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Complete Guide to Recruitment:

1. Define the hiring need.

The first step of the recruitment process is to define the hiring need. This is done by means of a job analysis, which assesses and defines the qualifications, skills requirements, tasks, and duties specific to the job. The job analysis is then used to create a clear job description and to assess candidate suitability during the screening process.

Once you have the information, use it to write a job description. You can use our job description template.

If you are a part of a large organization, you may first need to put together a job requisition at this point, which is a formal request to fill a vacancy.

2. Sourcing and Attracting Talent.

There are multiple ways to promote your job vacancy and attract applications, such as advertising internally, posting on job boards, and attending career fairs, to name a few. For best results, use a combination of methods.

Recruit from within.

If you have a successful talent management strategy in place, then employee development is a major part of your company's culture, which means the ideal candidate may already be an employee. Advertise the job vacancy internally and review employee evaluations to see if anyone stands out as a great match.

Getting referrals from employees is a great way of recruiting your ideal candidate. Your employees already understand your company culture and work environment, and have an idea of who might be perfect for the position. An employee referral program will encourage referrals, and a refer-a-friend email is a good place to start.

Learn more about how strategic staffing can benefit your business.

Use social media.

Social media is a great tool for employer branding and promoting job vacancies to candidates that already follow your company. Read our article on social recruiting for tips and guidance.

Use job posting sites.

There are also many job boards, both general and niche, that offer an easy way to reach people quickly. As these sites vary in cost, reach, quality of candidates, and how long it takes before you start receiving applications, it's worth doing some research before making a choice. See our list of the best job posting websites to help you along.

Attend career fairs.

Career fairs offer companies the opportunity to connect with large groups of qualified candidates, save money on job advertising, and build employer branding. There are a few ways to make the most out of the event. Read our detailed guide to career fairs to learn more about their benefits and how to prepare for and get the most out of a career fair.

Host a recruitment event.

A recruitment event is a recruitment marketing strategy companies use to fill their talent pipelines in a way that promotes their employer brand and makes connecting with candidates more personal. This may be a career day or open house, networking event, or competition to test candidates' interest levels and skills.

Source directly.

While job boards, job ads, and career fairs are the go-to approaches for filling most vacant positions in a company, positions higher up in a company require a more active, aggressive approach known as headhunting or executive search. This is typically used to recruit highly-qualified and experienced candidates for top-level positions.

Build a career page.

A company's career page can either attract candidates and drive them to spend their time applying, or it can deter them from engaging the company any further. A list of vacancies without care given to the user experience or reasons why someone might want to work at your company will cause otherwise interested candidates to turn their backs.

Recruiting Tools:

There are software applications that recruiters use to gather and manage candidate information, find potential employees, search through profiles and resumes, contact candidates, and monitor hiring outcomes.

See our list of the top recruitment and sourcing tools.

3. Screening and Selection.

This phase of the recruiting process is often the first really significant contact candidates have with your company. With as much as 83% of candidates saying a negative interview experience can change their mind about a job or company, creating a seamless and positive candidate experience throughout the recruitment process is of prime importance.

Screen for the best candidate.

A well-structured screening process serves to reduce the time invested in interviewing candidates by filtering out the most suitable candidates for the position. You can use resume parsing software to review resumes fast.

If you didn't include screening questions in the job application process, send a short email with screening questions or conduct brief pre-screening interviews to identify the candidates you want to get to know better in an in-depth interview.

Arrange interviews.

Once you have your shortlist of candidates, set up a final interview. Review resumes and then ask questions about any gaps or inconsistencies you find as well as any accomplishments. Read our articles on how to interview candidates and how to be a good interviewer to brush up on your interviewing skills.

Do a background check.

Before making your final decision out of the handful of candidates who have made it through this far, you should do a background check and employment verification on each of them, and have them do a pre-employment test.

Make the job offer.

Once you have selected a candidate for the position, send them a job offer letter with more information about the job as well as the start date, compensation, work hours, and job title. For more guidance, see our article on how to make a job offer, and don't forget to send unsuccessful candidates a job rejection letter.

4. Onboarding.

Onboarding is the process of bringing a new employee into the company, introducing them to the company culture, and setting them up for success in their new role. Handling onboarding successfully will improve job satisfaction and performance and will lead to greater commitment. See our detailed guide to onboarding employees for more information.

Start training.

To give the new employee the skills and knowledge to start achieving early goals you've set for them, put them through some targeted, early-stage training that is both enjoyable and relevant. Common techniques include on-the-job training with feedback sessions and mentoring, whereby a new hire is paired with an exemplary employee to guide them.

Then, in order to improve learning and identify any areas that need more focus, have the trainees complete a relevant task as soon as possible. For more tips and ideas on how to get your new hires job-ready, read our article on training new employees.

5. Monitoring.

While crucial to optimizing recruitment operations, many organizations fail to monitor their hiring process to see which of their efforts worked best in attracting candidates, how long it took to employ someone new, and what it cost them to do so. See our article about recruitment metrics for a complete overview of what you should be tracking.

FAQs:

Which comes first — selection or recruitment?

Selection is a part of recruitment. Recruitment is made up of job analysis, sourcing, screening, onboarding, and monitoring.

How can recruiting be made more effective?

  1. Thorough job analysis forms the foundation for effective recruiting.
  2. Building an employer brand is essential for attracting potential employees.
  3. The entire hiring process must be a good experience for candidates.
  4. A more targeted approach to recruitment marketing will reach ideal candidates more effectively.
  5. Monitoring the hiring process is essential for finding where improvements can be made.

What are the types of recruitment?

  • Employer branding.
  • Promotion and marketing of vacancies.
  • Social media recruiting.
  • Recruitment events.
  • Internships.
  • Employee referrals.

Why is effective recruitment important?

Finding the perfect candidate for a position and new talent retention aside, effective recruitment saves time and capital, and it builds a company's employer brand.

What are the sources of recruitment?

  • Job boards.
  • Publications.
  • Social media.
  • Networking events.
  • Job fairs.
  • Career days.
  • Employee referrals.
  • Direct recruiting.
  • Company career pages.
  • Information sessions.
  • Internships.
  • Job sites.
  • Expert panels.
  • Web search.
  • Recruitment software.

What are the best recruiting strategies?

  • Build a clear employer brand.
  • Define the ideal candidate and then target recruitment efforts at them.
  • Use social media.
  • Set up a user-friendly and informative career page on your website.
  • Put in place an employee referral program.
  • Work on getting job ads right.
  • Consider niche and regional job boards.
  • Invest in recruitment software applications.
  • Monitor your hiring process and make improvements where needed.

How do recruiting companies work?

Companies pay recruiting companies to fill vacancies. The recruiting companies then analyze the vacancies, source potential candidates for the vacancies using a variety of methods, conduct screening tests and interviews, and then submit those candidates that best fit the requirements of the vacancies.

Related Articles:

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Top 15 Recruiting Trends for 2024

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Complete overview of 17 recruitment metrics you should be tracking.

Recruiter Interview Questions

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