Hiring Managers Are Considering This Overlooked Metric

Hiring managers choose their favorite candidates by looking at them Youth AND cover letteridentifying years of experience, academic degrees and skills. However, there is another metric they look for, whether they consciously record it or not: how quickly job seekers respond to messages.

IN new research published in the magazine Management Scienceresearchers analyzed over 11 million transactions in Fiverran online freelance marketplace that connects businesses and individuals with freelancers who provide services. Freelance translator advertise their servicessuch as design, writing, programming and marketing, and businesses scale depending on their needs.

The researchers found a correlation between the speed of a JOBSEEKERS responded to the employer’s initial request and the employer’s final employment decision. For example, when recruiters delayed their response by an hour, they reduced a candidate’s chances of being hired by an average of 46%. When freelancers waited 24 hours or more to respond, they made themselves 90% less likely to win the job than competitors who responded immediately.

Further evidence shows that the speed of response is a powerful indicator whether or not a candidate wins a job. The study found that a Fiverr freelancer who took three hours or more to respond hurts his chances of getting hired. The damage was equivalent to if their ratings based on past jobs were 20% lower.

Other studies clarify the relationship between response time and employment potential

In a follow-up study with over 8,600 participants, researchers asked individuals to imagine hiring an independent candidate based on their response to an employer’s initial message. The answers detailed how a independent worker scheduled to complete a job. For example, a photographer explained how they would do a photo shoot.

Throughout these experiments, individuals considered response time to determine a freelancer’s competence and warmth. Study participants said they would be more likely to hire freelancers who answered faster in an initial message.

The researchers also found that timely responses can balance lower quality ratings. In an experimental study, researchers asked participants to imagine a hypothetical scenario in which they were planning to hire a caterer for an upcoming event. They contacted three caterers with an initial inquiry into the incident. One caterer had a low quality rating of 4.25 out of 5 stars based on previous jobs, another had a high quality rating of 4.85 stars and the last one had no quality rating. The researchers manipulated the supplier’s response speed to be either “within an hour” or “at the end of the day.” They found that participants preferred hiring a caterer with a low quality rating of 4.25 stars, provided the person responded quickly.

It’s not just food; this preference for timely responses applies to many employment scenarios. Researchers found higher employment rates for freelance translator who responded the fastest to messages in every job category listed on Fiverr, from accounting to animation. The link between faster response times and faster responses applies to a variety of professions, from website editors to photographers.