Full lifecycle recruiting is the end-to-end process of identifying, attracting, and hiring top talent. It typically includes six stages: planning and preparation, sourcing candidates, screening resumes and applications, interviewing and assessing candidates, making the offer and negotiating terms, and onboarding the new hire.
Effective full lifecycle recruiting requires a deep understanding of the hiring needs and culture of the organization, as well as expertise in various recruitment strategies and tools. By mastering the full lifecycle recruiting process, organizations can build a strong employer brand, attract and retain top talent, and drive business success.
Recruiters should be data-driven about every step of their work, from selecting the best sourcing channels to deciding the number of interviews they should conduct.
As a result, teams can provide stellar candidate experience, reach their hiring metrics, and increase accountability within the team.
Who Is Life Cycle Recruitment Applicable To?
During periods of growth, organisations of all sizes often outsource to recruitment agencies to bring in the right candidates. That’s particularly true regarding a full lifecycle recruiting system, which encompasses the whole process of filling a job position.
Trusted by dedicated hiring teams, this system involves six essential stages: preparation, sourcing, screening, selecting, hiring and onboarding.
In this article, we’ll look at a few full lifecycle recruiting best practices – so you can confidently hire the best people using a data-driven approach.
How Do You Know You’re A Full Lifecycle Recruiter?
When time is a priority, it can be easy to rush through proceedings to see a position filled.
Full lifecycle recruiters, however, look beyond checkmarks. From preparation through onboarding, they aim to actively listen and communicate with candidates to unpack their behaviours.
Not only that, but most of their conclusions come from measurable decisions. If they don’t have internal data to support their choices, they’d rather rely on benchmark statistics than on their gut.
Here’s How Full Lifecycle Recruiting Benefits Recruitment Agencies
Full Lifecycle Recruiting Decreases Time-To-Hire
Due to its accurate and repeatable processes, full lifecycle recruitment is faster than traditional approaches.
Because recruiters will always start with a systematic and data-driven outline, they won’t waste time wondering which parts of the plan to streamline and which to eliminate. Instead, they’ll start by measuring and pinpointing blockages before moving forward.
For example: if they know that resume reformatting is a time-to-hire enemy, they might consider streamlining this part of the process with resume reformatting solutions like Allsorter.
This way, their reformatting time will be minimal, and they can proceed confidently.
It Ensures Better Hiring Quality
According to 2022’s Top 100 Hiring Statistics, understanding how to optimize the job recruitment process can shorten the hiring cycle by 60% while improving quality. Recruitment optimisation starts with understanding the ideal candidate and their motivators.
Full-cycle recruiters need a 360° vision of what a high-quality candidate stands for. Hence, the preparation stage is crucial when creating a solid pool they can shortlist later.
Once the suitable candidates have been shortlisted, recruiters can focus their expertise on better contact and communication. This will, in turn, boost positive candidate experience and the agency’s reputation.
It Provides A More Personalized Candidate Experience
E2E recruitment has the potential to improve the candidate experience.
Source: DevSkiller
Once candidates hit “apply,” that doesn’t mean the rest of the experience will be worth their time. In fact, 75% of employees have stated that a positive experience has influenced their decision to say “yes.”
Being involved in the full lifecycle could be your most significant differentiator as a recruiter. From letting candidates know you’ve received their application to providing speedy updates, you can create a more pleasant experience.
What Are The Stages Of Full Lifecycle Recruiting?
The following stages follow the well-structured strategies you need to succeed:
Stage One Of Full Lifecycle Recruitment: Preparing
In this stage, you’ll define what a perfect candidate looks like:
- What are their qualifications, their skills?
- What criteria do they absolutely need to fit to qualify as the “perfect” candidate?
That data will help your team draft a targeted and easy-to-read job description. Along with qualifications and company details, include what potential candidates most want to see: compensation and job details.
Stage Two: Sourcing
Once written and reviewed, it’s time to publish your job description and start sourcing potential candidates. When carrying out this task, always keep your ideal candidate in mind.
If you already have a talent pipeline as your source, that’s even better. But since that isn’t always the case, you can source potential candidates in several other places, including:
- Social media
- In-house (if a team member could be qualified for the position at hand)
- Web sourcing via platforms like LinkedIn
- Referrals
Stage Three: Screening
Depending on the hiring volume, you could have hundreds of applicants to sift through at this point. This is the moment to use both data and skill-driven tactics to examine your best options.
Accurate resume parsing tools will help you zoom through this part of the screening and quickly determine which candidates fit the necessary description. You should also conduct phone screenings with job-seekers to check for interest, personality, and expectations.
At this stage, you should whittle down your list of candidates to around 4-10 people.
Sometimes, a pre-selection screening may be necessary to validate those candidates better, especially if you’re recruiting in high volumes. It includes practices like cognitive testing, job samples, personality testing, and other quality-predicting tests.
Stage Four: Selection
This is where you arrange and schedule interviews, conduct interviews, and keep candidates updated about their status. Be mindful of time here, as applicants tend to drop off during lengthy selection stages.
Mistakes such as failing to provide timely feedback to all applicants can harm the candidate experience. That’s why relying on automation-based tools like chatbots and scheduling software is your best choice.
Stage Five: Hiring
At this point, your number of potential candidates should have decreased significantly. It’s time to make a choice.
Revisit what you’ve noted during the preparation phase. Which candidates have higher ratings according to the criteria you’ve established?
Don’t hesitate to gather additional data to validate that choice. If applicable, use additional data sources like background checks and a shorter interview to dig deeper into decisive factors.
Stage Six: Onboarding
The recruiting process doesn’t end with hiring. Onboarding may be the final step in full lifecycle recruiting, but it’s just as important as any of them.
When introducing and training the new hire, you’ll be giving them an overview of company culture and making them feel welcome. Don’t go through the work of hiring a stellar candidate only to cop out on the onboarding phase.
How Much Time Should The Whole Full Lifecycle Recruitment Process Take?
How long your full recruiting cycle will take will depend on your time-to-hire. Keep an eye on your agency’s metrics, TTH specifically, and always strive to improve them.
If you’ve followed the above steps, you can trust that the decision you’ve made is as data-driven and accurate as it can be.
And by continuing to rely on this structure, you’ll turn your recruiting team into a golden ticket to successful companies!
Did you enjoy this post? Here are some more recruitment topics you might be interested in:
- How to reduce time to hire
- Guide to high volume recruiting
- How to address biases in recruitment
- Top 5 high-volume hiring strategies