Full Cycle Recruiting: A 7-Step Process for Smarter Hiring

by Gabby Davis Dec 19,2024
Engagedly
PODCAST

The People Strategy Leaders Podcast

with Srikant Chellappa, CEO

An effective set of recruitment strategies is the attributing factor responsible for the success of the workforce of every company. Full cycle recruiting is essential to maintain the workflow! This approach is all about onboarding based on the need for a specific job role. 

It ends with a new hire settled for taking up the role while remaining aligned with the goals of the company. To ace this approach, one needs to secure and retain the top and perfect talent in this dynamic business world to make a difference. 

What is full-cycle recruiting?

This hiring approach is 360-degree or end-to-end recruiting for talent acquisition in the company. HR professionals are responsible for taking up the task and following every step involved encompassing initial identification of the vacancy, sourcing potential candidates, creating job descriptions, scheduling interviews, and negotiating job offers. 

Of course, being a challenging task it needs a deep understanding of the organization’s culture, a versatile skill set, and the ability to align talent management with the business objectives. 

This kind of modern hiring approach not only assists the organizations in filling up the positions but also lets them make foundations for employee engagement, retention, and performance – which are the key components of the growth potential and health of the company. 

Do you know?

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM):

Implementing full-cycle hiring can significantly enhance recruitment efficiency and employee satisfaction:

  • Reduced Time-to-Fill: Companies utilizing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and a streamlined full-cycle hiring process experience a 50% reduction in vacancy fill time.
  • Enhanced Job Satisfaction: Candidates hired through this comprehensive approach report a 35% increase in job satisfaction, attributed to consistent communication throughout the hiring process.
  • Improved Quality of Hires: Organizations adopting full-cycle hiring witness a 25% enhancement in hire quality at each stage of the recruitment process.
  • Higher Retention Rates: This methodology leads to a 20% increase in employee retention within the organization.
  • Increased Offer Acceptance: Companies employing full-cycle hiring report offer acceptance rates exceeding 85%.

These statistics underscore the effectiveness of full-cycle hiring in optimizing recruitment processes and fostering a more satisfied and stable workforce.

Step- 1: Preparing for recruitment

Of course, the first step will be the identification of recruitment requirements and accordingly developing a dedicated recruitment team to define the job description precisely along with role needs. Usually, it comprises of: 

Identification of hiring requirements

Before understanding the requirements of the vacancy or a specific job role, it is imperative to know the strategic goals of the business. By determining the capabilities of the existing workforce with their long-term and short-term objectives, businesses can detect the holes where new hires should be placed. 

Development of a recruitment team

After evaluation of the hiring requirements, create a dedicated recruitment team to deal with the whole hiring process of the new and potential candidates. Make sure the team has HR professionals with deep insight into the values and culture of the company to put a blend of skills to the table along with onboarding coordinators and interview specialists.  

Job descriptions

It is simple yet certain nuances are there to take under consideration. It must grab the essence of the job role while serving as both specification and pitch for attracting top talents in the specific industry or field. 

You must cover the following points in a professional job description:

Point Example
Skills and Qualifications Needed Proficiency in Python and SQL, Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
Role Purpose To design, develop, and implement data analytics solutions.
Core Responsibilities Analyze datasets, create dashboards, and prepare reports.
Experience 3-5 years in data analytics or related field.
Competencies Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities.
Cultural Fit Team player with a collaborative mindset.
Advancement Potential Opportunities for promotion to a senior analyst role.
Expectations Meet project deadlines, maintain data integrity.
Impact Drive strategic decision-making with data insights.
Flexibility and Adaptability Ability to adapt to new tools and changing requirements.
Innovation and Creativity Develop innovative data visualization techniques.
Collaboration and Autonomy Work independently while collaborating with cross-functional teams.
Organizational Skills Efficiently manage multiple projects and priorities.

Step- 2: Sourcing

This stage is all about evaluation and engagement with potential candidates using multiple channels, platforms, and professional networks. 

Talent acquisition strategies

Once you have a clear understanding of the role you can align it with potential candidates’ profiles and with deep analysis they can determine whether to proceed with the resume or not.

The recruitment team mainly considers these:

  • Data-driven recruitment
  • Talent mapping
  • Boolean Search

Use of social media and job boards

These are ideal platforms serving both passive candidates and active job aspirants who are looking to grab new opportunities. You can reach to ideal candidate through:

  • Optimized job postings
  • Social recruiting
  • Social media analytics

Employee referrals and recruiting events 

These are regarded as the most effective and personal talent sourcing strategies using:

  • Implementation of internal networks
  • Structured referral programs
  • Organizing career events
  • Industry conferences

Step- 3: Screening

The screening stage is all about a full-cycle recruiting approach where the applications and resumes review is done ensuring the aspirants meet the basic requirements.

This is the stage where the recruiters will decide if the resume can be advanced to the interview phase. They only focus on shortlisting the most promising candidates for the desirable role. 

Development of screening framework

It entirely relies on the requirements of the role and recruiters should have skills and qualifications to align the candidate’s resume with the company’s goals and role requirements typically including:

  • Soft skills to fit within the company culture
  • Related work experience
  • Necessary technical skills or certifications
  • Minimum educational qualification

Application reviewing techniques

This step deems heed for both efficacy and detail. Recruiters make use of certain techniques likewise:

  • Assessment of the overall goal of the company and resume clarity with a cover letter
  • Check quantifiable achievements aligning with the specific job opening
  • Looking for qualifications and specific skills needed for the role

Initial candidate assessments 

Often recruiters conduct a prelim screening for further assessment of the candidates prior to devoting more time to technical or intensive interviews. This step comprises: 

  • Psychometric or personality tests for gauging cultural fitness
  • Short technical assessment for validating skills
  • Call screening for evaluating communication skills and immediate qualifications

Automated screening tools 

Modern screening procedure is incomplete without technology like AI-powered tools and ATS that are helpful for:

  • Initial filtering for human review
  • Ranking the candidates based on their skills matching the criteria
  • Parsing the resumes automatically depending on relevant skills and experience 

Step- 4: Selection

This phase refers to the selection of the candidates relevant for the role of the final hiring procedure. 

Face-to-face interviews 

This is imperative prior to hiring a talent for eliciting detailed information about the workplace behavior, experience, and skills of the candidates. Often infused with situational and behavioral questions for better understanding! 

Selection committees 

The involvement of the selection committee is actually fruitful in gaining diverse perspectives to alleviate individual bias fostering fair candidate assessment. It must include individuals from different departments and roles within the organization for a fair recruitment process.  

Candidate evaluation

Evaluation of the candidate is the next step after the interview process. This involves the committee members giving scores or rating the candidates depending on the different qualifications and competencies needed for the specific role. Quantification makes the contrast between the candidates easy. 

Final selection 

Considering the above aspects, the selection process will narrow down to the finalist candidates. Now a deep and careful review of feedback and scores along with debriefing meetings can make the final selection easy. 

A Final assessment may be involved in this stage and often consists of:

  • Considering organizational and team fit from diverse perspectives
  • Consistent score in multiple competencies
  • Interview performance mainly situational and behavioral responses

Step- 5: Hiring

After selection, the confirmation process will begin confirming the suitability of the candidate via comprehensive checks and legal compliance to make the final hiring decision

References and background checks 

These comprise reaching out to academic contacts, former colleagues, and employers to validate the claims of the candidate along with other insights on interpersonal skills and work habits. Financial and legal records are being checked to ensure no problem is there for hindrance of hiring. Usually, recruiters check:

  • Work history
  • Work performance 
  • Background verification

Compliance considerations 

Legal implications can be imposed on the hiring procedure and hence it must be done strictly by following labor laws and regulations. Bias and discrimination must be avoided based on sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, gender, and race to nurture equal employment opportunities. 

To ensure legal repercussions, you must follow:

Hiring decisions 

It often involves a collaborative approach to consider the input of all members of the selection committee. Decisions will be taken considering a combination of aspects like references, performance, and background checks of the aspirants. This step includes:

  • Collaborative decision making
  • Balanced assessment
  • Risk mitigation

Communication with candidates 

Communication is considered as the final step of the recruitment process. They seek a professional approach and tone to reach out to both unsuccessful and successful candidates. Sharing constructive feedback to the former and making the job role clear to the latter is beneficial with a sign of empathy and a dedicated way to handle things by the HR. 

Step- 6: Offer and negotiation

This step of full-cycle recruitment involves offering a job to the selected candidate and engaging to finalize the employment terms. Imperative factors are considered in this stage such as job responsibilities, additional perks, and salary. The focus is to maintain a delicate balance between budget constraints, and policies of the company with that of role and attractive offers made to the candidate. 

Creating the job offer 

The offer is beyond salary, including career advancement opportunities, work-life balance, and additional benefits. Salary must reflect the value of the role to the company along with the experience, potential, and expertise of the candidates.

Negotiation techniques 

This natural part is integrated into the offer procedure. Some common techniques for consideration to driving negotiations are:

  • Knowing market rates for the dedicated role and understanding the potential value of the candidate
  • Developing rapport with the candidate to build a foundation of trust
  • Actively listening to questions and concerns of the candidate
  • Staying transparent about the flexibility of the company 
  • Striving for a winning outcome to onboard the talented candidate by meeting the needs

Dealing with counter offers

Nowadays, this is a real challenge in the job market. If the candidate gets a competing offer, it’s ideal to reassess the position by the company considering the following:

  • Comparing the increasing cost of the offer with the candidate’s value
  • Impact on internal equity and future negotiations
  • If non-monetary adjustments are appealing like extra vacations or career advancement opportunities
  • Open communication can help you to understand the priorities of the candidate and offer a unique value proposition accordingly to join your company

Finalizing the offer

Once everything is settled, the next step is all about documenting the agreement:

  • After acceptance of the offer letter ensure a seamless onboarding process
  • Get ready to take any last-minute concern or question into account
  • Communicate about the expectations and timeline for acceptance with necessary follow-up
  • Give a detailed offer letter mentioning prerequisites, special conditions, benefits, and salary

Step- 7: Onboarding and retention

The very last stage comprises the integration of job offers into the organization via onboarding to start and continue the tenure along with effective retention strategies. 

Designing of the onboarding program 

A well-crafted onboarding program is integral for hiring new talents to maintain their success and satisfaction during their tenure within the organization. The new joiners can become familiar with company culture, and colleagues, and share the necessary information and tools for enhanced performance. 

It must include:

  • First day of pre-onboarding communication
  • Essential paperwork and set of workstations and other administrative processes
  • Giving a brief about the values, mission, and culture of the company
  • Clarification of job expectations and providing role-centric training
  • Team introductions and relationship-developing activities
  • Giving a concise 30-60-90 day plan with stipulated milestones and goals 

Retention strategies

Talent retention is equally important to hire new talents. It cultivates a work environment where employees feel supported, inclusive, and valuable.

Here’s how you can ensure long-term retention:

  • Employee recognition program for celebration of milestones and achievements
  • Career development paths with opportunities for growth and progression
  • Coaching and mentorship program for nurturing professional relationships
  • Competitive compensation packages that incline to industry standards
  • Regular performance review for addressing concerns and tracking the progress

Consistent improvement in the recruitment process and onboarding experience is of paramount importance for maximum efficacy in the hiring process. It includes: 

  • Adjustment in recruitment strategies based on data insights
  • Analysis of performance data of new joiners and hiring metrics 
  • Assessment of the efficacy of various recruitment channels
  • Seeking feedback from new talents regarding their experience

Wrapping Up

By leveraging full-cycle recruiting you can streamline the whole hiring process for your organization. This will assist the recruiters to grab the attention of top talent by boosting their experience and retention rates.

Irrespective of the large corporation or small business, this inclusive approach will let you develop an engaged and skillful workforce that is willing to drive the company’s success.  

FAQs

What is the difference between traditional recruiting and full-cycle recruiting?

Traditional recruiting is all about hiring candidates through different stages dealt with by specialized recruiters or teams. On the other hand, full-cycle hiring deals with the whole hiring process by a single recruiter ensuring continuity and personalized experience for both employers and candidates. 

What are some advantages of full-cycle recruiting?

It ensures consistent experience of the candidate; fosters a strong relationship between candidates and recruiters and alleviates the time for hiring. Moreover, it enables the HRs to customize the process to meet the specific requirements of the company. 

What are the necessary skills for full-cycle recruiters?

Full cycle recruiters should have strong organizational, negotiation, and communication skills. They must be proficient in interview techniques, and sourcing tools with a wealth of knowledge on labor laws.  

Is full-cycle recruiting ideal for all organizations?

This unique approach is perfect for SMEs and small businesses. Large giants having a high number of vacancies must benefit from specialized recruitment for effectiveness. Regardless of the choice, it is better to give the approach a personalized touch. 

In which ways do technologies help in full-cycle hiring?

You can adopt recruitment technological tools including ATS (application tracking system), virtual interview tools, and AI-driven sourcing platforms for streamlining the entire procedure, better candidate tracking, and enhanced communication throughout the hiring procedures.  

Gabby Davis

Gabby Davis is the Lead Trainer for the US Division of the Customer Experience Team. She develops and implements processes and collaterals related to the client onboarding experience and guides clients across all tiers through the initial implementation of Engagedly as well as Mentoring Complete. She is passionate about delivering stellar client experiences and ensuring high adoption rates of the Engagedly product through engaging and impactful training and onboarding.

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