What is the recruiting process?
The recruitment process comprises the steps a company takes to find, choose and ultimately hire new employees. An effective recruiting process can help make a company more successful because it allows them to identify and attract the best candidates and leave competitors behind. The purpose of the recruiting process is to attract the widest pool of applicants in order to give the hiring manager the greatest opportunity to select the best talent for the vacant roles in their business. It pays to put some guidelines in writing that hiring managers in your organisation can follow when a vacancy comes up in their department.
Related: Hiring With Indeed
15 steps to follow when hiring
Here are the 15 steps hiring managers should follow to make for a smooth recruiting process.
1) Identify your recruitment needs
Before you set out on your recruitment journey, take a moment to make sure you’re clear on who and what you are looking for.
- Do you need to replace someone in an existing position, or are you trying to fill a newly created role?
- Are you looking for a temporary or permanent new staff member?
- Should they work full-time or part-time?
- When do they need to start?
2) Draft a job description
A good job description provides information on the purpose of the role and what the new hire needs to bring to the table. It should include:
- the required qualifications
- the role’s responsibilities
- the necessary skills
- any desired experience
- the workplace location and if travelling is required
- any special requirements such as Australian citizenship.
3) Compile a recruitment strategy
Once you’re clear on how many candidates with what qualifications you need, the next step is to put together a recruitment strategy. Your considerations here may include aspects like whether to recruit internally or externally, in what region or area to look for candidates, by which means to recruit (e.g. agency, job board) and the general sequence of activities to be followed during the recruitment process.
4) Advertise the vacancy
Once your job ad is ready, it’s time to publish it. You can post it on the Careers section of your own company website, or you can use a job board like Indeed. These are the traditional ways an employer would advertise a vacancy. Read our Hiring on Indeed FAQ for comprehensive information on the recruitment process using Indeed.
5) Consider alternative recruitment methods
In addition to an official job advertisement, consider your alternative options:
- Seek out referrals: Ask existing staff members if they know anyone who’d be a good match for the role.
- Attend networking events: Mingle with potential applicants from near and far.
- Set up a stall at a local university’s career day: The best way to attract motivated young talent .
- Post an ad on your social media channels: Social media is an effective and low-cost way to get your vacancy noticed. Read more in our article on Social Media Recruiting Tips and Strategies.
- Search your company database for suitable candidates: Your organisation might have a database in which previous applicants’ details and resumes are stored (in line with data privacy regulations, of course); although they didn’t get hired last time, they might be a good match this time around!
The important thing is that you let everyone know: ‘We are hiring staff!’ Getting the word out there will increase your chance of attracting the right candidate.
Related: How Indeed Can Support a Digital Hiring Process
6) Review applications
Carefully go through all the applications you received and check that they meet all requirements in terms of qualifications and skills. The ones that don’t can be set aside right away. Also, look for any potential deal-breakers such as job-hopping or a poorly presented resume full of spelling errors at this stage. Highly overqualified candidates may also raise a red flag. You can use your discretion in respect to applications that were submitted late, but you’d be well within your rights to eliminate those received after the closing date. Make sure you apply consistent standards when sorting through the applications you’ve received. It might be helpful to have a screening sheet ready and allocate points or even just place ticks against certain criteria. Any candidates will need to meet the minimum requirements as set out in the job ad to proceed to the next stage.
7) Make a shortlist
The remaining applications will be a good basis for your applicant shortlist. These are the candidates who meet all the basic requirements of the job and who will progress to the next stage. You may already want to rank them in order of preference at this point. To avoid running into legal disputes or discrimination issues, make sure your criteria don’t discriminate against any legally protected categories, such as race or ethnic background. The criteria you choose need to be applied objectively and fairly across all candidates. It’s also helpful to determine beforehand how many applicants you are willing to shortlist. This will avoid you getting bogged down in too many applications and ending up overwhelmed.
8) Consider phone interviews
If you have a large pool of applicants on your shortlist, a phone interview round is a good way to narrow down the list. Phone interviews can save you time by making sure only the most suitable applicants move on to the next stage of the recruitment process. What’s more, phone interviews give applicants the opportunity to ask questions about the role to help them determine if it’s right for them before scheduling time to visit your company for an in-person interview. To prepare, read our article for some great Phone Interview Questions to Ask Candidates. After the phone interview round, you’ll be left with those candidates you want to interview in person.
9) Organise in-person interviews
As the hiring manager, you’ll be responsible for organising the in-person interviews and liaising between all involved parties. For some roles, an interview panel needs to be set up. This typically includes you as the hiring manager, another member of staff from the department for which you are recruiting, and a member of Human Resources. You are the interface between them all and will need to organise a suitable date and time for everyone involved.
Typically, you’ll identify suitable time slots with your in-house stakeholders first and then notify applicants of your desired interview date and time. In addition to discussing their technical expertise, the in-person interview is your chance to find out whether the candidate is a good fit for your company and the corporate culture. After all, Hiring For ‘Culture Add’ Can Help Your Business Outshine the Rest. Prepare for the interviews by reading our list of Best Interview Questions to Ask Candidates and have some notes and questions ready.
10) Carry out reference and background checks
Reference and background checks help you make sure that the applicant really is who they say they are and has the qualifications and expertise they claim they have. The most important checks you should perform (or documents you should ask the employee to provide) are:
- ID verification to confirm they are who they say they are
- police clearance to check for criminal legal system involvement
- visa status to make sure they are entitled to work in Australia
- driving history if operating a vehicle is required as part of the job
- employee references to verify their skills and good character
- Blue Card (required when working with children in Queensland).
Related: How to Find Good Employees
11) Make a decision
Depending on the calibre of your applicants, this may be the easy or the difficult part. Once you’ve interviewed everyone and are satisfied with the background checks and references, it’s time to pick your preferred candidate for the role. Hopefully, one person will stand out. Either way, discuss all final candidates with the other members of the interview panel and take their feedback into consideration. The ideal candidate is someone who meets all formal requirements of the role and also has the right personality to make them a good fit for your organisation.
If you really can’t decide between several seemingly equally qualified applicants, you may want to consider psychometric testing. A psychometric test measures how a candidate’s personality and ability match those required by the role you are recruiting for. The most common psychometric tests are, therefore, personality and ability tests. As they often reveal hidden insights about candidates that aren’t immediately obvious during the early interview stages, such tests are often used to confirm a particular choice rather than as a tool during the early selection process.
12) Make the offer
Once you have weighed up all candidates and made your choice, it’s time to make an offer to your preferred applicant. It’s always a nice gesture if you pick up the phone and ring them to tell them in person that they were successful. A personal touch like this will be appreciated by most candidates. Naturally, follow up your phone call with a written offer. In many cases, this will lead to negotiations about salary or other perks, so HR will need to be involved at this stage.
13) Notify unsuccessful applicants
As keen as you will be to get your new team member on board, don’t forget to let all other applicants know that they were unsuccessful. This is a matter of common courtesy and respect, and they will appreciate getting an answer one way or another. Some may be keen to find out why they were not chosen, so be prepared to give such feedback, even if it’s just a sentence or two.
14) Liaise with HR
You will need to liaise with Human Resources at this point to get the legal ball rolling. The HR team need to prepare the employment contract and ensure all the paperwork is taken care of. The hiring manager and human resources need to work hand in hand at this stage. Make sure you’re both on the same page in terms of the role’s requirements and legalities involved, so the new hire gets consistent answers to any questions they may have during this part of the recruiting process.
15) Start onboarding
The onboarding process is often a joint effort between the hiring manager and Human Resources. It can involve:
- getting the new hire set up on the company’s IT system
- setting up their email account
- letting current staff know about them
- arranging their induction
- organising any compulsory training sessions
- ensuring all legal documents are signed
- welcoming them on their first day
- making sure their workstation is ready
- preparing and handing out manuals or guidelines as needed.
Related: The How-to Hub: Resources for Posting and Managing Jobs on Indeed
Summary
(1) Identify your recruitment needs (2) Draft a job description (3) Compile a recruitment strategy (4) Advertise the vacancy (5) Consider alternative recruitment methods (6) Review applications (7) Make a shortlist (8) Consider phone interviews (9) Organise in-person interviews (10) Carry out reference and background checks (11) Make a decision (12) Make the offer (13) Notify unsuccessful applicants (14) Liaise with HR (15) Start onboarding
Hiring new staff can be challenging, but hopefully, this article was able to answer any questions you may have had concerning the recruiting process. You can, of course, adapt these guidelines to your personal circumstances and your organisation’s needs. Naturally, they’ll likely need to be revised over time and continually updated as you come across additional aspects you’d like to include. For now, follow our 15 steps to take the hassle out of recruiting! Our Hiring Resources for Employers will provide you with further guidance related to all aspects of hiring.
