15 Strategies for an Effective Recruitment Process

The recruitment process is in dire need of a revamp. From ghosting, discrimination and even run-ins with rude hiring managers, 83% of respondents from our recent survey say they’ve had bad experiences during the hiring or onboarding process.

In the same report, 75% of employees also said they’ve thought about leaving their job in the past year. With all this ongoing chaos, you have a unique chance to stand out and attract top talent.

With a strong hiring strategy in place, you can set yourself apart from the competition and provide these disgruntled employees a reason to give their notice.

Let’s look at 15 game-changing strategies to help you build an effective recruitment process—one that’ll have top talent excited to join your team.

What Is Recruiting?

Recruiting is the process of finding, attracting, and selecting a new employee to fill a job opening in an organization. Human resource managers usually lead this process, but it’s often a collaboration that involves a recruiter and other team members, like executive leadership and financial team members.

Finding top applicants quickly and effectively for a role is made possible by a well-structured recruitment process. It takes planning, evaluation, and a whole lot of teamwork to get this done.

The hiring process tends to involve the following stages:

• Finding the candidate with the best skills, experience, and personality for the job
• Collecting and reviewing resumes
• Conducting job interviews
• Selecting the new hire
• Moving on to the onboarding process

Now let’s look at what to prioritize during the recruitment process to help you attract great talent and keep them engaged from start to finish.

15 Steps to Help You Build a Winning Recruitment Process

1. Showcase Your Mission and Values

Recruitment is a two-way street. Just as candidates spend time showcasing their qualifications and experience to prospective employers, your business should do the same by showcasing why people should work for you.

Since your candidates will likely research your company online, it’s crucial to establish a strong digital brand. ‌Make sure your website and social media clearly communicate your company’s mission, values, and culture.

2. Identify Company Needs

Create a list of organizational needs before you draft a job posting. It might seem easy to post a listing if you’re replacing someone who’s left, but it can be more challenging when you’re creating a new position or changing the responsibilities of a role.

Take a step back and make a list of what your company needs now so that you hire with purpose.

3. Invest in Recruitment Software

Make the most of automation by using an applicant tracking system (ATS). This way, you can monitor the volume of applications, automate job postings, and filter resumes to identify the best candidates.

Saving time on these administrative tasks with recruitment software means you’ll be able to spend more time getting to know potential hires.

4. Write the Job Description

A key part of a successful recruitment strategy is writing a strong job description. Once you’ve nailed down your company’s needs, write down the exact duties and responsibilities of the role. As you write the description, be sure to collaborate with the potential hire’s manager.

5. Create a Recruitment Plan and Job Ad

Now that you’ve written a great job description, it’s time to strategize. Who’s going to review resumes, schedule interviews, and assess the must-have skills for the job? These are all things you need to iron out before starting the hiring process.

The job ad helps communicate the organization’s needs and expectations to a potential candidate. Being as specific as possible in the job ad will help attract and find candidates who can meet the role’s demands.

6. Build an Employee Referral Program

Employee referral programs are a powerful tool for boosting your ROI on new hires. They not only reduce hiring costs but also help find candidates who are a better fit for the role, thanks to your employees' firsthand insights.

By tapping into your employees’ networks, you’re opening doors to a more diverse pool of candidates, speeding up the hiring process, and even improving long-term retention. Plus, it’s a great way to get your team feeling more engaged and invested where they work, which is always a good thing.

7. Find Candidates

One of the most time-consuming aspects of the hiring process is searching for candidates. Shave some of this search time by using keyword recruitment tools to filter out any unqualified applicants.

You can also expand your talent pool by being more open and inclusive in your hiring practices.

8. Move Fast to Recruit Top-Tier Candidates

The best candidates likely have many options, and you’ll need to maintain timely communication, or they’ll move on to other opportunities. How fast you act really matters.

9. Conduct Phone Screening

Once you’ve found a few potential candidates, a quick phone screening is a great way to narrow down the pool. It saves time on the hiring process and helps you get a feel for whether the candidate is worth forwarding for a more in-depth interview.

10. Interview Promptly

Aim to get your top picks in for an interview—in-person or via video call—within a week of the phone screen. If the recruitment process drags on, candidates may lose interest or accept another offer.

And don’t forget to keep them in the loop throughout the process, even if you decide not to move forward with them. It’s a small gesture that goes a long way.

11. Offer the Job

Just because you offer someone a job doesn’t mean they’ll accept. Of course, you need to include the standard information—job title, pay rate, and work schedule—but consider highlighting the unique benefits the candidate will access at your organization.

For example:

• Health and wellness benefits
• Training and development programs
• Paid time-off policy
• Financial benefits

Expect the process to take time, and be ready to negotiate salary.

12. Conduct a Background & Reference Check

After the offer is accepted, it’s time to verify the new hire’s background information and qualifications. This process is crucial for maintaining compliance, trust, and safety, but it’s also a common roadblock in the recruitment process

You’ll want to build enough time in your hiring timeline to get a hold of references, for example, or receive background check results, if you use a third-party provider.

If you’re looking for faster, more accurate, and fairer results, BambooHR integrates with Checkr, which uses AI and machine learning to seamlessly add background checks into a candidate’s portfolio.

13. Gather New Hire Paperwork

Before a new hire can start work, you need to gather all the necessary paperwork. But instead of overwhelming them with a mountain of paperwork, you can use HR recruitment software and electronic signatures.

HR software and electronic signatures can speed up the process and save you money to boot:

• Average time spent by HR on onboarding  without an HRIS: 11 hours per new employee
• Average time spent by HR on onboarding  with an HRIS: 5.5 hours per new employee
• Money saved with  e-signatures  (on faxing, printing, and copying paper documents): $300 per new employee

14. Onboard Your New Employee

Now that you’ve chosen the candidate who’ll be joining your team, the fun begins! Make sure they feel welcome from day one with a thoughtful onboarding process.

Assign them a mentor or a buddy, and schedule one-on-one time with their manager to help them settle in and feel supported as they transition into their new role.

15. Review Recruitment Data

Your work isn’t over yet! Review your recruitment data to continually improve and refine the hiring process.

Invest in a comprehensive data analytics system to understand how your recruitment process is performing, including:

• How many people applied for each job?
• How many people did you interview?
• Where do the best candidates come from?

Understanding Full Lifecycle Recruiting

Full lifecycle recruiting refers to the entire end-to-end process of finding, screening, hiring, and onboarding new employees.

It’s not just about finding a great candidate. The hiring process continues even after you’ve interviewed or made an offer. Full life cycle recruiting is typically broken into six steps, each of which moves the company closer to finding the best candidate for the job:

1. Preparing: Promoting your employer brand, building recruitment strategy and plan, and writing the job description and ad
2. Sourcing: Posting the job ad, relying on employee referrals, and searching for qualified candidates
3. Screening: Reviewing resumes and conducting phone screens
4. Selecting: Conducting interviews and evaluating candidates
5. Hiring: Sending offer letter and negotiating job details
6. Onboarding: Welcoming, training, and integrating new hires

As you review and refine your recruitment process, think about how you can apply these strategies to create a more holistic approach from start to finish. This kind of consistency in your recruitment process is what turns high-quality candidates into long-term employees.