Recruitment is a process of finding and hiring the best and most qualified candidate to fill a role in a company.

A good recruitment process allows you to find qualified candidates quickly and efficiently. Moreover, good hiring strategies include intentional planning and constant evaluation.

Based on a Forbes report, it takes 21% of the company’s salary budget to replace an employee. Also, according to the Human Capital Benchmarking Report from SHRM, the average cost-per-hire is $4,129. In contrast, the average time it takes to fill a given position is 42 days.

The company must realise that your hiring procedure has a significant impact on your organization. A successful hiring process ensures that you attract the best candidates for your company.

If a company hires the wrong person, it would cost more than $14,000, regardless of hiring costs during the process.

A good recruitment process will give the company the right talent and lead to effective performance management. Recruiting and retaining the right talent reduces turnover, increases productivity and retention.

Today’s article will walk you through essential steps to create an effective recruitment process and find the right people for your organization.

Ps: Some companies have their hiring strategies, so that some stages may be different. 

Let’s take a look!

 

Identify Your Needs

The first step is understanding your hiring needs. The recruitment process should begin by identifying available positions, followed by analyzing the job specifications.

Here is how you can determine your hiring needs:

• Figure out where the gaps are in your current team.
• Check your team’s input and output.
• Regularly analyse performance and make a list of missing qualities, qualifications, skills, and proficiencies that you need to add to your team.
• Be mindful of existing employees leaving.
• Every time you recognize that there is indeed a hiring need, act before it becomes a pressing matter.

Understanding the role that you are recruiting, makes the rest of the hiring procedure easier and faster.

It also helps applicants understand their roles with the broader business objectives when joining. If you don’t know what your needs are, you may fail to attract qualified talents.

 

 Write Clear And Concise Job Descriptions

A job description is often a potential candidate’s first impression of your company. However,  it’s also one that’s easily overlooked. 

Duplicating JD from other sites is a common practice by some HR. Nonetheless, this method is a big mistake! Preparing a detailed job description (JD) will help you identify the skills and abilities required for the role.

Your HR team should provide candidates with a checklist to compare themselves before applying.

A comprehensive and effective JD has to include the following:

• Job title and department
• Location
• Hours (full-time, part-time, shift schedule)
• Summary of the position, including objectives, responsibilities, and its relation to the rest of the company
• Minimum requirements
• Preferred experience and qualifications
• Description of your company and its mission
• Salary and benefits

It’s essential to write a specific JD to attract and meet talents who can sufficiently meet the role’s demands.

Despite explaining all the information, You have to keep the job description as concise as possible. 

 

Sourcing Candidates

The actual talent search is the most important aspect of the recruitment process. Broadly, there are two recruitment sources that can be tapped for a talent search:

 

External Sources

Recruiting through external sources gives you a broader scope of candidates. The procedure also eliminates the possibilities of partiality as all candidates start on an equal footing.

There are many options to pique the interest from outside the organization

• Job Portals 
• Job Advertisements 
• Company Career Page 
• Social Media Platforms
• Job Fairs

Internal Sources

Providing opportunities for career growth are a critical factor for employee retention and motivation.

It also shortens some of the recruitment steps, along with cost, effort, and attrition rate.

• Transfer 
• Promotion 
• Demotion
• Previous applicants
• Retired employees

 

Preselecting And Screening Candidates

To move forward with the recruitment process, you need to screen and shortlist applicants efficiently and accurately. 

It is where the selection step becomes challenging. No wonder, the most arduous task of the recruitment process is reviewing resumes. 

Fortunately, you can use an ATS-integrated resume system that will quickly scan through all the resumes and shortlist the most qualified candidates. 

There are multiple ways to screen candidates besides using an ATS to screen resumes.

 

Phone Screening

Conduct a phone screening to narrow down the selection procedure. You can take the time to interview the candidate personally.

Preparing a list of the interview questions is important before you get started.

Pre-Selection Test

The test is a highly effective screening technique that helps to eliminate potential mismatches.

It also includes tools that provide assessments that consist of cognitive testing, a job sample, or other tests that help predict the new hire’s quality.

This phase aims to lower the number of candidates from large groups to small groups who will be interviewed directly.

Nonetheless, some screenings and pre-selection tools may be less accurate.

 

Interview In Person

So, we’ve arrived at the most crucial step of the hiring process. Interviews should be conducted soon after a phone screening. 

The procedure should not be too lengthy, or candidates may lose interest. Now, you can follow these tips to determine whether this talented individual is the ideal choice:

• Make the environment comfortable.
• Get multiple perspectives.
• Review the applicant’s materials beforehand. 
• Standardize your questions.
• Give the interviewee time to ask questions about the company as well. 

Along with the interviews, you can also conduct a series of skill-based assessments to determine a candidate’s role skills.

Using structured interviews will help keep things consistent. It also enables the business to compare candidates to come to a more informed decision directly.

 

Job Offer & Contract

After the company has made the decision, the selection procedure isn’t over. The candidate still needs to accept the offer.

Over 90 percent of people report that a manager’s contact can make them accept a job offer faster, so don’t be afraid to reach out. 

Beware of providing the offer the candidate wants and don’t let them miss it.

The offer letter should include the position’s salary, benefits, paid time off, start date, potential severance pay, working remotely policy, included company equipment, and other terms and conditions of employment. 

Negotiations are likely to follow. Therefore, the HR staff should internally determine which elements of the offer letter are negotiable and not. 

If the offer is accepted, a contract is drawn and signed. The recruitment process is only completed when all parties sign the employment contract.

 

Onboarding The New Employee

Congratulations! Your candidates finally accept the job offer. They’re now officially employees of your organization. 

After conducting reference and background checks, you can introduce them to the organization. The onboarding process for new employees has to be strategically planned. So, they have a positive experience.

Their workspace should be prepared, cleaned, and equipped with the necessary credentials and equipment before their first day. Employees must quickly adapt to their new role and become productive.

Lastly, consider assigning your new employee a mentor. Mentors help them settle in and set them up for long-term growth and success.

 

In conclusion, a detailed hiring step is a necessary element for company success. It’s important for your HR team to understand best hiring practices and to have a step-by-step recruitment strategy in place.

Some parts may be trickier than others, but investing time and effort will all be worth it. For that reason, it is one of the critical contributions that HR can provide to the business. 

By following these steps and guidelines, you’ll be on your way to finding a qualified candidate for your organization.

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