Whether you are a small startup expanding your team for the first time or you work for a multinational company that needs to ramp up its workforce, a solid hiring process checklist streamlines the process.
From start to finish, a hiring process checklist not only saves you time but also helps you attract the right talent and screen them effectively.
General Hiring Process Checklist
As a staffing company dedicated to helping businesses big and small, we understand the complexities of the hiring process. To help you make yours seamless, here is a helpful hiring process checklist.
Gather Information
Your first step is to ensure you have all the essential information about the position. A job posting that is too general will attract several applicants who aren’t suitable for the job. Instead, you want your job description to be a magnet for top talent.
Achieving this requires a complete list of job requirements, including the necessary soft and hard skills as well as professional and educational experience. You also want to compile an accurate list of the job responsibilities so that candidates have a clear understanding of what they will be doing if you hire them.
Job Description
Once you have the information you need, it’s time to write a solid job description. Remember, you are creating a job posting to attract an outstanding candidate. The best fit will have the skills and experience you need and fit in well with the company culture. It’s also a good idea to share a bit of background about the company.
For an in-depth look at writing job descriptions, check out our blogs on job description best practices and tips for writing an inclusive job description.
Advertise the Position
Your primary goal in advertising the position is to cast a wide net. If your job posting is hard to find, you limit your potential pool of applicants.
While free job posting options are available, paying for at least one well-populated job board is more effective. Share the opportunity on your company’s social media channels, within your organization, and on your company’s website.
Applicant Screening Process
If you don’t have an applicant tracking system, you will need a system to sort through and prioritize incoming resumes. You may want to assign this task to a specific employee who can identify candidates that meet the requirements before passing them on to the hiring manager.
This can be time-consuming as job postings tend to receive many responses from various applicants. The key is to narrow it down to a group that meets the minimum qualifications and seems to be a good enough fit to make it to the next step in the interview process.
Assessments
Some companies include assessments as part of their application or interview process, while others do not. Whether it’s part of your hiring checklist depends on the types of positions you are filling and the company culture.
You can implement skills tests, personality tests, emotional intelligence tests, job knowledge tests, and more. If you require too many tests, you may lose some qualified candidates who do not want to invest the extra time, so it’s best to balance your needs while respecting the applicants’ time.
Interview Questions
An interview is the part of the hiring process to get to know your candidate better. With the right questions, an interview will reveal if the candidate’s skills, experience, and personality fit the open position and company culture.
The best interviews are conversational. Many interview questions can be answered with a yes or no, which limits the opportunity to really get to know the candidate and determine whether they would be the best fit for the position. For that reason, combining standard interview questions with behavioral questions is a wise strategy, as it requires the candidate to provide more thoughtful answers.
Pre-Employment Verification
Conducting a background check is often a formality. It is an objective way to confirm the information the candidate provided to you. Most of the time, the background check will not turn up any surprises. However, it’s still an essential step on your hiring checklist. In those rare cases when you do find a discrepancy that changes your mind about a candidate, you will be thankful to uncover the information before investing time and company money.
Offer Letters
Many companies start with a verbal offer. When you’ve interviewed several viable candidates, securing a verbal ‘yes’ before writing a formal offer simplifies the process and increases the chances yours will be accepted.
Your offer letter should include a response deadline, usually three days to a week. If you send out a letter without getting verbal confirmation, you may be waiting on someone while you could have extended the offer to another qualified candidate.
Here are some relevant details that could be in your offer letter:
- Job title
- Salary & benefits
- Paid holiday schedule
- Any contingencies or conditions (such as passing a drug or background test)
- Your contact information
- A statement that the letter takes precedence over any verbal discussions that contradict it
- A response deadline
- Instructions telling them exactly how to accept the offer
Onboarding Documents
This is the last step of your hiring process checklist. Once the candidate has accepted your offer, it’s time for onboarding. Well-organized onboarding documents help the new hire get oriented and accelerate their journey toward productivity. Your onboarding process exposes new employees to the company culture, helps them get their questions answered, and is a wonderful way to welcome them onboard.
Ready, Set, Hire!
A skilled team member who is an excellent fit for the company’s culture is an asset that is hard to match. At the same time, a hasty or poorly vetted hire can cost money and time, dragging down the team’s morale in the meantime. We hope this hiring process checklist will help you find outstanding candidates every time.
As a dedicated staffing company with offices nationwide, we have access to a pool of candidates in your area. Whether you need to hire one new employee or one thousand, our experienced team can help. Connect with us to find out more.
Life is Hard. Hiring Doesn't Have to Be!
Let us know your hiring needs, and one of our Hiring Partners will reach out with how we can help! Questions? Call us toll-free: 855-485-8853