Five Phases of Recruitment Process in HRM

by Expert · November 18, 2021

What is Recruitment Process

The recruitment process is the most important function of HRM department. Recruitment is a process that aims to identify and attract people who are available in the job market, unemployed or looking for new opportunities, seeking to build a database of qualified candidates to perform a given job.

Job analysis is being done in Recruitment to discover the skills and ability in candidates to perform the job. Once the skills and abilities required in candidates are clear they start searching for people with such specialties. The HR Managers clarifies the potential candidate about their job profile and the benefits (rewards) they can gain from the organization. The aspirants desired in the job are further screened, interviewed by HR Managers and finally selected for job that fit best. This process includes five phases that are interrelated.

Five Phases of Recruitment Process

Recruitment Planning
Strategy development
Searching
Screening/Selection
Evaluation and control

Phase 1. Recruitment Process Planning

The first phase in the recruitment process is planning. In this phase vacant positions are analyzed and described. It includes job specifications and its nature, experience, qualifications and skills required for the job, etc.

Recruitment plan must be structured in order to appeal potential candidates from a pool of aspirants. The potential aspirants should be qualified, experienced with a skills to take the responsibilities required to attain the objectives of the organization.

Job Vacancy Identification

Recruitment process begins with receiving the demand for recruitments from different department of the firms to the HR Department, which include−

Number of posts to be filled
Number of positions
Duties and responsibilities to be performed
Qualification and experience required

When a vacancy is identified, it the sourcing managers’ responsibility to establish whether the position is required or not, permanent or temporary, full-time or part-time, etc. These parameters should be evaluated before commencing recruitment.

Proper vacancy identifying, in planning leads to hiring of the right person for the team and the organization.

Job Analysis

The following steps are important in analyzing a job −

Recording and collecting job information
Accuracy in checking the job information
Generating job description based on the information
Determining the skills, knowledge and skills, which are required for the job

The immediate products of job analysis are job descriptions and job specifications.

Job Description

Job description is an important document, which is descriptive in nature and contains the final statement of the job analysis. This description is very important for a successful recruitment process.

Job description provides information about the scope of job roles, responsibilities and the positioning of the job in the organization. And this data gives the employer and the organization a clear idea of what an employee must do to meet the requirement of his job responsibilities.

Job description is generated for fulfilling the following processes:-

Classification and ranking of jobs
Placing and orientation of new resources
Promotions and transfers
Describing the career path
Future development of work standards

A job description provides information on the following elements −

Job Title / Job Identification / Organization Position
Job Location
Summary of Job
Job Duties
Machines, Materials and Equipment
Process of Supervision
Working Conditions
Health Hazards

Job Specification

Job specification focuses on the specifications of the candidate, whom the HR team is going to hire.

A job specification document provides information on the following elements −

Qualification
Experiences
Training and development
Skills requirements
Work responsibilities
Emotional characteristics
Planning of career

Job Evaluation

Analyzing, assessing, and determining the worth of a job in compare to the other jobs in an organization is a comparative process of Job evaluation.

The chief objectives of job evaluation is to analyze and determine which job commands how much pay. There are several methods such as:

Job grading
Job classifications
Job ranking

Phase 2. Recruitment Strategy Development

Recruitment strategy Development is the second phase in the recruitment process, whereby a strategy is set for recruiting the resources. After completing the preparation of job descriptions and job specifications in the first phase of planning, the next step is to elect which strategy to select for recruiting the potential aspirants for the firm.

HR team considers the following points in Recruitment Strategy Development

Make or buy employees
Types of recruitment
Geographical area
Recruitment sources

It is a lengthy process, but a right strategy is necessary to entice the right aspirant. recruitment strategy is comprised of following steps:-

Setting up a board team
Analyzing HR strategy
Gathering of available data
Scrutinizing the collected data
Setting the recruitment strategy

Phase 3. Searching

After the recruitment strategy is done, the searching of candidates will be started. This process consists of two steps −

Source activation– When the line manager verifies and permits the existence of the vacancy, the search for candidates starts.
Selling– In this, the organization selects the media through which the communication of vacancies reaches the prospective candidates.

Searching includes attracting the job seekers to the vacancies. The sources are broadly divided into two categories: Internal Sources and External Sources.

Internal Sources of Recruitment Process

Internal sources of recruitment refer to hiring employees within the organization through −

Internal Advertisements (Job Posting)
Former Employees
Transfers
Promotions
Employee Referrals

External Sources of Recruitment Process

External sources of recruitment refer to hiring employees outside the organization through −

Advertisements
Employment Exchanges
Direct Recruitment
Employment Agencies
Campus Recruitment
Word of Mouth

Phase 4. Screening in Recruitment Process

Screening initialized after the candidates sourcing has been completed. Screening is the process of filtering the applications of the candidates for further selection process.

Screening is an essential part of recruitment process that helps in eliminating unqualified candidates, which were received through sourcing. The screening process of recruitment comprises of three steps as follows:−

Reviewing of Cover Letters and Resumes

In this, the resumes of the aspirants are reviewed and checked for the aspirant’s education, work experience, and background which match the requirement of the job

To make sure the better screening of the potential aspirants, HR Managers must remember the following key points in their mind:-

Durability with each organization
Long breaks in employment
Job-hopping
Deficiency of career progression

Video and Telephonic Interview

Second step of screening candidates is to conduct the video and telephonic interviews. when, the resumes are screened, the candidates are communicated through phone or video by the recruiting manager. This screening process has two results:−

It aid in confirming the candidates, whether they are active and available.
It also support in giving a quick insight about the candidate’s capability to response of interview questions, attitude, and communication skills.

Identification the Top Candidates

Identification of the top candidates is the final step of screening the candidates. It hs has the following three results:-

Shortlisting 4 to 8 resumes for review by the recruitment managers
Providing insights and approvals to the recruitment manager
Support the recruitment managers to take a decision in recruiting the right candidate

Phase 5. Evaluation and Control

Evaluation and control is the last phase of recruitment process. In this, the validity and effectiveness of the process are evaluated. Recruitment is a costly process, therefore, it is essential to evaluate performance of recruitment process.

The costs incurred in the process of recruitment is to be evaluated and controlled effectively. These include the following −

Salaries to the Recruitment Managers
Cost of Advertisement and other costs incurred in recruitment methods, i.e., agency fees.
Expenses of administration and Recruitment overheads
Outstanding costs, whereas the vacancies remain unfilled
Time spent by the Management and the Professionals in preparing job description, job specifications, and conducting interviews.

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