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The Recruitment Process 

The recruitment process is a dynamic, complex and integral part of human resource management in organisations. It comes with certain challenges which can be coped with through various techniques and by following the recruitment lifecycle/processes.

Building recruitment strategies and having efficient recruitment process are needed to hire the right personnel and to retain the talent within an organization. Employees are assets of any organization. Talent acquisition is the first step towards success of an organization when it comes to business development strategies.

The Recruitment Lifecyle

The full recruitment life cycle refers to the entire hiring process. And all the phases from which the hiring manager and recruiter undergo. We will look at each phase of the recruitment and figure out what the challenges are and how these should be coped with at each stage.

Stages of Recruitment

The full recruitment life cycle is about managing and handling each stage of hiring. This is what end to end recruitment is. The whole recruitment process is made up of different stages. Here are the 7 stages of recruitment that are the primary reason for successful hiring.

1)  Understanding Requirements
2)  Preparing Job Description
 3)  Sourcing
4)  Screening
5)  Selection
6)  Hiring
7)  Onboarding

Stage #1: Understanding Requirements

Typical challenges a recruiter faces during this stage are:

·  No or little interaction with the hiring manager
· The client has no clearly defined requirements
· Communication gaps
·The role does not meet the salary or experience requirements

It is crucial to get this step of the recruitment process right because it will determine the rest of your full recruitment life cycle process.

How to overcome challenges in this phase:

· Communication is the key to overcome most of challenges in this stage
· Have one to one meeting with the hiring manager to understand requirements
· Take notes and write down key requirements
· Discuss non-negotiators (also known as deal breakers)
· Gap analysis (what is missing in the job description). Some key points to consider:

o Is the salary or wages adequate for the role and market?
o Is the location of job and any flexibility such as remote working clearly mentioned?
o What are the benefits offered by the employer?
o What level of seniority or experience is needed for the role?

Stage #2: Preparing Job Description

Typical challenges a recruiter faces during this stage are:

· Job Description is too brief
· JD is not accurate or up-to-date
· Job title is not accurate

Solutions/suggestions to avoid or overcome these challenges are:

· Update JD based on requirements
· Note down key words and key requirements
· Divide JD into sections and bullet points
· Avoid paragraphs and remove repetitions
· Find alternative titles, key words

Stage #3: Sourcing

General challenges a recruiter may face during this stage are:

· No job applications
· No matches
· No relevant applications
· Too many applications
· Not authorized to work

Suggestions to overcome these challenges are:

· Review JD and job postings
· Try different key words
· Engage the hiring manager
· Use pre-screening questions to avoid irrelevant or too many applications

Stage #4: Application screening

Let’s look at the two sub-stages of this stage i.e. shortlisting candidates and preliminary screening interviews

Challenges (Shortlisting Phase)

· Irrelevant CVs are received
· Tailored CVs (not having genuine experience or expertise)
· CVs are not up to date
· Gaps in experience

Suggestions to avoid or handle such issues:

· Prepare pre-screening questions and add to the job posting
· Email for updated CVs
· Note down specific questions to ask during screening interview

Challenges (Screening Interviews):

· The applicant is not reachable / no contact details
· The applicant requires more details about the role or the client
· Consent is not given to put forward application
· Rates are not acceptable

Suggestions to deal with above difficulties:

· Use different ways to communicate Call>Text>Email>LinkedIn
· Provide as much details as possible during call
· Consent is mandatory to present his application, get in writing
· Negotiate and convince but do not enforce your opinion

As a recruiter, you may experience further challenges at the time of screening candidates such as:

· The candidate seems reluctant
· The candidate does not appear genuine
· The candidate is evaluating his market value and not serious to switch job
· The role does not seem fit to candidate’s aspiration/career goals

Here are a few suggestions in this regard:

· Ask leading questions
· Evaluate based on your assessment
· Get technical assessment (verbal or in writing)
· Consider personal circumstances

Stage #5: Selection

This is the phase when hiring manager conducts detailed interview. It comes with its own challenges, for instance:

· Candidate’s availability for the interview
· Client’s availability for the interview
· No show ups at the time of interview
· Poor performance during interview
· Delay in feedback from the client

Suggestions to deal with these matters are:

· Find out candidate’s & client’s general availability beforehand
· Remind candidate and reschedule if necessary
· Help candidate in understanding the role
· Understand job requirements including deadlines from the client

Stage #6: Hiring

This is the phase when hiring manager has to finalize a candidate and make job offer. As a recruiter, you may experience:

· Too many rejections of candidates after the interview
· Offer is made but not accepted by the candidate
· Candidate/client do not agree to certain terms of the employment
· Lack of decision making by the client or reluctance to offer
· Too much focus on certain technical skillset by the client

Your mediation skills come handy at this stage. Pre-planning and ensuring recruitment steps are followed would help you to eliminate some of these issues at this stage:

· Review CV together with the client or take feedback if there are many rejections
· Understanding requirement and sourcing/screening process should be reviewed if CV/candidate rejected
· Act as a mediator to bring the parties to an agreement
· Take feedback after the interview from both sides

Stage #7: Onboarding

This is the stage when an individual accepts job offers and starts working. A recruiter is relaxed at this stage, however, sometimes you may face these challenges:

· The candidate finds the role/environment not as expected
· The client finds the candidate doesn’t have right skills
· The client dismisses the candidate
· The candidate decides to leave
· The background/reference checks are not satisfactory

Following would help at this stage:

· Smooth onboarding and induction process offered by the client
· Training and mentoring by the client to adjust new individual in the team/company
· Candidate improves skills and puts effort to adjust.

Other Practical Challenges

As a recruiter, you would encounter many other challenges such as:

· Tight deadlines. Sourcing and screening times are short to find the right individual
· Roles are not advertised for the correct salary/rate
· The client is not responsive in providing feedback
· The candidate attempts to approach the client directly
· More than one agencies are involved for the same role
​​​​​​​· The clients would like to find candidates without agreeing business terms with the agency

As a recruiter, you should work with the hiring manager, account manager (sometimes customer relations manager or service delivery manager) to sort out these matters. Internal pre-screened database of suitable candidates is key in such a competitive market. You can anonymise CVs before sharing with the client and do not share client name initially with the job applicants. Remember to take applicant’s consent before his application (CV) is shared with the client/hiring manager.  

Comments (1)

Shehriyar Qamar

01, Nov 2023 12:21 pm

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