Take the guesswork out of recruitment by following the 9 steps of the recruitment process

Are you a manager or recruitment manager looking to improve your recruitment process? Would you like to implement a strategy aimed at finding the right profile more accurately and efficiently?

The right methodology is essential for structuring your recruitment management.

In this article, we take a look at the 9 key steps to follow, from defining the position to be filled through to recruitment, in order to select the best candidates... and give yourself every chance of keeping them!

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Summary of the 9 stages in the recruitment process

Step 1: Identify your recruitment needs

First and foremost, you should ask yourself what your company's actual recruitment needs are.

For example, a new recruit should be taken on in the following cases:

• the temporary or permanent departure of an employee ;
• new development objectives;
• strong business growth, etc.

This need must be budgeted for, as it inevitably involves costs: mobilising the people involved in the process, integrating and training the new recruit and, of course, paying a new salary.

💡 Employers, be aware that the State offers aid for recruitment, including a reduction in social security contributions. Check your eligibility on the economie.gouv.fr website!

Step 2: Define the job and the profile you're looking for

To target your search more effectively, analyse the precise needs of the department in question, or of the company in general.

To do this, talk to the operational staff concerned:

• What profile do you need?
• What training is required for the post? What other professional experience is needed?
• What level of experience is required?
• What technical skills are essential?

☝️ It is important that the job description clearly reflects the duties, tasks and responsibilities of the person who will occupy the post. Be specific, but be flexible about which skills are essential and which are highly desirable but not essential. In other words, be realistic!

☑️ You should also consider

• the number of hours required, to determine whether you need full-time or part-time work;
• the type of contract (permanent, fixed-term, temporary, etc.);
• the salary range.

Step 3: writing the advert

💡 Before writing the advert, make sure that there are no priority employees within your organisation: returning from maternity leave, switching from full-time to part-time or vice versa, redundancy for less than a year, etc.

When writing the job description, use the profile description as a starting point and take care to include all the important information:

• job title ;
• presentation of the company
• nature of the contract ;
• required skills and desired level of experience, etc.

Make sure you eliminate any discriminatory criteria that are prohibited by law.

Finally, take great care with the text of your job advert:

• think about the tone you want to adopt;
• be as clear as possible and provide all the necessary information;
• insert essential keywords, etc.

✨ You need to look after your employer brand to attract talent!

Step no. 4: advertise the job offer

You have two options here:

• either you circulate your advert internally ;
• or you can turn to the outside world and choose from a wide range of possibilities:
• Apec, Pôle emploi, the press, trade fairs, etc;
• multi-posting on the internet, via channels such as job boards, social networks, etc. ;
• using a recruitment agency or temporary work agency.

☝️ Here, a number of factors will influence your choice of distribution methods:

• the budget you have available
• the urgency of the recruitment;
• the specific nature of the profile you are looking for.

Step 5: Sorting the applications

Once you've published your advert, the applications start pouring in! 🤩

You then need to centralise their receipt and sort them out: those you retain, the "maybe" ones and those you eliminate.

Analyse the applications received in the light of the job description and the advertisement published, based on the CV and covering letter, or any other medium setting out the reasons for applying. Then check any references. This pre-selection may be reviewed and refined at a second stage by the line manager concerned.

💡 S coring and pre-qualifying applications can be made much easier by using recruitment software!

Finally, keep the most suitable profiles for the rest of the process, and contact them to arrange an interview.

Step 6: Conduct the job interviews

Your first selection can be made by telephone or video interview.

Then, once you've narrowed down your list of candidates, organise face-to-face interviews. For example, a first meeting, then a second in the presence of other stakeholders: the future recruit's line manager, an employee with key business expertise, etc.

☝️ Before any interview, prepare yourself. In other words, decide beforehand what you want to talk about (presentation, past experience, motivations, qualities required for the job, etc.). And don't forget to observe the interpersonal skills of the person in front of you.

Step 7: Confirm with assessment tests

Depending on the profiles you're looking for, we recommend that you ask people to take skills assessment tests or personality tests. This is the best way to get a concrete idea of the candidates' professional aptitudes and soft skills!

It's up to you to create the interview/test programme that's most relevant to the challenges of the job and the market in which you operate.

Stage 8: selecting a candidate

Once the interview phase is over, check with the future team to validate the selected profile and make the final decision together.

Once you've decided on a candidate, announce the news to the lucky person! A personalised response will also be greatly appreciated by those not selected.

💡 Tip: keep unsuccessful applications for this position in your applicant pool. They may be of interest for future recruitment.

Then carry out the formalities involved in hiring:

• promise to hire: commitment by the company to reserve the position for the person hired in the future;
• declaration prior to recruitment (DPAE): to be sent to URSSAF or MSA within 8 days of recruitment;
• registration of the person recruited in the personnel register;
• signing the employment contract;
• schedule the compulsory medical examination .

Stage 9: integrating the new recruit

Finally, don't forget to welcome and onboard your new employee. This essential stage is an integral part of the procedure and must be thought through in advance.

Do everything you can to ensure that the new recruit is properly integrated into the job, the team and the company, so that he or she feels at ease right from the start and decides to stay and invest.

Digitalising your recruitment procedure with the right software?

When it comes to the recruitment process, you need to be methodical and sufficiently organised to be more responsive and competitive in your target market, and so attract the best talent.

And these days, if you want to succeed, it's hard not to digitalise your operations. Dedicated tools help to automate time-consuming and tedious tasks, while adapting to your own processes. The result: you save time, money and energy.

🛠️ Some examples of recruitment software:

• Beehire: this simple, intuitive software digitises and streamlines the entire recruitment process. It lets you post vacancies on over 200 sites, automatically pre-qualify applications using a matching index and video, and centralise all applications and communications in a single collaborative tool. What's more, with its dedicated employer branding features (personalised career page, dynamic job offers, presentation videos, etc.), it helps you attract and attract more talent.
  
  
• Beetween: this is the ATS designed by recruiters to help you recruit quickly and efficiently. Thanks to Beetween, you can pool your efforts and save a huge amount of time: write the advert, select the sites that interest you from among the 150 generalist and specialist job boards connected to the solution. Then click and it's published!
  
  
• Cegid HR: with this comprehensive talent and training management solution, you can centralise all candidate data and personalise your careers pages to strengthen your employer brand. Designed for companies with more than 250 employees, it optimises every stage of the recruitment process, from posting vacancies to final selection, thanks to mobile management.
  
  
• Flatchr: multi-post your vacancies at the click of a button, receive applications on a single platform by centralising all the information, and recruit collaboratively. The employees concerned can write their opinions and share their feedback directly on the platform, to streamline the recruitment process. As an added bonus, personalise your career site and programme automatic, personalised responses to applicants to enhance your employer brand.
  
  
• JobAffinity: this French tool is designed to automate time-consuming tasks, centralise exchanges with candidates and optimise the entire recruitment process. Designed by HR experts, it is aimed at start-ups and SMEs as well as large companies, consultancies and local authorities. Its features include multi-posting of vacancies, comprehensive application management, creation of talent pools and automated communications.
  
  
• Softy: take advantage of comprehensive, customisable and automated HR functionalities (sourcing, career site, CV library, multicasting, application management, etc.) as well as unlimited recruitment tests of all kinds, directly integrated into the tool. So you can identify the best candidates, back up your choices with internationally recognised recruitment tests and analyse the answers using an intuitive tool.
  
  
• Taleez ATS Recrutement: French recruitment software built on three pillars: reliability, responsiveness and transparency. Adopted by over 600 customers, it offers a complete ATS for managing the entire recruitment process, from job application to final integration. Flexible and intuitive, it adapts to teams' working methods and simplifies their day-to-day work.
  
  
• Teamtailor: this ATS is designed to streamline recruitment while enhancing the candidate experience and the employer brand. Suitable for start-ups as well as large companies and SMEs, it meets the needs of all organisations looking to grow. The platform offers advanced features such as multi-posting of vacancies, a customisable careers site, task automation and an AI assistant.
  
  
• Tellent Recruitee: get a centralised, intuitive platform from which to quickly distribute your job offers to different recruitment channels (over 1,450 job boards available, for example). With performance and ad tracking as well as application analysis, your HR teams can optimise their distribution strategy to target only the best talent.

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Recruitment procedure: what should we remember?

Ultimately, a successful recruitment procedure depends above all on a clear, structured methodology that is adapted to each stage.

However, the use of digital tools reinforces this approach by automating repetitive tasks and improving the candidate experience.

But beyond method and technology, the real challenge remains attracting, convincing and retaining talent, all the more so in a competitive market.

So what's the next step? Integrating more artificial intelligence into the process so as to anticipate needs and become even more efficient... without, however, relegating the human element to second place! After all, recruitment remains above all a human adventure, where exchange, trust and the corporate culture play a decisive role in the success of a lasting collaboration.