Critical Steps in the Employee Recruiting & Hiring Process

In today's business and legal climate, employee recruiting and hiring is normally an involved, complex, step-by-step process and is not the simple task of decades gone by.

Employers have a lot to lose if they make a poor hiring decision. That can lead to poor productivity, employee discontentment, and a high turnover rate. Your employee recruitment policies and employee retention rates are directly related.

​Investing in timely HR consulting and/or benefits consulting services can help you attract better talent and avoid potential legal pitfalls of the interviewing process. Expert advice can be "a life saver" at every step of recruitment.

Here are 5 steps of the recruitment process that require special attention:

1. Defining Your Ideal Candidate
Before you can make job posts for your open position and engage in recruitment efforts through social media, job fairs, and other venues, you need to carefully define your ideal candidate.

Unless your posted job descriptions are detailed and accurate, they might attract the wrong kind of applicants. Also be very explicit about what type of experience and formal training you expect and what the initial compensation and benefits package would be.

Lay a good foundation, and you'll get much closer matches to your ideal candidate, and later steps in the recruitment process will be much easier.

2. Screening Your Applications
Before you even get to the interview process, you need to eliminate all applications of candidates who simply don't qualify based on your stated criteria.

Don't waste your time or the time of applicants by delaying to eliminate candidates you know you can't use. You're better off with 3 qualified candidates to interview than 103 unqualified ones.

3. A Multi-interview Process
Most companies today use a multi-interview recruitment process. First, you have a screening interview, which are often conducted over the phone, to screen the pool further. The rest are asked to come in for a "real" interview.

The first interview should be one on one and should focus on ascertaining the skill set, employment history, and work availability of each candidate. Later interviews might be conducted by panels or by the higher up management and should be more in depth.

You have to have a streamlined, standard process of interviewing applicants. And never ask them anything anything not relevant to the duties of the job they're applying for.

4. Testing & Checking Up On Candidates
Next comes the testing stage. Each candidate should take and pass a talent, professional skills, and maybe a physical or personality type test.

After that, you need to do a background check to see if a candidate has a criminal record and to verify their alleged work history, plus a check on their given references.

If you need help in knowing how to conduct these tests and "check ups", don't hesitate to reach out to an HR consultant for advice.

5. Hiring & Onboarding
Once you've made your decision on who to hire, it's time to contact them and extend the official job offer. You need to verify that the candidate understands the agreement and ensure he/she fully fills out all paperwork and tax forms.

Waste no time in moving to employee onboarding and orientation. Make your new hire feel welcome and help him/her to fit in.

To learn more about the employee recruiting and hiring process, don't hesitate to reach out to Summerlin Benefits Consulting to speak with an experienced representative.