7 Stages of the Full Life Cycle Recruitment

Recruiting is the lifeblood of any staffing organization. Therefore, any staffing business must develop a strategy to consistently attract and retain quality talent while ensuring maximum resource utilization. One of the most effective ways of increasing profitability and staying ahead of the curve is by designing a full recruitment cycle.

 

What is the Full Recruitment Life Cycle?

The full recruitment life cycle or full life cycle recruiting is the process that begins with a need or requirement for a candidate and ends when the candidate is successfully hired or placed. It encompasses everything from needing a new employee to onboarding your new hire. 

Once we reach the end of the recruitment cycle, it starts again. This allows you to systematize your recruiting process. It also lets you constantly tweak your recruitment process so that you are making fewer mistakes and hiring increasingly outstanding employees. 

Full life cycle recruitment is an integral part of any business’s success. It allows organizations to bring in the most suitable candidates for their open roles and ensure their satisfaction with the job and the company. While the full-cycle recruiting process can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, its rewards – cost-savings, improved brand reputation, and employee satisfaction – make it an invaluable part of any organization.

 

Who is Responsible for Conducting The Stages of the Full Life Recruitment Cycle?

The recruitment cycle process involves multiple stakeholders within an organization. The HR department manages the process, conducts resume screening, and coordinates interviews. Hiring managers have decision-making authority, provide input on job requirements, and participate in interviews. Interviewers, including managers, HR professionals, and team members, assess candidates’ qualifications and cultural fit. Assessment specialists may administer tests and assessments to evaluate candidates objectively. Together, these stakeholders collaborate to identify and select the most suitable candidates for the positions being recruited, ensuring a thorough and effective recruitment process.

 

7 Steps of the Full Life Cycle Recruiting Process

Now, let’s take an in-depth look at the seven stages of the recruitment cycle. All the stages work together to help you find and hire great employees for your company. 

When describing these recruitment process steps, we will discuss them in the context of a company trying to fill one open position. 

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 1 – Pre Recruitment Planning

It is vital to assess the specific needs of new employees, which includes researching the required skills and qualifications, analyzing the cost implications, and considering the new hire’s long-term role in the organization. Once crucial considerations have been established and the pre-recruitment plan has been created, the organization is ready to take the next step in the full life cycle recruitment process.

You’ll want to write a job description outlining all the requirements. A job description should include an overview of the job duties and responsibilities, the necessary qualifications and experience, and the desired competencies for success. It should also provide information about the working environment and the benefits of the role.

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 2 – Sourcing

Next is the sourcing stage. Here, you will want to search for active and passive candidates. Candidates can come from anywhere, so you’ll want to cast a wide net.

Some places you can source candidates include your website, social media websites (like LinkedIn), and job boards. Employee referrals are also an outstanding source of potential hires. 

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 3 – Evaluation of Applicants

The third step is to assess the process at a fundamental reporting level by looking at what are known as conversion rates or click-through rates. This is the quantity or proportion of people who advance to the following phase. You can re-evaluate if a step excludes too many people unnecessarily if it has a high fallout rate.

This process management will contribute to a better candidate experience, aiding in advancing qualified applicants to the hiring stage. The ratio of clicks to applications on your job postings is one of the greatest KPIs to monitor. In the recruitment process, an adequate ATS will convert candidates quickly.

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 4 – Interview and Selection

This stage of the full life cycle recruitment process is critical for hiring the right fit for a role. Ensuring that the interview process is consistent and relevant for all potential candidates is essential. This may involve writing down specific questions for each candidate and noting key answers during the interviews. 

The complete cycle recruiter must keep an eye on numerous balls at once. Scheduling has a significant role at this step of the full recruiting cycle. Planning and confirmation are required for candidate interviews. Assignments must be distributed, reviewed, and followed up with helpful feedback.

The hiring manager’s relationship with the recruiter is crucial to this process step. They ought to be touching closely. The hiring manager and the recruiter should continually communicate with the candidates’ shortlist, the latter’s comment on the candidates, iterating the requirements, etc.

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 5 – Hiring

The fifth stage is hiring. You’ll choose the qualified candidate you want to hire at this stage in the recruitment process. While this can be difficult, you must decide based on your hiring role.

Once selected, you will submit a formal offer letter to your candidate. It would be best if you were willing to answer any candidate’s questions before they accept the offer.

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 6 – Onboarding

Onboarding is the sixth stage. Upon the candidate accepting your offer, you will want to start familiarizing them with your organization and team.

This may include a formal orientation, mandatory training programs, and an organized lunch with the new hire and their colleagues. Take your time with this stage, as it is imperative to the future success of your new hire.

Stages of Recruitment Process Step 7 – Post-recruitment Evaluation

The final evaluation is the last stage of the full life cycle of recruitment. Once a new hire is onboarded, organizations should conduct a post-recruitment assessment to ensure the process is successful and efficient. This can involve tracking metrics such as how many days it took to fill the role and how much it cost to fill the position. This also serves as a valuable opportunity for the organization to review and revise any areas of the recruitment process that may have been problematic or inefficient.

 

Benefits of Full Cycle Recruiting

Here are some of the benefits of full-cycle recruiting for different resources in a recruitment process-:

A full recruitment life cycle can improve the recruiting and hiring efficiency of small to mid-size companies with fewer job openings. Companies can lower their hiring costs by eliminating the need for specialized roles, such as HR. This is particularly advantageous for companies with limited budgets.

Full life cycle recruiting provides recruiters a holistic understanding of the hiring process, allowing them to gain valuable experience onboarding new employees. This extended scope of responsibilities can help recruiters build stronger relationships with new hires and improve their overall job performance.

 

Challenges of Full Cycle Recruiting 

A Single Point Of Failure

Having a single point of contact may also mean a single point of failure in the hiring process. If one person is responsible for everything from sourcing to onboarding, there may be a concern for delays if nobody else has been trained to do those tasks. Having another person learn these responsibilities as a backup for full-cycle recruiters is highly recommended, especially if only one is in the company. 

Capacity Limitation

Recruiting is difficult even in highly competitive personnel marketplaces like the tech industry. For full-cycle recruiters, it’s essential to manage their time efficiently, given the added obligation of onboarding new workers. If you do, you can avoid burning out from working long hours. When it’s time to bring on more recruiters or HR operations and onboarding professionals, it’s crucial to consider how quickly a firm grows and how many people are hired. Companies may also consider using contract recruiters or staffing firms if the increase in hiring volume is short-term or seasonal.

 

Tools to Manage the Full Life Cycle Recruiting

With this background in mind, let’s discuss some helpful tools to help you manage the recruitment cycle. 

You’ll want to invest in a high-quality Applicant Tracking System (ATS). ATS is a helpful tool that can help you manage every stage of the recruitment process. For instance, you can effortlessly search through candidates in your database and easily communicate with large groups of applicants.

This is a playful way of sourcing talent. You’ll learn about job search engines. You’ll be familiarized with them. 

Finally, seriously consider creating an internal employee referral system. Studies show that some of the best hires come from referrals from current employees. You can also leverage this benefit—so long as you work to create a referral incentive system. Check G2Crowd’s top recruitment tools here.

 

Leveraging the Full Recruitment Cycle 

The full recruitment cycle represents just one part of the staffing business. 

As you likely know, most staffing companies have resource pools with a set of skills, experience, qualifications, etc. The staffing business needs more money than a resource pool candidate spends daily on the bench.

The recruitment cycle is an essential component of any staffing business. No matter the size of your company, we encourage you to leverage the recruitment cycle in your day-to-day work. Doing this can substantially increase your chances of accomplishing strategic staffing recruiting goals.

With an integrated approach to the staffing business, Oorwin helps you maximize profitability by dovetailing sales, recruitment, and HR processes.

Want to try Oorwin? You can request a product tour here.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is full life cycle recruitment?

Full life cycle recruitment is finding, attracting, and hiring the best-talented individuals for a job. It is the practice of managing the entire recruitment process, from job creation to onboarding to post-recruitment evaluation.

What are the benefits of full life cycle recruitment?

Full life cycle recruitment helps employers ensure that every step of the recruitment process is thorough and effective, leading to hiring the most suitable candidate. It also allows employers to optimize costs and prevent recruitment mistakes, such as hiring the wrong candidate or missing out on excellent prospects.

How can I improve my full recruitment cycle strategy?

The best way to improve a full life cycle recruitment strategy is to plan and implement all process stages carefully. This includes creating a clear job description, leveraging the organization’s network of professionals, conducting thorough interviews, and conducting a post-recruitment evaluation.


ATS Evaluation Toolkit: A Beginners Guide to Buying an ATS

As a CXO, recruiter, or HR manager, one key task on your plate is to find and leverage a great Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This article on the ATS evaluation toolkit will help you learn how to analyze pricing, features, integrations, security, support while buying an ATS.

An ATS is an essential component of a recruiter’s arsenal to find and hire stellar talent. Obtaining a highly intuitive and feature-rich ATS will make your job much easier. On the other hand, investing in a poorly-performing or confusing ATS is not only likely to cause headaches, but may also cause your company to lose out on opportunities. 

That being said, the actual process of buying an ATS isn’t necessarily straightforward. There are all different kinds of ATS software on the market today. Along with this, ATS systems may offer different pricing. For as great as a particular ATS may be, it simply may not be an option if it is out of your company’s price range.

 

A Novice’s Journey to Evaluating an Applicant Tracking System

 

Pricing

To start this guide on buying an ATS, we first want to discuss pricing. In some other guides, you may see pricing as the last variable that you should consider. We believe, however, that pricing is one of the most important variables because it directly affects the types of features that you can find in your ATS. In other words, the sleekest and best possible features won’t mean much if you can’t afford the ATS that has those features. 

So in terms of pricing, you will find that ATS subscriptions start at free and go up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. That being said, typical ATS subscriptions range from $25 to $250 per user per month.

Annualized, this comes out to $300 to $3000 per user per year. This is just the average range, however. There are some ATS plans that go for as low as $15 per user per month while others eclipse $500 per user per month.

As you can see, the specific price of your ATS is often correlated with the number of users or employees that you’ll have. However, you’ll want to read the fine print and understand how your targeted ATS is calculating the total price.

Some other ATS programs charge based on things like the number of active positions or job openings and available features. There are then other ATS vendors that charge a flat monthly or yearly rate

The good news for you is that there are plenty of options. Often, the best thing to do is to start with your budget and then create a shortlist of ATS candidates. By doing it this way, you can substantially increase the odds that you’ll find an ATS that is within your budget.

Nonetheless, the fees listed above are just the costs of subscribing to the ATS. You may find yourself paying other fees like data migration fees and onboarding charges. Keep this in mind as you are reviewing your shortlist. Next, in this ATS evaluation toolkit is ATS features.

 

Features

Let’s delve into the diverse attributes available in various Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software. When conducting an ATS evaluation, pricing and the spectrum of features should be your main focus points. Given the multitude of ATS providers available, you’ll observe nuanced differences among them; however, most have common key functionalities, including:

  • Customizable Career Page: Superior ATS software provides the flexibility to create and tailor your own career page. As this page creates one of the first impressions candidates gain about your organization, it’s imperative it reflects your brand identity and is sleek and refined.
  • User-friendly Application Process: The application procedure facilitated by your ATS should be straightforward for candidates applying for open roles. A complex, hard-to-navigate ATS can deter potentially outstanding job applicants, impacting candidate engagement adversely.
  • Streamlined Application Review: Depending on your organization’s scale, you might receive hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for a single role. Your ATS should simplify the application review process, effectively pushing the most promising candidates through your recruitment pipeline. This can encompass tools ranging from interview schedulers to tools facilitating collaboration with hiring managers.
  • Resume Storage and Candidate Search: An exceptional ATS should come equipped with a comprehensive resume storage and candidate search system, enabling you to build a rich pool of potential candidates for future reference and sourcing.
  • Comprehensive Analytics: Evaluating an applicant tracking system, the presence of detailed analytics proves invaluable. It gives you insights into how candidates interact with your ATS. A user-friendly dashboard allows quick access to understand which job posts are generating interest (or lack thereof) amongst your applicant base. Armed with this data, you can modify your job post wording to attract more high-caliber applicants.

These are just some of the features that you’ll likely want to note when thinking about how to buy an ATS. Therefore, make sure that you carefully study the ATS on your shortlist. Ensure that they not only have these features but other features that will help you recruit and filter through great candidates. Next in this ATS evaluation toolkit, let us look into integrations.

 

Integration 

Next, let’s talk about integrations. For as many features as an ATS may have, it may not be a great choice if it is time-consuming and/or expensive to integrate within your current technology stack. 

The simple fact is that ATS is just one part of any business’s recruiting and hiring process. Because of this, the last thing you want is for your ATS to slow down—or disrupt entirely—your recruiting procedures. 

The best way to go about this is to first take stock of the current recruiting and HR tools that you use. From there, take a hard look at the ATS applications on your shortlist and see if they offer integrations with those recruiting and HR tools. For instance, your organization may use tools like Salesforce, Paychex, and Indeed.

Whatever the case may be, you need to ensure that your ATS seamlessly works with your current stack. If not, you should seriously consider an investment in another ATS. You’ll also want to ensure that your ATS has integrations for tools that you think you may use. For example, if your organization is thinking of switching from Paychex to Ceridian soon, ensure that your ATS has integrations for all potential products that you’ll use in the next few months or years. This will save you from massive headaches down the road.

You can refer to  Oorwin Marketplace for more details. Moving forward in this ATS evaluation toolkit, let us look into ATS installation.

 

Installation

We alluded to this in the features section, but it is worth speaking about in more detail. When thinking about how to buy an ATS, you need to complete some due diligence on installation. 

The unfortunate reality is that some ATS applications are more difficult to implement than others. Whenever you are installing an ATS, you’ll follow a simple three-step process. That process is customizing your system, importing relevant data, and then inviting your colleagues to the ATS. It seems relatively straightforward, yet there are some that are difficult to install.

The natural question is what ATS vendors make the installation process much more difficult than it should be. While we don’t want to single out any names, the best way to find out is to speak with current or former customers of an ATS.

By seeking out these referrals and having candid conversations, you’ll quickly discover which ones are easy to install and which ones aren’t.

 

Security

You must also consider security when buying an ATS. This is true when purchasing any type of software, but this is especially true here. This is because any ATS handles confidential applicant data.

This can be everything from an applicant’s home address to their phone number. Any data breach, no matter how small, can severely harm your company’s applicants and your company’s reputation. In all likelihood, great applicants will apply somewhere else.

So when considering an ATS, take some time to understand how the ATS protects user data. Also, see if the ATS has reliable service and maintenance. Hackers and bad actors are working around the clock to obtain valuable user data, so you need to ensure that your ATS takes security seriously. Again, one way to tell is to speak with current or former users of your target ATS.

This is a great way to get beyond the marketing copy and truly understand whether a particular ATS invests in security. Moving forward in this ATS evaluation toolkit, let us look into the final parameter: Support.

 

Support

Finally, you need to make sure the ATS vendor provides round-the-clock technical support to instantly resolve any issues you might face while using the tool.

Checking reviews in industry-leading publications and reading online customer reviews is one of the easiest ways to find out how the vendor fares when it comes to customer support.

You should also ask the vendor if they are willing to develop features and functionalities tailored to your needs and to make your user experience better. If the vendor leaps to grab the opportunity to work with you on developing custom features, you know you’ve found your match.

 

Choosing the Right ATS

Ultimately, this question of how to buy an ATS is relatively straightforward. By focusing on the five factors that we discussed above, you and your colleagues will be in an excellent position to choose the best ATS for you.

Finally, if you just started the hunt or have been looking for an ATS for some time, we recommend that you check out Oorwin ATS

Oorwin is an integrated ATS, CRM, and HRMS that helps solve many business problems with no hassle.

We provide one platform for many of your business needs, which can help you save both time and money. To learn more about our company and how we can help you, you can check out our official website.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is candidate engagement in ATS evaluation?

It refers to assessing how well an applicant tracking system facilitates interaction and communication with candidates, improving their experience and engagement throughout the hiring process.

How is evaluating an applicant tracking system beneficial?

Evaluating an ATS helps determine its effectiveness in managing recruitment processes, enhancing candidate engagement, and ensuring seamless integration with other HR tools, improving overall operational efficiency.

What factors are considered in ATS evaluation?

Factors include ease of use, customization features, integration capabilities, reporting analytics, candidate engagement tools, customer support quality, and cost-effectiveness.

Why is candidate engagement vital when evaluating an applicant tracking system?

Candidate engagement is crucial as it can influence a candidate’s perception of your organization, affect application completion rates, and ultimately impact your ability to attract top talent.

How to Use Recruiting Automation for Effective Hiring in 2023

Recruitment automation refers to the use of technology to automate tasks in the recruitment process. This can include sourcing candidates, screening resumes and job applications, scheduling and conducting interviews, and hiring new employees. A recruitment automation system will be essential in helping organizations find, attract, and recruit top talent efficiently.

Recruitment automation can be carried out using various tools, such as applicant tracking systems (ATS), which can manage job postings, resumes, and other recruitment-related data. 

Purpose of Recruiting Automation

Recruitment automation aims to make the recruitment process more efficient and effective by reducing the amount of manual work involved and allowing recruiters to focus on higher-level tasks, such as evaluating candidates and building relationships with clients. Recruiting automation can also help ensure fairness and consistency in the recruitment process by standardizing tasks and providing objective measures of candidates’ abilities.

Enhancing Recruitment Process

Recruiting top talent is crucial for propelling innovation. It is no longer enough to find suitable candidates, which might we add, has become a feat by itself. Recruiters must rely on something other than the candidate to show off their skills to win a job opportunity. Passive and social hiring strategies make attracting and engaging talent just as important.

The increasing pressure on companies to attract and hire ideal job candidates demand an enhanced hiring process and practices. Recruitment automation rises to the challenge.

Ensuring Efficiency When Recruiting at Scale

Corporate job offers attract 250 resumes on average. Of those 250, four to six get called for an interview, and only one gets the job, according to a Glassdoor report.

The sheer amount of information about candidates, from online profiles to inbound resumes, tests the ability to recruit teams to process. Most hiring teams don’t have enough time to adequately source, assess, and screen candidates.Recruiting automation systems can help companies analyze candidate data quickly to help them make better decisions, fast. 

Retaining Competitive Advantage

A while ago, we would have said recruitment automation was inevitable for companies looking to increase their competitive advantage in hiring. That is no longer the case.

Today, a candidate’s hiring experience is just as necessary as the process. This calls for automating mundane and repetitive tasks so that the recruiters can focus on more quality tasks.

As more and more companies use Automation in their hiring process, several others are adopting it to stay up-to-date and relevant to retain their competitive advantage.

Eliminating Bias

Unconscious bias continues to be on top of the minds of talent acquisition leaders. Recruiters believe the most significant barrier to hiring diverse talent lies in the sourcing and qualification process.

Recruitment automation systems can address this challenge. Companies can work around unconscious bias by adding a layer between recruiters and candidates in processing applications. 

Benefits of Recruitment Automation System for Staffing Firms

Ease of Gathering Data

Automation can help capture and organize data about job candidates, such as resumes, job applications, and interview notes. This can make it easier to search and filter through candidates and track recruitment efforts’ progress.

Save Time

Automation can save time by automating tasks such as scheduling interviews, sending emails and messages, and posting job openings. This can allow staffing firms to focus on more high-level tasks.

Increased Efficiency

Automation can increase efficiency by streamlining and standardizing recruitment processes. For example, an automated system can ensure that all candidates are asked the same questions during an interview, which can help with fairness and consistency in the selection process.

Ease of Recruitment

Automation can also help with recruitment efforts by posting job openings on various job boards and social media platforms and reaching out to potential candidates through email or other means. This can help staffing firms expand their pool of qualified talents.

Steps of Recruitment Automation

The steps of recruitment automation can be decided by looking at the recruiting funnel, from job specifications to talent sourcing to the final hiring decision. It supports both candidates and recruiters through the hiring process.

Here is where companies find recruitment automation software the most useful:

1. Sourcing

Automation can help with sourcing candidates by posting job openings on various job boards and social media platforms and by reaching out to potential candidates through email or other means. This can expand the pool of qualified candidates and make finding the right fit for the job easier.

2. Pre-screening

More than 50% of companies perform background checks to improve the quality of their new hires, according to SHRM. Recruiting Automation can reduce the need for background checks and make it easier to send background checks as needed. 

By deploying AI solutions or automated skill tests, hiring teams can bypass the need to verify a person’s credibility independently. Skills assessments allow candidates to showcase their talent in a real challenge making the results more valuable to a hiring manager than, say, a reference check.

Some tools can scan online databases to verify a candidate’s background information while complying with employee rights and protection. 

3. Screening

Up to 88% of resumes received for a role need to be qualified. A recruiter spends 23 hours on average screening resumes for a single hire. Resume screening is still one of the biggest bottlenecks in recruitment.

Recruiting Automation can help screen candidates by automatically sorting and filtering resumes and applications based on predetermined criteria, such as education, experience, and skills. This can save time and ensure that only the most qualified talents are considered for further evaluation.

4. Assessments

Various types of assessments can be automated, including aptitude tests, personality tests, skills assessments, and knowledge tests. Automated checks can be administered online, which can be convenient for recruiters and allow a larger pool of potential employees to be assessed.

Automated assessments can also ensure fairness and consistency in recruitment by providing standardized and objective measures of candidates’ abilities. This can be particularly useful when evaluating a large number of candidates or when hiring for roles that require specific skills or knowledge.

5. Scheduling

Recruitment automation system can track the progress of candidates’ applications in the hiring process. Some systems can automatically place successful applicants into open interview slots with the help of a pre-built scheduling module capable of syncing with the schedule of all line managers.

This is a great way to make the best use of time and fill up slots with candidates across a shorter period to allow a more precise and accurate comparison of their interview performance. Recruiters can also send automated reminders to keep candidates up-to-date on the next steps, like upcoming scheduled interviews and assessments due. This, in turn, makes the candidates more prepared for the forthcoming steps.

6. Nurturing

Candidate nurturing is an essential aspect of building and maintaining an employer brand. Employer branding is a company’s ability to promote and differentiate its identity to prospective employees. Everything that companies do (and don’t) adds to the candidate’s experience with the company.

It is, therefore, essential to maintain a relationship with candidates throughout the entire hiring process. Recruitment automation makes way for candidate nurturing tools that allow companies to engage candidates through email automation.

A lot of communication between recruiters and candidates can be automated to ensure that candidates stay informed about the updates and are engaged in the hiring process. Automated email flows hire the candidates throughout the hiring process, so they maintain interest in the position.

Introducing Oorwin’s automation-ready ATS

For companies that recruit frequently, applicant tracking systems (ATS) and recruiting software solutions are also beneficial. These systems with recruiting automation are likely to become increasingly popular as they allow companies to track and monitor the progress of their recruitment process quickly.

Oorwin’s intelligent ATS can automatically harvest resumes, screen candidates, test applicants, schedule interviews, manage the hiring process, check references, and complete new-hire paperwork. With Oorwin ATS, you can reduce your time to hire by 70% and the cost per hire by 60%.

Sign up for a free trial today to explore all the fantastic features Oorwin offers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is recruitment automation?

Recruitment automation refers to using technology to automate tasks and processes in the recruitment process. This can include sourcing talents, screening resumes and job applications, scheduling and conducting interviews, and hiring new employees.

Why is recruitment automation essential?

Recruitment Automation can help staffing firms save time, reduce costs, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the recruitment process.

What are the benefits of recruiting automation systems?

The benefits are it improves the consistency and quality of hiring, increases the HR team’s productivity by reducing the workload, saves time, increases the open positions’ social reach, improves recruitment tactics, streamlines the gathering of data, and enables businesses to locate the best people.