Recruitment Process
Reliably productive recruiting requires a solid framework. Seven Step’s framework, what we call our recruitment productivity process, breaks recruitment down into seven clearly-identifiable steps. Experience has shown that each of the seven steps is essential for recruitment success, no matter how great the hiring volume, or how deep the logistical complexity.
The names of our seven steps (Setup, Source, Screen, Schedule, Feedback, Offer, Onboard) don’t give a full picture of how groundbreaking our process is. The names are familiar to every talent acquisition professional. The breakthrough in our process is the way we execute it.
We execute according to the best practices that were developed by our parent company in 20-plus years of dedicated recruitment-process experimentation and optimization. A couple features are common to all seven steps, and are the foundation of our effectiveness.
Teamwork & Measurement
Seven Step’s recruitment productivity process is executed by a collaborative team of five to six trained professional recruiters. Each recruiter on the team is accountable for a specific step or steps in the process. Working in a shared workspace, team members proceed through the seven steps in efficient assembly-line fashion.
There are management controls throughout the process. Each of the seven steps has its own key metrics, and team members are held accountable for performance against them. We report on metrics every day, making adjustments to ensure that we’re delivering a client’s objectives as productively as possible.
Flexibility to Meet Unique Needs
Our recruitment productivity process is well-defined and effective, but we’re flexible in its application. In some cases, our clients are best served by an end-to-end process solution, in which we execute the entire process on their behalf. In other cases, we carve out one or two steps where we can be most helpful, and work collaboratively with the client’s internal recruitment team to deliver on the process as a whole. We’re comfortable in both scenarios, and able to deliver measurable value no matter what we're asked to do.
1: Setup
Setup is a collaborative step in which we work closely with clients to define specific measurable objectives, and to determine the most efficient strategy for achieving them. Every project we take on starts with the Setup step, whether we’re providing end-to-end recruitment or a more customized recruitment solution.
A big piece of most Setup efforts is the development of a clear definition of our target candidate. Typically, recruitment projects will focus on a profile of the type of person a hiring manager would like to interview. We work with clients to tighten this profile into a clearer description of who the manager would like to hire. There’s a big difference. Focusing on a broad "would like to interview" profile pushes a lot of "maybes" through the screening process. Interviewing "maybes" is inefficient. As dedicated adherents to a LEAN recruiting philosophy, we think that’s unacceptable.
Thoughtful effort during the Setup process is crucial for developing a highly efficient recruiting process, in every situation.
2: Source
The Sourcing step is incredibly important. Recruitment that doesn’t start with a strong pool of candidates is recruitment that is going to fail.
Seven Step brings an optimal "old-school/new school" mix to our sourcing efforts. Online sourcing experts are assigned to each of our teams. They use advanced search and social networking techniques to ferret out great candidates that could never be found using traditional techniques. That said, we’re in some ways quite strong traditionalists. Part of the philosophy that underlies our recruitment productivity process is the belief that nothing beats the telephone – still – as a potent weapon for effective recruitment.
Seven Step team members are all highly trained salespeople. When strong potential candidates have been identified, we generate excitement and energy around our clients’ opportunities. And energetic candidates keep the process moving more efficiently, and more quickly.
3: Screen
Effective screening involves the ability to maintain two frames of mind at the same time. Typically, outsourced recruitment screening is about answering the question "Do we want them?" In other words, it’s about pushing candidates out of the process. This is especially true when the screening is being done via the offshore call center model.
But screening from just the "filter them out" point of view ignores a big part of the equation. In fact, it ignores the most important part of the equation. Simply screening out means that you take no action on the most important people in the mix: the strong candidates you think might be a good fit for the company.
The trick to effective screening is to simultaneously screen OUT while attracting IN. It’s a subtle skill that requires professionalism, maturity and salesmanship on the part of the screening recruiter. We train and test our recruiters for those qualities on an ongoing basis. Our ability to screen both IN and OUT productively is a big part of why our average time-to-fill (32 days) is so much better than the rest of the RPO industry.
4: Schedule
Scheduling interviews can be a complicated and cumbersome process, especially when you’re doing it at volume or when you’re trying to meet the needs of a diverse set of hiring managers. Poor scheduling performance is where your typical outsourced recruiting process is most likely to get bogged down. The fact is that scheduling is often given short shrift in our industry, in which piggy-backing scheduling with the screening process is common.
Each of our recruiting teams contains a detail-oriented recruiter who is tasked exclusively with scheduling responsibilities. With our dedicated-scheduler approach, we get interviews set up quickly, and we put special effort into making interviews happen without undue delay. As with each of the seven steps, the scheduling process is measured carefully every day. We make adjustments as needed to ensure that none of our projects get bogged down in scheduling logistics.
5: Feedback
Sometimes those of us in recruiting and HR have to wonder what happens in those hiring manager interviews. Interviewing, obviously an incredibly important piece of the puzzle, is where recruiters have to let go of the reins for a while. The trick to keeping things moving ahead smoothly is to stay on top of the interviews you’ve scheduled, virtually as they happen.
Effective feedback collection is more than mere note-taking. Trained, watchful recruiters will use feedback collection to catch inconsistencies and to identify patterns that might be bogging things down. Based on what we hear from hiring managers, we’re often able to provide helpful interview training and advice. Or, if needed, we can make subtle process adjustments to prevent good candidates from getting lost in the mix. The more closely we work with hiring managers, the greater the bonds of collaboration and trust that are established. Collaboration and trust lead to a process that gets faster and smoother with every iteration.
6: Offer
Offer acceptance rate is an important metric at Seven Step. Our current average is 95%. Tracking offer acceptance rate by hiring manager, department and position facilitates improved expectations management, which in turn feeds continuous productivity improvements. It also makes for more satisfied hiring managers, job seekers and HR personnel.
Offer management is the most delicate and critical step in our recruitment productivity process. It demands a detailed understanding of a shifting mix of facts, opinions and emotions. Our highly-trained recruitment professionals are well equipped to manage the process flawlessly.
7: Onboard
The final step in our recruitment productivity process is perhaps the most critical. Recruitment doesn’t reach a successful conclusion until the new employee shows up for orientation. But we go further than simply making sure they show up. Are they well-prepared for the stresses of the first day? Have we maintained contact with them since offer acceptance? Do we have a leg up on building a long and productive relationship between employee and company?
Ensuring an effective useful onboarding process will increase a new employee’s job satisfaction, which reduces attrition and eases the ongoing recruitment burden. Effective, highly communicative onboarding is a critical component in building a productive ongoing recruitment process.