Just got off a call with a hiring manager who wanted to know what happened to the candidate we had submitted three weeks ago.
She accepted an offer somewhere else this Friday.
This was not a close call. She was the best low voltage project manager they had seen in four months. Two rounds of interviews, strong feedback from both sides, verbal interest on the company’s end. And then the process stalled for twelve days while they waited for a second opinion from a regional director who was traveling.
Twelve days. She had three other conversations going. One of them moved in eight days.
I have seen this exact situation enough times that I don’t need to be diplomatic about it. A slow interview process is not a sign of diligence. It is a sign of organizational dysfunction, and candidates feel it.
Here is what candidates are thinking during a slow process.
If it takes this long to make a hiring decision, how long does everything else take? Approval for a tool. A budget request. A promotion conversation. A slow interview process is a preview of the culture, and candidates are reading it that way.
They are also receiving other offers. The best people in electronic security are not sitting by the phone. They are talking to three or four companies at once, and they will take the best offer that arrives while they are still interested. Your process does not pause their search.
The fix is not complicated. Two interview rounds maximum. A decision point at the end of each round. An offer within 48 hours of the final conversation if the feedback is positive. That is it. That timeline closes candidates. Everything else loses them.
The company that moved in eight days got her. She starts in two weeks.
The company that waited is starting the search over.