ‘get it’ that when it is a larger company, there is a recruitment framework and respective processes to follow, but how they treat you during the recruitment process is what you should seriously consider when choosing which job you will take and with whom. Do they communicate regularly with updates, do they provide feedback post-interview, are you treated with respect when you turn up for interview. Do they even ask you if you would like a glass of water?
These touch points during the recruitment process are the best litmus test as to what the company is like, not necessarily how long the recruitment process takes.
It’s a bit like our kitchen renovation, we have waited on one thing after another. The company we have engaged to do the kitchen (a large / well-known brand) has trades people they sub-contract in and often they haven’t ‘talked’ about who is doing what and to what extent, so things unfortunately get held up. One person said they were going to do the cement rendering, the other person said that’s not the case, that we will have to engage someone else. Same with the hiring process, you’ve just really got to hang in there. Another thing to consider once you embark on your job search is that you can actually ask up front ‘what is the process’ and ‘what is the time frame for hiring this role’? Remembering and being respectful that there is a mandated stepped process that people go through with hiring. That way you have a clear idea of how many interviews there will be and what that may include. If you have them lay it all out for you on the table up front, it’s easier for you to effectively manage your expectations.
Watch this space for pics once the kitchen is finished. It will be worth hanging in there, even though it’s taken 25% longer than what we anticipated.