Depending on the organizational structure, selection procedure, nature of activities, etc., the hiring process may differ from firm to company. However, a well-planned hiring process should assist the hiring team in finding the best applicant.
What is recruitment?
The recruitment process can be defined as the identification, attraction, interviewing, selection, hiring, and onboarding of personnel. Simply, some can say it is the process of finding and employing personnel for a company known as recruiting in human resources.
Related: Process of recruitment: A complete guide
Recruiters in the HR division take on this duty when the company wants to hire someone by producing job listings, reviewing applicants, and scheduling interviews. While smaller businesses might assign this duty to just one hiring manager, larger corporations may employ dozens of recruiters.
Many businesses contract with outside companies to handle their hiring. Companies virtually always use adverts, job boards, social networking sites, and other methods to find people for open positions. To find outstanding applicants more quickly and effectively, many businesses use recruiting software. Whatever the case, recruitment frequently collaborates with or forms a component of human resources.
7 steps in the recruitment process
Step 1: Application
A job advertisement is ready to be posted once you’ve created it and double-checked it for errors. Candidates may now submit applications, although there is a wide range in the quantity, caliber, and variety of those who do.
Depending on the size of the firm, the type of employment, the industry, the effectiveness of your sourcing strategy, and the employer brand, the number of applications might range from zero to thousands. Internal variables like compensation scales, possibilities for advancement, and perks like health insurance also have a big impact. For instance, Google receives about 3 million applications yearly. This indicates that more than 400 applicants typically apply for each job position.
The quantity and caliber of applications are also influenced by the job posting. A job advertisement’s writing style, specifically how informative, interesting, and inclusive it is, has a direct bearing on the candidates it draws in. Gender-neutral wording should be included in all job postings, and you should think about whether higher education is necessary for applicants.
Take into account how the application procedure is going. Is it speedy and responsive on mobile? On the other side, do you demand that applicants manually enter all the data from their CVs into your system? To identify any areas where your applicants could stumble, always test your application process yourself. In this manner, you can guarantee a seamless application experience.
Tools and channels
It matters where you post and advertise your job openings. It is insufficient to simply post it on your business’ website. Other tools to make use of.
- Postings on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn as well as online job websites like Indeed.
- Websites for businesses – If you work in human resources for a large organization like Walmart in the US or the NHS in Britain, many people will go to your site right away. If you oversee HR for a small family law office, for instance, this is less of an issue.
- Job seekers can register with one or more recruitment firms, or they can look for industry-specific recruitment sites.
- Career services at universities and colleges might think about hosting recruitment and marketing events at regional, foreign, or even distant colleges.
- Word-of-mouth – a lot of people may consult their family and friends for guidance on where to apply as well as for leads on employment possibilities.
Step 2: Pre-screening and selection
The initial screening of candidates is the second step in the recruitment and selection process. This second phase’s objective is to narrow the candidate pool from a sizable number to a reasonable range of 3–10 individuals who can be interviewed. Many different things could lead to this.
Resume review
The method that is most widely used is the screening of resumes or CVs. Examining a candidate’s resume might assist determine whether they meet the requirements for the position. When a college graduate applies and you need someone with at least five years of job experience, you may quickly rule them out.
Examining resumes might take a lot of time. An effective and affordable way to handle this difficulty is by using the software. There are a variety of options, from resume screeners that employ artificial intelligence to estimate the quality of hire to built-in ATS resume screening tools. But be careful not to use technology excessively. Make sure that it is routinely checked for bias.
Phone or Chatbots
A checklist that can cover issues like compensation expectations, full- or part-time hours, flexible work arrangements, starting dates, and other potential deal-breakers can be reviewed by the recruiter. Considering that this is a pretty common operation, it is also possible to have a chatbot ask these questions.
We can now perform these checks automatically thanks to technology. Chatbots interrogate candidates and make the interview lively. One illustration is a sizable engineering firm that put in place a chatbot to streamline the hiring process and maintain candidate interest. According to the data, completion rates increased from 74% to 96% once the chatbot was put into use.
A pre-selection process or pre-employment evaluation
A strong screening technique that aids in eliminating probable mismatches is pre-selection. To forecast the quality of the new hire, specialized pre-selection tools offer exams that may involve cognitive testing, a job simulation, or other tests. These techniques occasionally involve resume screening.
A realistic job preview is offered through a job simulation. This provides an authentic look into a role by highlighting both the most intriguing and exciting aspects of it as well as its most difficult components. This results in hires that are a better fit by helping to align expectations between the business and the employee. Another facet of the growing influence of AI technology in the recruitment scene is pre-selection tools.
For high-volume recruiting, these pre-selection tests are frequently utilized (roles with large numbers of applicants). A sales representative’s customer service abilities might be tested as an illustration of such a test. The most qualified individuals are kept once the obvious mismatches are eliminated by these screening technologies. Again, pick your vendor carefully because not all pre-selection tools and screens are accurate to the fullest extent.
Step 3: Interview
The interview gives some indication of someone’s conversational skills and sociability. It affords the chance to market the position to the candidate and gives the chance to ask the candidate questions about the work.
Interviews can be conducted in person or electronically via the internet. Nowadays, many businesses do a preliminary remote interview, followed by a final in-person interview as the final step in the evaluation process. Cost savings and improved time management are advantageous to both the firm and the candidates. Many businesses are now doing all interviews remotely due to the pandemic and shelter-in-place directives, and this trend is expected to last for some time to come.
Various interview formats
An unstructured interview and a structured interview are the two basic types of interviews. An established set of questions is utilized in a structured interview. This gives the interviewer a consistent way to enter data and a standardized way to rate the qualifications of the applicant.
Candidates may also be interviewed by a panel or by their peers. These interviews seek to learn more about a candidate’s temperament, demeanor, and ability to connect with teammates or individuals they will be working with.
The structured interview has nearly twice the reliability of the unstructured interview, according to scholarly literature (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). The structured interview gives the interviewer the ability to fairly compare candidates and base their choice only on the available data.
Analyzing interview data
The STAR method is a typical technique employed in interviews in addition to having standardized questions. The candidate’s information can be retrieved systematically using this approach. The abbreviation STAR stands for:
- Situation. Ask the candidate to describe the circumstance they encountered.
- Task. What objective was the candidate aiming for?
- Action. Ask the candidate to elaborate on the steps they took to address the challenges they faced and achieve their task.
- Result. Ask the candidate to explain the result of the action and what they learned.
The STAR technique is excellent for evaluating a candidate’s experience in many circumstances that are pertinent to the position. Describe a case in which you had to manage various shareholders if the interviewer is looking for someone with experience in this area. You can then quickly assess the candidate’s experience in these circumstances using the STAR approach.
It is highly advised to use this strategy to assess essential job skills. In fact, by asking the same question to several candidates, you can quickly compare how much experience they have gained from their prior employment in these crucial competencies.
Utilizing interview guides is regarded as best practice since it improves the fairness and consistency of the hiring and selection process.
Step 4: Assessment
A General Mental Ability (GMA) exam, commonly referred to as an IQ test, and a Five-Factor Model of Personality test is typical evaluations. Faster learning and higher top performance are related to higher IQ. This indicates that high IQ candidates have a shorter time to optimal productivity and are hence more likely to do well. Although you can include these tests in your pre-selection procedure, many businesses choose to use them later in the employment process.
More diligent candidates perform better at their jobs when it comes to personality. Candidates with high conscientiousness scores are frequently characterized as diligent, devout, goal-oriented, and detail-oriented. According to research, the best non-cognitive indicator of job performance is conscientiousness.
Tests of honesty, tests of work samples, and tests of job expertise are other examinations. According to scientific research, evaluations in the form of work sample tests are some of the best indicators of future job success. It’s a good idea to ask interviewees to work through a case study or a real-world issue. It is feasible to assess a candidate’s work quality about the work of other candidates as well as in comparison to the anticipated, or ideal, performance.
Step 5: Citations and Background check
You have now narrowed down your long list of potential prospects to one to three. Reference checking is a crucial phase in the selection of candidates.
Reference checks allow you to verify that the information a candidate has provided and your views of them are accurate. Request the candidate’s references, then call the people on them. A reference check is a great approach to learning more details from a different angle if you have questions during the interview about a particular competency or skill.
Government agencies and other positions that require access to highly private information, like those in the healthcare industry, frequently use background checks. Confirmation of good behavior or other criminal record checks, for instance, are common for teaching positions and other occupations with high levels of responsibility for other people. These checks aid in the eradication of those who have abused or would abuse their duty of care toward those who are vulnerable. Background checks should be performed as late in the selection process as possible, unless absolutely essential.
Step 6: Choice
Choosing the candidate with the most potential for the organization is the next phase in the recruitment and selection process. Sometimes this entails choosing a candidate who is less qualified right now but who is dedicated to developing and sticking around the company for a longer period of time.
In order to make your hiring decision as fair as possible, you should employ a data-driven strategy. In actuality, this refers to pre-established standards used to evaluate candidates throughout the selection process. The top applicant is then selected and presented with an offer. The recruiting manager typically has the last say. Other bosses and coworkers may also provide input.
Step 7:Contract & Job Offer
Even when your business has selected a choice, the hiring process is not finished. The offer still needs to be accepted by the (perfect) individual!
The organization needs to have all the information necessary to increase the likelihood that the candidate will say yes by this point. The different screenings (if applicable) and employment interviews should have provided you with this information, hopefully.
The candidate is then presented with the offer. You draft a contract and have both parties sign it if they accept your offer. The hiring procedure is only finished when everyone signs the employment contract.
Importance of recruitment
It guarantees that potential employees are a perfect fit for the company while also demonstrating the professionalism of the entire organization from the moment a prospective employee first expresses interest in joining. Below are other important aspects of recruitment.
Recruit Skilled Personnel
HR managers can successfully make sure they can hire talented workers during the recruitment process. This implies that companies will hire people whose abilities exactly match what the company needs right now. Organizations can also obtain new abilities through recruitment that are currently lacking within the organization thanks to potential employees.
This is very important since hiring allows human resource management to flourish by assisting the organization in identifying talent that will be of great value to the entire organization. To ensure that a team strives for high productivity levels to reach desired outcomes and effectively work towards goals, skills that were necessary to fill roles in teams also needed to be obtained.
Time and money are saved
HR managers may effectively ensure that they can save the company time and money through the recruitment process. To prevent wasting time and money on hunting for a replacement employee if the recruited employee doesn’t live up to expectations, HR managers will make sure during the hiring process that they hire the proper individual who is suited to satisfy organizational objectives efficiently.
HR managers will accomplish this by carefully choosing a candidate who possesses most, if not all, of the necessary abilities for the position they are seeking to fill. Additionally, HR managers can lower the cost of educating staff members by ensuring that those who already possess certain necessary abilities do not require lengthy training. Additionally, if a particular employee is unqualified for the position, HR managers will save money and time by not having to repeatedly train new hires. thorough hiring procedures carried out by an HR department.
Positive Brand Image is Assured
The ability of HR managers to ensure a positive brand image is maintained and enhanced is a crucial reason that recruitment is significant in HR management. Employees who are learning about an organization and actually have a positive opinion of the business are influenced by the meetings they have in interviews on their perceptions of the business specifically throughout the recruitment process.
The company’s brand image won’t be harmed by HR managers who make sure to perform a favorable interview. Additionally, HR managers can build and strengthen the organization’s brand image by having a successful hiring process, which encourages people to think the company is a dream to work for. HR practitioners must be aware of the significance of recruiting in HRM in order to maintain an effective recruitment process and foster favorable brand views.
Enhances Worker Satisfaction
The significance of the hiring process can significantly raise employee satisfaction levels. Future hires will be very satisfied with the company when HR managers specifically make sure that the entire hiring process is simple and engaging for the potential employee. This is largely because HR managers know that providing a top-notch hiring process can fully satisfy the employee value proposition (EVP).
Additionally, when highly skilled workers enter a company and contribute greatly to the teams and other workers there, they are able to raise the overall level of happiness among the rest of the workforce. Additionally, while hiring new staff members, an exceptionally innovative approach ensures that staff members are motivated upon joining the organization.
When employees receive what they expected, there is a significant rise in their level of satisfaction due to prospective development chances.
Ensures diversity in the workforce
Throughout the hiring process, HR managers are able to successfully ensure that the new hires are the proper cultural fit for the company. This specifically means that HR experts can ensure and test candidates’ ability to successfully integrate into the company’s culture during the recruitment and selection processes. For instance, if an applicant has experience working in a culture that emphasizes independence, HR may decide not to hire them if the company culture emphasizes teamwork and employee reliance on one another.
Therefore, HR managers must be aware of the purpose of employing new staff and consistently make sure that they focus on making culturally compatible hires. Similarly, many HR professionals have thought about expressing the organizational culture within the job description, allowing potential workers to assess whether or not they fit the culture before applying.