How To Recruit Employees: A Step-by-Step Guide

Workers are the foundation of any successful business, and an effective recruitment strategy is essential to reaching and engaging qualified job seekers. Given the competitive hiring market and evolving in-demand skills, recruitment can be challenging. However, with the right process and best practices in place, your team can secure talent with the skills you need.

Whether you’re looking to improve your recruitment efforts or implement a formal strategy and process for the first time, this guide is for you. Learn important steps to follow, find solutions to overcome common challenges, and determine how to improve your hiring process over time.

How to recruit employees in 8 steps

Implementing a standardized process can help your organization stand out from other employers, attract top talent, support an engaging candidate experience, and reduce overall hiring time and costs.

Follow this process for recruiting employees:

1. Determine your needs
2. Create a job posting
3. Promote open roles
4. Screen candidates
5. Conduct interviews
6. Complete reference and background checks
7. Make an offer
8. Onboard the new hire

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1. Determine your needs

A first step in any successful recruitment process is determining your talent needs. To get started, your recruitment team should meet with the hiring manager for the role to discuss the specific position, requirements, and available budget.

Key criteria to highlight include:

• The job title and overall responsibilities
• An overview of how the role will fit in with the team and organizational structure
• Required hard skills such as email marketing, coding, and business analytics
• Necessary soft skills or characteristics such as communication, teamwork, and time management
• Salary range and benefits

When outlining the qualifications and experience, make sure to set realistic expectations. For example, avoid requiring three years of experience for an entry-level role or making the list of responsibilities so extensive that the position comes across as taking on multiple roles. Unrealistic expectations may limit your potential talent pool. Also conduct research to confirm that the salary and benefits you plan to offer are competitive in the job market.

2. Create a job posting

A job posting or job description features a brief overview of the role, responsibilities, and other relevant details. Aligning on a job description with stakeholders on the hiring team can help ensure you’re targeting job seekers with the skills and capabilities you need. An effective posting also enables potential employees to better determine whether they’re a fit.

When writing job descriptions, think about the content from the perspective of the job seeker to make sure you include keywords relevant to terms they may be searching.
Whether your team is looking to hire an entry-level worker, leadership team member, or any role in between, most job descriptions feature many of the same elements, including:

• Job title
• Employment type, such as full-time, part-time, or contract
• Employment location, physical or remote
• Brief summary
• List of responsibilities
• Overview of required skills, characteristics, and qualifications
• Background information, including details about your company culture, mission, benefits, recent workplace awards, and more
• High-level list of steps to expect during the recruitment process

3. Promote open roles

Once you create a job post, reach candidates where they’re searching for new opportunities by promoting open roles across diverse sourcing channels.

Potential channels to promote open roles include but aren’t limited to:

• Company careers pages
• Job boards (including traditional job boards, industry-specific job boards, and websites geared toward diverse populations)
• LinkedIn and other social media networks
• University or college career centers
• Professional networking groups
• Referral programs
• Local job fairs
• Classified ads
• Talent marketplaces

To simplify the process of promoting open roles and finding qualified talent, you may also consider using talent sourcing tools. These tools help recruitment and talent acquisition teams proactively find and engage qualified individuals to build a strong candidate pipeline. Sourcing tools also offer many features and benefits, including candidate matching technology, task automation, communication capabilities, and data-driven insights.

4. Screen candidates

Because of the wide range of recruitment channels and ease of applying to jobs online, many recruiters receive a high volume of applicants for each open role. During the initial screening process, recruiters weed out applicants who aren’t a fit and send only qualified candidates to the next round of interviews.

Thoughtful initial screening helps hiring managers and other team members involved only in the interview process focus their time on evaluating the top individuals for the position.

Some steps in the initial screening stage include:

• Reviewing resumes and cover letters
• Following up with candidates for additional details, such as work samples or a portfolio, if needed
• Sending talent assessments to better understand candidates’ skills and competencies
• Conducting initial phone screenings or video interviews with the recruiting team

5. Conduct interviews

The interview stage is one of the most important parts of the recruiting process because it helps your team get to know the candidate on a personal level. This step also helps you better determine whether their skills and characteristics are the right fit for the open position and broader team.

Consider the following interview tips to ensure a thorough and organized process:

• Align on interview questions ahead of time to confirm all relevant questions are asked and avoid redundant discussions across interviews
• Include a mix of technical questions related to the individual’s hard skills and behavioral questions to better understand a prospective team member’s traits and characteristics
• Develop an interview scorecard to evaluate each candidate on an objective scale
• Leverage interview scheduling software to save time on confirming interview times
• Schedule a few rounds of interviews, including one with the hiring manager for the role, as well as interviews with other stakeholders and peers on the team
• Allow time during each interview for the candidate to ask questions

6. Complete reference and background checks

After top candidates successfully complete interviews, a final important preemployment screening step to take is completing reference and background checks. This step can give your team peace of mind by confirming the candidate’s work history and ensuring they don’t have any negligent or suspicious activity on their records that would pose a risk to your business.

Through a reference check, professional contacts verify a candidate’s job history—including the dates they worked for a company—and work ethic. Typically, employers ask for a few reference contacts, at least one of which worked directly with the candidate in a managerial role.

One of the most beneficial questions to ask during a reference check is whether they would hire the candidate again and why or why not. If the contact wouldn’t rehire the individual, you may want to reconsider making an offer, whereas a positive reference can instill confidence in your team’s decision to move forward.

A background check enables employers to verify an individual’s identity using information from public or private sources. Common information in a background check report includes a person’s past addresses, criminal record, educational background, driving record, employment history, and credit reports. Hiring individuals who pass background checks and meet specific criteria can help your company minimize risks and legal liabilities.

7. Make an offer

Comprehensive job offers clearly outline job duties, salary, benefits, and a desired start date. Once you determine the top candidate for an open role, move forward with extending the offer as soon as possible. The most qualified job seekers often receive multiple job offers in a short period of time.

Consider the following steps to ensure a seamless offer process:

• Confirm the top individual for the role with all decision makers
• Prepare a formal offer letter with all relevant details
• Reach out to the candidate via email to schedule a time to discuss the offer
• Extend the offer over a phone or video meeting
• Give the prospective team member time to ask questions during the call
• Follow up with the written offer letter for the candidate to sign

8. Onboard the new hire

Once an individual accepts a job offer, effective onboarding can help them feel like part of the team and start driving positive business outcomes soon after they join. However, onboarding has room for improvement, with research from Gallup showing that only 12% of U.S. employees surveyed say their company does a good job with onboarding.  

Technology such as talent management systems, human resources information systems (HRIS), and dedicated onboarding platforms can help you streamline and automate some onboarding steps. By embracing technology, you can send initial onboarding resources to new employees before they begin working or have important documents ready and waiting on the first day. This approach can increase engagement and ensure your team doesn't overlook any onboarding tasks.

Common onboarding steps include:

• Receiving access to systems and equipment from IT
• Completing digital administrative paperwork
• Attending live, scheduled training sessions
• Allowing time for self-guided learning
• Completing initial assignments
• Touching base with one’s manager to learn more about specific goals and expectations
• Meeting with an assigned “buddy” or the broader team to learn about the company and department culture

Recruiting challenges and solutions

In today’s competitive labor market, organizations often face challenges with attracting qualified candidates, effectively evaluating individuals, and following a smooth, streamlined recruitment process. While challenges may vary from one company to the next, identifying solutions to common roadblocks can improve recruitment efforts.

Challenge #1: A limited applicant pool

According to a survey conducted by ManpowerGroup of nearly 39,000 employers across 41 countries , the global talent shortage is at a 17-year high, with 77% of respondents reporting difficulty finding the skilled talent they need.

If your team is facing challenges with attracting enough applicants, consider expanding your potential talent pool by embracing alternative staffing solutions.

Alternative staffing solutions include:

• Partnering with a staffing agency. Staffing agencies have been a common talent source for decades. They help fill a company’s open roles while matching qualified candidates with the right jobs. They also reduce the company’s administrative work by managing the worker’s payroll, benefits, orientation, training, and more for the duration of their time with the organization. Staffing agencies also have extensive talent networks, but can be costly.
• Outsourcing tasks or projects. If your team has a skills gap but doesn’t have the resources or need for a full-time hire, outsourcing can be beneficial. This solution involves engaging with an outside consultant or agency to complete certain tasks or projects—such as developing a research report or completing a company rebrand. Advantages of this approach include accessing outside expertise and fresh perspectives while decreasing fixed costs. However, one drawback is that it may take time for external partners to learn about your company and goals.
• Engaging independent talent. Another way to cost-effectively fill skills gaps and expand your talent pool is by leveraging remote, independent talent. Engaging independent talent on a talent marketplace like Upwork can help your organization access experienced professionals with in-demand skills, reduce operational costs, and increase agility. Upwork’s 2022 Future Workforce Report found that nearly 78% of hiring managers surveyed who engage skilled independent professionals say they are confident in their ability to find the talent they need, compared to just 63% of those who don’t tap into independent talent.

Challenge #2: An overwhelming number of resumes

A survey conducted by SparkHire featuring 1,126 HR professionals found that one of the top challenges respondents face with speed to hire is that a high volume of applicants causes delays in the hiring process. If your team is overwhelmed by the total number of applicants you receive for a role, advanced recruitment technology can help automate early screening steps and identify the most qualified candidates.

Many applicant tracking systems (ATS), recruitment platforms, and talent management software solutions have AI-powered features that automatically review all applicants and extract the best matches to share with the hiring team.

Some steps that can be streamlined by technology tools early on in the screening process include:

• Distributing talent assessments to candidates to verify their skills as soon as they apply
• Automatically scoring talent assessments and ranking individuals based on their competencies
• Sending automated, templated emails to applicants who aren’t moving forward with the process
• Sharing links to a scheduling tool to avoid playing phone tag or going back and forth over email while coordinating initial screening calls

Challenge #3: Difficulty with assessing team fit

When evaluating prospective team members, understanding their soft skills such as work ethic, collaboration, and problem-solving is just as important as assessing hard, technical skills. Soft skills are a strong indicator of how individuals will work with your existing team members. However, these skills or characteristics can be difficult to define and measure.

Here are some tips to assess soft skills and team fit:

• Involve team members in the process by scheduling peer interviews
• Administer preemployment talent assessments that measure characteristics and motivators, helping to predict on-the-job behaviors and potential
• Ask behavioral or situational questions to understand how candidates may respond to situations that may arise

Examples of behavioral and situational questions include:

• How would you prioritize projects with conflicting deadlines?
• Can you explain how you would respond to and incorporate constructive feedback?
• What is your preferred communication style?
• Describe a time when you worked as part of a team on a project. What was your role and how did you contribute?

Challenge #4: Offers are often declined

In an ideal scenario, once your team decides on the best candidate for an open role, the individual will accept the offer and begin working with your team within a few days or weeks. However, candidates may decline job offers for a variety of reasons.

Common factors that contribute to declined job offers include competing offers from other employers, a lower than desired salary, a lack of comprehensive benefits and perks, limited growth opportunities, and a frustrating recruitment experience.

Steps you can take to increase the offer acceptance rate include:

• Asking for feedback from candidates who decline offers
• Identifying trends and opportunities for improvement based on candidate feedback
• Reducing overall recruitment time
• Improving the candidate experience, such as simplifying the application process and streamlining interview scheduling
• Training team members to improve their interviewing skills
• Reevaluating salary and benefits packages to ensure they’re competitive
• Offering additional perks and incentives, such as remote work opportunities, flexible work schedules, signing bonuses, and more robust talent development opportunities

Prepare for the next hiring process

Each time you recruit a new worker, your team can use the process as a learning experience to identify what’s working and key areas for improvement with your strategy. Consider the following tips to maximize the results of your recruitment process.

Assess and improve the recruitment process

An effective recruitment process can help your team attract and engage qualified workers, quickly fill skills gaps, and reduce hiring costs. On the other hand, an ineffective process can lead to challenges attracting talent, increased recruitment spending, and lost candidates due to slow processes. In fact, a survey conducted by Greenhouse featuring 1,500 global employees found that 60% of respondents are unimpressed by time-consuming recruitment processes. Additionally, 58% expect to hear back from companies in one week or less regarding their initial application.

Proactively tracking metrics related to your recruitment process can enable your team to assess trends, successes, and opportunities to improve your process over time. Rather than manually measuring recruitment effectiveness, technology solutions are available to centralize metrics, highlight actionable insights, and help your team make informed decisions. Some examples include recruitment platforms, applicant tracking systems, and talent management software.

While recruitment goals may vary depending on an organization’s specific goals, some common metrics include:

• Time to hire
• Time spent in each recruitment step
• Cost per hire
• Cost per sourcing channel
• Overall sourcing channel performance
• Offer acceptance rate
• Recruitment process satisfaction
• Worker retention rate
• Quality of hires

Build a talent pool for future job openings

Rather than starting the recruitment process from scratch each time you have a hiring need, nurturing relationships with potential candidates can help your team build a talent pool—often called a talent network, talent community, or talent pipeline—with qualified workers. This approach can help your organization reduce hiring time and costs.

Talent networks can include past candidates, individuals who attended recruitment events, and former team members, also known as company alumni.

Some ways to build a talent pool and keep prospective candidates engaged include:

• Centralizing details about past candidates and team members in an ATS or similar platform
• Leveraging ATS data to match members of your talent pool to new and upcoming open positions
• Including an option to join your talent community on your careers page
• Promoting your talent network on social media channels and at recruitment events
• Sending monthly or quarterly newsletters to your talent pool highlighting company updates such as new job openings, workplace awards, and team member spotlights
• Supporting a respectful, engaging candidate experience—including sharing feedback with individuals who don’t receive an offer—so all prospective team members have a positive impression of your company

Establish an employee referral program

In addition to building a talent network, another way to engage qualified talent and reduce hiring time is by encouraging employee referrals. A referral program can reduce costs spent on recruitment advertising and save time in the screening stage of the hiring process. Referrals are likely qualified candidates, as your existing employees will want to work with individuals who are motivated to contribute to shared business goals.

Here are some tips to implement a successful employee referral program:

• Developing a simple, standardized process for team members to share referrals
• Highlighting open roles and referral opportunities across internal communication channels, including the company intranet, email, messaging apps, and recurring team meetings
• Circulating suggested social media content with links to open jobs for team members to share with their networks
• Including a field on job applications asking candidates whether they were referred by a current employee
• Offering referral bonuses, gift cards, or related incentives
• Gamifying the referral program with points, leaderboards and other engaging elements to encourage friendly competition
• Tracking team member referrals using data from your ATS, recruitment platform, or a dedicated referral software

Engage skilled talent on Upwork

Recruiting qualified talent is essential to any company's long-term growth. By following a standardized process and continually working to improve your recruitment process, you can secure workers with the skills you need. If you’re looking for additional support, consider engaging an expert on Upwork. Experienced independent recruiting specialists are available on Upwork to share and incorporate recruitment best practices to ensure your recruitment efforts are as effective as possible.

As you look to improve your recruitment process, also access independent professionals with more than 10,000 skills across a wide range of specialties on Talent Marketplace™. Forward-thinking companies engage talent from Upwork to quickly fill skills gaps, scale up and down as business needs shift, and reduce operational costs.