three weeks. why the taelnt clock starts ticking early
a well-run recruitment campaign — from brief acceptance to offer — should be completable within three weeks. that's not an arbitrary target. it reflects the reality of both what is achievable and how candidate engagement actually works, particularly when the best candidates are not in active job search
when a strong candidate is approached about an opportunity they were not looking for, something important happens: a window opens. they are curious, perhaps genuinely interested, and for a period of time their attention is largely with the opportunity in front of them. that window is finite
if the process moves at the pace of an employer's internal hiring cycle — multiple interview rounds, extended approval processes, delayed feedback — the window begins to close. the candidate, having entered the market conceptually, starts to wonder what else might be available. they mention to their recruiter that they are open to hearing about other roles. other employers, moving more quickly, enter the picture. competing offers emerge
at this point, the employer who initiated the original approach has lost something they may not even realise they had. the candidate is no longer exclusively theirs to win — they are one option among several, competing on speed and attractiveness against businesses that acted with more urgency
the pace at which a hiring process must move is not determined by internal process preferences. it is determined by the speed at which competitors are prepared to move, and the quality of the alternatives available to the candidate
employers who move decisively send a clear signal: they know what they want, are excited about the individual, respect their investment of time in the process, and they are serious about the outcome
that signal matters to the kind of candidates who are worth competing for
