How to Set Up a Recruitment Workflow

The job market as we know it today is pretty competitive. This is just one of the reasons why attracting and finding the best talent for your organization is important. However, without a defined recruitment workflow, it can get overwhelming.

In this blog, we’ll explore everything you need to know about recruitment workflows, what they are, the recruitment process steps, and finally, creating a hiring process flowchart and implementing best practices.

Let’s jump right to it!

What is the Recruitment Workflow?

To put it simply: a recruitment workflow is basically a recruitment strategy or a series of steps a company uses to identify, attract, screen, and hire the ideal candidates for their job positions.

It features everything from defining the job position a company needs and creating a job description, to onboarding new team members and ensuring a structured hiring process aligned with the company’s goals and needs. While most companies tend to have a similar workflow, it can differentiate depending on the company size, business model, etc.

Recruitment Workflow Process – the Basic Steps

As mentioned previously, most companies have a similar outline of the typical recruitment process. It goes something like this:

1. Identifying needs – first up, your company will come to a hiring need for another person (or more) for a specific job position or work area.
2. Outlining the job responsibilities – after identifying the needs of your company, managers will outline the most important job requirements they’d look for in a new team member. It’s important that the hiring manager stays coordinated with the team lead, or anyone else who knows the job and all it encompasses well.
3. Creating a job description – when the job responsibilities have been determined, there should be a job description. This description should serve the company both internally and externally. Of course, it should be shared in the job listing so candidates know if they’re the right fit for the role or not.
   Consider sharing the job opening with the rest of your team, as employee referrals can be useful, and are one of the most popular recruiting options.
4. Choosing the right platform – not every position is suitable for every job board. For example, you wouldn’t really share an IT job listing only offline, while for certain jobs that might be the best option. So make sure to choose the right place for you.
5. Publishing the job listing – the exciting part begins. Now, you should publish the job listing. An ideal listing should include: a job description, expectations and requirements of the new hire (+ if there are any advantages someone might bring to the role, like being fluent in Portuguese, for example), key responsibilities that come with the job, and, of course, what you, as a company offer. List the benefits you have, information about vacation and sick days, and if possible, add a salary range.
   This, as well as most of the recruitment process, often happens while using an applicant tracking system or some similar recruitment software.
6. Screening CVs – as applications start pouring in, the HR team or other assigned members of the team screen the job applications and resumes to shortlist suitable candidates who meet the job requirements. Sometimes, this might include doing background checks, to ensure the new employee checks all the boxes. While screening the candidates, you can immediately see who isn’t the right fit, possibly move them to another listing, or send a rejection letter. With PontaHR, it’s easy to go through CVs, without needing to download, sort in folders, or, even worse, print out the resumes.
7. First interviews – this step can differ a lot depending on the company, from being a phone call, a video interview, or something else entirely. But, it’s basically an initial screening, a step when an HR manager has a chat with the shortlisted candidates for a brief assessment of their suitability for the role, whether they fit in the company culture, etc.
8. Assessment – some (or all) candidates may go over further assessment, such as a skill test or an assignment of sorts to continue with the selection process and give more insight into their qualifications.
9. Second interview – based on the first interview and the assessment, some companies prefer to have another interview to help them come to a final decision.
10. Decision making – after all the previously listed processes, it’s time to make a decision about who from the potential candidates is the most suitable for the role, taking into account the candidates’ experience, cultural fit, etc.
11. Offer – finally, a job offer is sent to the candidate, outlining the details such as the salary, benefits, start date, and any other relevant information.
12. Onboarding – after the offer has been accepted, the onboarding process begins. The new team member is introduced to the company and provided with all necessary training, information, and resources.‍
13. Feedback and improvement – for continuous development and growth, most companies go through certain feedback reviews, such as a monthly check-in and a yearly performance review.

How to Create the Recruitment Process Flowchart

Since not all companies are the same, we can’t give you an exact guide on how to create the perfect recruitment process flowchart for you, but we can give some advice that will hopefully help you find the best way for the recruiting process. Typically, the recruitment process looks something like this:

If you’re just introducing recruitment processes into your company with a newly formed HR department, you should begin with identifying the key steps that should be involved in your recruitment process and discuss it with the management. This could be anything from job requisition to the onboarding process. Arrange the steps in chronological order, as it should be the most logical one for the recruitment flow. Something that might help out is mapping the flow in some sort of a visual representation. Some steps that shouldn’t be skipped are decision-making points, like shortlisting and final hiring decisions. Don’t forget to review the flow with your team and add or remove some steps. Finally, document the process and share it with all the relevant team members. The document should serve as a reference guide to everyone who is included in the hiring process.

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Sometimes, companies like to highlight a part of their recruitment process on their website, to give candidates a better understanding of what their journey might look like. It’s helpful and provides extra insight!

Conclusion

Having a clear and organized recruitment process is super important when it comes to finding, evaluating, and finally, hiring (and keeping) the best candidates for your organization. By using a well-structured hiring process flowchart, your HR recruitment process will be smoother and more efficient. Saving you time and energy in the meantime.

This way, you’ll be able to make better decisions, collaborate with your team with ease, and happily onboard new employees.

Don’t forget to regularly review and improve your process to keep up with the changing needs of your company. And, bear in mind that every process might not be a perfect fit for every job position and you'll create your own best practices over time.

Good luck!

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