The hiring process consists of more than just an interview and a handshake. There are behind the scenes steps that take place long before you’re face-to-face with a candidate, as well as after the interview. This isn’t exactly new information, but it makes for a good reminder. The issue is, most hiring departments focus too much on one stage of the process and end up neglecting other stages. They could be so distracted by preparing for the interview that they lack effort when it comes to recruiting. Or maybe they spent all their time on screening and neglected to set up an onboarding process. It can happen to anyone, but that doesn’t make them a bad company. That’s why it comes in handy to refresh your memory and your hiring process every once in a while.
We’ll break it down into stages: pre, mid, and post. This refers to before interaction with candidates, during interaction, and after the interaction/decision making.
The pre stage includes identifying needs, creating job descriptions, posting job openings, and recruiting viable candidates. Here is where you can really decide what you want and need from a new employee. This is also a chance to get your company’s face out there for potential candidates and even customers to see.
The mid stage is the screening and interviewing process. Screening can consist of telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, talent assessments, or any combination of the three.
The post stage begins once the candidate accepts the job offer. This stage includes salary and benefits preparations, as well as the start of the onboarding process.
Hiring is such a major factor of a successful workplace. Keeping a mental list of all the background processes that come together to make it work is worth the effort when you see the results.
