An effective recruitment process is integral to all businesses. This process aims to find and attract top potential candidates to fill open positions. After the process is complete, you should have new employees who fit excellently into their new job roles!
Having the right staff can bolster business sustainability and help your company to meet its goals. After reading this guide to the recruitment and selection process, you should understand the steps in the process, and how to make sure it’s effective.
9 Key Steps In The Recruitment Process
Whether your company prefers recruitment process outsourcing or keeps it internal, the process is relatively similar. Below, we outline the different stages in the recruitment process that hiring managers oversee.
1. The job description
If your team is unsure what the exact job description for the vacancy is, you may end up hiring the wrong candidate. Having a clear job description is imperative to the hiring process!
When looking at the job description, it’s important that you make sure it is up to date. Be as specific as possible about the job requirements in order to attract qualified candidates with the right skills.
Drafted a new job description after the last employee left their position. Don’t use the same one that they went in with. This is because jobs often take on new responsibilities over time and so the position requirements may have changed.
Make a list of hiring needs. This will be especially useful for finding a qualified candidate to fill any new positions or roles.
2. Plan the recruitment process
Once you have the hard and soft skills of the vacancy pinned down, take a moment to plan the rest of the recruiting journey.
Make sure that the recruiting team is on the same page, and that everyone is in agreement about the steps that need to be taken. It is also important to talk through the channels of communication that you are planning on using.
In this stage, you may want to draft a recruitment plan. Brainstorm the best ways to reach top candidates and what role each person on the hiring team will play.
3. Qualified candidates and the job search
The right candidate might fall into your lap – but they probably won’t. If you’re looking for top employees, you need to proactively search for them. Making use of recruiting software can be highly beneficial in this step, as you can filter out job seekers who are not qualified.
If you’ve got the first two steps locked down, this stage will be easier. Finding candidates might be simple but finding the right candidates will take time and energy.
4. Recruiting top-tier candidates
Once you’ve identified prospective candidates, it’s time to recruit them. This entails getting the candidates on board with the brand of your company and the opportunity. While an amazing job opening is attractive, top talent wants to work for a great company as well.
The job, as well as the employer, are equally important to potential new employees. The best candidates may have many options and preferences when it comes to their next employment opportunity. So, in this stage, keeping a line of communication open with the candidate is important.
5. Screening
After you’ve selected a list of potential employees, it’s time to screen through a telephonic or video interview. You may have many applicants and will need to shortlist them, despite the fact that most of them may be strong fits for the position.
When you conduct an interview, make sure to have a list of interview questions before the meeting. These questions are important because they will help you narrow down the suitable candidates you want to interview in person.
6. The interview process
After the screening, the interviews should take place soon. The job interview stage is critical for hiring the perfect new employee and there are two things that you should keep in mind when you conduct interviews.
First of all, keep the duration reasonable and set a strict time limit. If the interview is too long, candidates may lose interest.
Second, it’s important that you relay to the candidate where you are in the recruitment process. This is so the candidate can know what to expect and when they may hear from you again. The best candidates are likely to be attending other interviews. And if you don’t keep them in the loop, they may start looking at accepting job offers from other companies.
7. Offer of employment
This is one of the last recruitment process steps. The candidate should be contacted by the person they expect. If the hiring manager has been in direct contact with the candidate, then they should be the one to extend the offer.
Make sure that all the work has been done on the offer of employment before it is sent. The job offer should be desirable and inclusive of your discussions. Make sure that accepting the offer will be a positive candidate experience.
8. The final stages of the hiring process
Not every offer of employment is accepted, even if the hiring manager has ensured a smooth process.
If the candidate rejects the offer, then the team will need to move on to the next best candidate. The hiring phase ends when a candidate accepts the job offer.
9. Onboarding
Even though the hire is final, you still need to introduce the new employee to the company in the best way possible. A good onboarding process is essential to high employee retention. Make sure your new hire has everything they need and help them in any way possible as they settle in.
The candidate needs to feel as though they are about to walk into a company that values them. As such, onboarding is much more than office introductions! Many companies forget this and experience higher staff turnover as a result.
What Makes An Effective Recruitment Process?
It doesn’t help to simply follow the recruiting process if it isn’t executed effectively. Here are some of our top tips for making sure your next potential candidate has a great experience.
Automation is key
Posting to job boards and ensuring that your careers page is up to date are all good and well, but automation can take things to the next level.
An applicant tracking system (ATS) can be invaluable to the HR team. These can automate where you advertise jobs, filter resumes, and track how many people have applied for the position. This makes the whole recruiting process more efficient and streamlined for everyone involved.
Keep track of your data
Having a decent data analytics system will benefit the hiring process in the future. You will be able to:
- track applicants in your talent pool
- see how many people progressed to the interview phase
- identify where your best candidates are from
This information is useful to reflect on when you have another vacancy.
Employee referral program
Employee referrals tend to be very successful. This is because candidates who are referred already know about the company culture and whether they would be a good fit for the position. This leads to candidates who are more qualified.
A clear employer brand
Making sure your company is an attractive place to work will draw in the best candidates and talent. The company mission, values, and general culture should be clear from your website and social media. After all, candidates will likely do some research before applying so you need to make a great impression!
Final Thoughts
These steps and tips are sure to improve your talent acquisition process. While it may be taxing, investing time into your recruitment strategy yields great benefits. Well-written job descriptions and an ironed-out selection process will help your team to source, hire and retain top talent.
If you’re looking for a way to streamline the entire process, be sure to check out StaffingSoft today.
