Recruitment refers to the process of identifying, attracting, interviewing, selecting, hiring and onboarding employees. In other words, it involves everything from the identification of a staffing need to filling it.

Depending on the size of an organization, recruitment is the responsibility of a range of workers. Larger organizations may have entire teams of recruiters, while others only a single recruiter. In small outfits, the hiring manager may be responsible for recruiting. In addition, many organizations outsource recruiting to outside firms. Companies almost always recruit candidates for new positions via advertisements, job boards, social media sites, and others. Many companies utilize recruiting software to more effectively and efficiently source top candidates. Regardless, recruitment typically works in conjunction with, or as a part of Human Resources.

While the recruitment process is unique to each organization, there are 15 essential steps of the hiring process. We’ve listed them here, but for a detailed exploration of these steps, check out our page on Hiring Process Steps:

• Identify the hiring need

• Devise a recruitment plan

• Write a job description

• Advertise the position

• Recruit the position

• Review applications

• Phone Interview/Initial Screening

• Interviews

• Applicant Assessment

• Background Check

• Decision

• Reference Check

• Job offer

• Hiring

• Onboarding

At its core, recruiting is a rather simple concept–it encompasses identifying candidates and hiring them to fill open positions. However, effective recruiting combines a bit of art with science. It requires implementing repeatable processes that will lead to reliable results, on the one hand. On the other, it requires sophistication to think outside the box in order to find your ideal candidate.