Recruitment is the process of identifying, attracting, selecting, interviewing, hiring, and adapting the most talented candidates who fit the company's values. Recruitment includes a broader range of activities and skills than hiring alone. It requires a specialist to understand the organization's staffing needs, to know the necessary hard skills for various positions, and to understand the company's work process and work environment.

Depending on the size of the company, several stakeholders may be involved in the hiring process. Some companies have separate teams that take care of hiring strategies, candidate selection, interviews, onboarding, and so on. Sometimes a company just needs to hire a specialized recruiter and get him or her up to speed.

Recruitment depends on:

• the size of the company

• company growth rate

• type of employment

• salary and benefits

• conditions of employment (work in the office, remote work or hybrid schedule).

Recruitment: stages and key steps

Understand who the company needs

Make a list of the needs of the company or individual department before creating a job posting. Sometimes the recruiter thinks the need is clear - to replace a departing employee. But it's also possible that responsibilities need to be reassigned, needs to be analyzed, and needs to understand why the previous employee left. 

Create a job description 

Writing a good job description is a vital element in developing an effective hiring strategy. Once you understand the needs of the business and the department, you should identify (or reassign) the duties and responsibilities of the role and write them down. Job descriptions help communicate the needs and expectations of the organization to the potential candidate. It's important to be as specific as possible to attract candidates who can sufficiently meet those requirements.

Create a recruiting plan

Save time and effort by creating a recruitment plan. Figure out the best way to spread the word about the job. Determine who will be reviewing resumes, scheduling interviews and selecting the right candidate, work with the professional who will take the job further. If it will be you, consider which of your colleagues to involve in interviewing the potential employee.

Start finding and selecting talent

At this point, it's wise to use any tools that will save you time in the selection process. Try using browser extensions, which reads information about candidates from resumes and search sites, and transfers it to your company's database for further work.

Select and attract the best candidates

Strong candidates always have a few backup options, and if you don't communicate with them in a timely manner, they're likely to choose another company. That's why it's important to use every opportunity for quick communication-messengers or a recruiting app, if you have access to one. Then you can view feedback and updates on progression through the recruitment funnel from your smartphone at any time.

Schedule an interview and invite colleagues 

After talking to several candidates, take the time to narrow down your search and select those with whom you will interact face-to-face. Team members responsible for helping with recruitment can help you. If there aren't any, take the time and ask management to delegate that responsibility to someone on the team. 

Conduct interviews

Ideally, interviews after the first contact should be conducted within a week. The process should not drag on, or candidates may lose interest. At the interview, pay attention to both hard and soft skills, don't forget to share the company's benefits and "perks" for the staff, clarify all the organizational aspects of passing the test assignment and next steps.

Offer the job

Be careful at this stage of recruitment, because it is important to give the candidate maximum attention, in time to give him feedback on the test and a message of readiness to provide a job offer. Call the person again if they're unsure to clear up any doubts. More than 90% of candidates at the stage of accepting the offer choose between at least 2 options, so make sure that from your side you have done everything possible.

Conduct onboarding

After accepting a job offer, the real work begins. You need to understand that onboarding – is a process that is not built in a day, so take time to implement the onboarding within the company. Your job is to create a positive experience for the candidate so they can easily immerse themselves in the job. The onboarding process shouldn't end with the paperwork for new employees, or they may burn out already at the onboarding stage. 

How to conduct mass recruitment?

Mass recruitment is the need to fill the same type of vacancies in a short period of time. It may be required when a company is growing rapidly, when several employees for similar positions are needed in one division, or when expanding into other markets - in this case, several locations need employees for the same vacancy at once.

The stages of mass recruiting are similar to the usual recruiting process, but some specifics must be taken into account.

• Budget. Not only do you need a hiring plan, but you also need a well-formulated budget for all the positions that need to be filled

• Market. Take into account the specifics of the labor market of the countries, cities or regions your company is expanding into

• Timing. Mass recruiting requires an early start - consider weekends, holidays and unscheduled days when you can't screen candidates

• Resources. Use whatever tools, resources, and sources you can find candidates:

1. Recruiting programs and extensions.

2. HRM systems with recruiting features.

3. Job search sites.

4. Social networks.

5. Specialized professional resources for fields you're looking for candidates.

6. Boolean Search.

7. Sourcing.

8. Partner Events.

9. Affiliate programs.

10. Third Party Agencies

• Screening. Practice a quick screening process - questions for the first call, sending out assignments, communicating with others responsible for hiring

• Approach. Don't use the impersonal listening method (cattle call), try to keep in mind that you are negotiating with individuals

• Feedback. You will screen a large number of candidates during mass hiring. Be sure to send out feedback to everyone, even if they don't qualify for the position. That way you'll help develop the employer's brand.

Recruitment methods

There are 10 methods of recruitment:

1. Direct advertising. Posting job openings on career sites, job search sites, social media, and other job search platforms.
2. Databases. Checking your own candidate databases for matches to current queries, selecting from previously saved candidates.
3. Referral program. A combination of external and internal recruiting, the process of inviting candidates known to employees to an interview. If hired, an employee is entitled to a bonus or bonus.
4. Re-hiring. Hiring former employees again is quite normal, given that in this case you know exactly what the candidate's capabilities and needs are. 
5. Promotions and transfers. One of the best ways to grow successful employees and leaders within the team is to give them opportunities to develop and then transfer them to positions that are now within their grasp.
6. Employment exchanges. Not the most popular way to find candidates, but it works if you are limited by your hiring conditions and budget.
7. Recruiting agencies. If you urgently need to fill several positions, or the request is too narrowly focused, it makes sense to turn to a full-service recruiting agency that will find the right candidates for you.
8. Searching for professional unions. These are not always unions, these days there are various groups of professionals united in one area - communities, clusters, etc. 
9. Internships and training. Particularly relevant if you need an entry level employee, whom you train everything you need. A person who has had a comfortable internship with you will also serve as an ambassador for the company.
10. Recruiting events. This includes anything from job search trade shows to professional conferences.

How does effective recruitment affect the company?

Effective and well-planned recruiting influences:

• new employee loyalty and engagement;

• easy onboarding for newbies;

• positive communication and trust building between HR-specialist and employee.

That is why the selection of personnel is not a mere search and copying of CVs, but a much wider and more complicated process which should be fully engaged in from the very beginning of the company establishment, in order to follow it step by step, find and develop employees loyal to the company.