Glassdoor 经济研究博客最近进行的一项研究显示，2014 年美国的平均求职面试时间为 22.9 天。2010 年，平均求职面试时间仅为 12.5 天左右。在过去的五年里发生了一些事情，使这个过程的长度几乎翻了一番，但主要的原因是什么？

有些人会指责背景调查，他们可能不是完全错误的。我们都听说过求职者等待就业前背景调查等待数周甚至数月的故事。对于使用 FBI 数据库的学校来说，这个问题尤为普遍，但在其他地方也并非闻所未闻。但是，背景调查是招聘过程中周转时间增加的主要原因，还是更长的等待时间只是雇主对招聘人员更加谨慎的自然产物？

有趣的是，Glassdoor 指出，平均而言，背景调查实际上并没有为招聘过程增加太多时间。事实上，背景调查平均只增加 3.1 到 3.4 天，而相关的药物测试增加不到一天。相反，增加流程时间的最大罪魁祸首是面试。Glassdoor 指出，电话面试增加了 6.8 到 8.2 天，小组面试增加了 5.6 到 6.8 天，一对一面试增加了 4.1 到 5.3 天。总的来说，这意味着就业前筛选过程的面试部分需要 16.5 到 20.3 天，占平均等待时间的绝大部分。

当然，问题是现在面试怎么能增加这么多时间而不是五年前。背景调查经常被归咎于增加聘用前筛选时间的另外两个原因是：1) 与五年前相比，现在有更多的公司对所有职位进行背景调查，以及 2) 背景调查变得越来越深入，越来越多。比以往任何时候都复杂。背景调查的普遍性和复杂性的增加真的会增加招聘过程的时间吗？

背景调查并不是雇主用来收紧雇佣流程并确保雇佣合适人员的唯一工具。面试过程仍然是任何招聘程序的核心，许多雇主正在该部门增加额外的筛选层。越来越多的雇主进行三种面试，电话面试、面对面的一对一面试和小组面试，过去一两次就足够了。每次面谈都需要为各方找到一个双方都能接受的时间。换句话说，复杂的日程安排可以说是现在招聘流程比以前花费的时间更长的第一大原因。

在美国，与其他国家相比，面试过程仍然不长。根据 Glassdoor 的研究，澳大利亚、英国、德国和法国的平均就业筛选时间都更长，从 27.9 天到 31.9 天不等。但是，其他国家/地区的招聘流程需要更长的时间这一事实并不能真正帮助求职者，因为他们不得不花近一个月的时间来了解自己是否被录用。对于公司来说，谨慎对待他们雇用的人是有好处的，而且在当今竞争激烈的就业市场中，多重面试系统可以说是必不可少的。不过，精简这些流程可能有助于使求职者筛选流程更可行，而对雇主的生产力造成的打击更小。

Some would point the finger at background checks, and they might not be entirely wrong. We've all heard the stories of job seekers who have waited weeks or even months for their pre-employment background checks to process. For schools that use the FBI database, this problem is especially common, but it's not unheard of elsewhere. But are background checks the main cause that for the increased turn around time in the hiring process, or are longer wait times just a natural product of employers being more careful about who they hire?

Interestingly, Glassdoor noted that background checks, on average, don't actually add very much time to the hiring process. In fact, background checks only add an average of 3.1 to 3.4 days, and drug tests, where relevant, add less than a day. Instead, the biggest culprits for adding time to the process are the interviews. Glassdoor noted that phone interviews add between 6.8 and 8.2 days, group panel interviews add between 5.6 and 6.8 days, and one-on-one interviews add between 4.1 and 5.3 days. Collectively, that means just the interview portion of the pre-employment screening process takes between 16.5 and 20.3 days, the vast majority of the average wait time.

The question, of course, is how interviews can be adding that much time now when they weren't five years ago. Two other reasons that background checks are often blamed for increasing pre-employment screening times are that 1) more companies are running background checks for all positions now than they were five years ago, and 2) background checks are becoming more in-depth and more complicated than ever before. Does an increase in the prevalence and complexity of background checks then really add time to the hiring process?

Background checks aren't the only tool that employers are using to tighten their employment processes and ensure that they hire the right people. The interview process remains at the core of any hiring procedure, and many employers are adding extra layers of screening in that department. More and more, employers are doing three interviews, the phone interview, the in-person one-on-one interview, and the group panel interview, where one or two used to suffice. Every interview involves finding a mutually acceptable time for all parties. In other words, complicated scheduling is arguably the number one reason that hiring processes are taking longer now than they used to.

In the United States, the interview process still isn't long in comparison to other nations. Per the Glassdoor study, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France all have longer average employment screening times, ranging from 27.9 to 31.9 days. But the fact that hiring processes take longer in other countries doesn't really help job searchers who are having to go nearly a month to hear whether or not they have been hired. It's good for companies to be careful about who they hire, and the multi-interview system is arguably essential in today's competitive job market. A pruning of these processes, though, might help to make the employment screening process more workable for the applicants and less of a blow to productivity for the employers.