[praptak]

"If you can't pull the process together to make a quick decision, you're not only going to lose people, but you're going to signal that you can't move quickly on other decisions as well, whether or not this is really the case."

This one is important. Recruitment leaves impressions on the candidates. You better make sure the impressions are positive ones, because they matter a lot.

The world is small. An unsuccessful candidate might get successful elsewhere. Their opinion about your company might soon affect its future. Other candidates passing on your offer because they heard your process sucks is just the most obvious and immediate way, obviously there are others.

[l3amm]

Totally agree, I think of hiring as a chance to create company cultural emissaries. The best companies turn potential recruits into advocates for their brand, so even if they don't end up working at the company they tell their friends about how good the process and company are. See http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FindingGreatDeveloper...

Palantir is another company that does this well at Stanford. Those track jackets/t-shirts they wear are cultural symbols that give interns/employees status and spark conversations about the company. These 'little' things carry a lot of weight especially in the tight-packed network of university dorms.

[textminer]

Funny you say that. Finding a job recently, Palantir was the absolute worst at the recruiting process. At the end of their two months, in one two-week span I interviewed at and received offers from two much smaller startups. I told my recruiter at the end of the all-day interview that I needed to make a decision by the end of the week on other offers (it was Monday). I didn't hear from her for another ten days, at my prompting. She was frazzled, passed me on to another recruiter, who asked if I could come in again for another all-day. Needless to say, I declined and went with one of the offers I already had.

[l3amm]

That's really too bad. I don't work with/for them, but I know many of the recruiting team and they have been very responsive to feedback in the past. If you have specific comments/critiques feel free to message me, I'd be happy to pass them on.

[Cabal]

Seconded. After a 3 month (!!) off-and-on interviewing process at Rackspace, you can be sure they will have zero of my business in the future.