Preparing for employment begins with understanding the recruitment process and how it works. If you gain knowledge about the recruitment process and understand what businesses want and need from the right candidate, this may give you that competitive edge and assist with getting the job you want. It will help you understand what you can do to stand out from the sea of applicants.
There are 8 main steps to the recruitment process:
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Identify the Position that Needs to be Filled
Before business owners advertise for a role, there are questions they need to ask themselves, including what position they are looking to fill or replace. They will also ask themselves what skill sets the applicants will need and the desired behaviours and attitudes for this role.
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Prepare Position Description
Every business will need to have or create a position description. A position description (PD) will outline what the job entails and set expectations for what is required to fulfil the job requirements. It should include the purpose of the role, the key duties and responsibilities. It should also list the experience, skills and competencies required for the role and personal attributes.
When employers advertise a role, they will provide an overview in the ad, but they may not always provide a detailed PD upfront. If you do receive the position description to review, this will give you great insight into the role and an understanding of the key criteria they want this candidate to possess. This is your opportunity to align yourself with this and demonstrate to your potential employer that you are capable of doing the job.
To give you an example of what a position description may look like, see the example PDs we have created here!
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Advertise the Position
The business owner will need to choose how they will advertise the position. Whether it will be through Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed, Facebook, Instagram, Word-of-mouth, newspapers or even displayed on shop fronts. Employers will often use several recruitment methods to find their next employee.
Be open-minded and flexible when looking for a job. Don’t forget to approach employers directly to find out if they are recruiting for current or possible future opportunities!
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Review Applications and Short-List Applicants
Employers will review each applicant’s resume and cover letter to establish if the candidate possesses the key criteria they are after and whether they will be the right person for the role.
Based on their observations of the key things in their application, they will create a short list of candidates to phone screen.
Employers often get swamped with applications, so it’s extremely important that your resume stands out from the crowd to make the short-list. There are many things you can do to ensure you have a well-prepared cover letter and resume.
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Phone Screen Interview
To save time interviewing many applicants, employers will initially phone screen them to make a quick judgement if they are worth their time in an interview. They will ask you to elaborate on the reasons why you have applied for this job role. They will ask you questions about your resume and any employment history. They are looking for good synergy, and that you can hold a conversation with them. Based on your discussion and how it goes, they will determine whether to schedule another interview.
The key is to be prepared for this phone call. If you are not prepared when answering this phone call, you may not make it to the next stage of the interview process.
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Interview Candidates
First-Round Interview
The first interview will either be conducted face-to-face or online. If it’s a face-to-face interview, you need to ensure you arrive 10 minutes before your interview commences, as they may have an application form for you to complete.
Whether it’s a face-to-face interview or an online interview, you may be faced with two people interviewing you or a panel who takes notes of your responses to the questions asked. The interviewer will use open-ended questions to gain more information from you. These are discovery questions used to find out the facts about you, which helps the interview determine a selection.
The interviewer should go more in-depth about the job role and what is expected. You need to be well prepared and know as much as possible about the company. If you don’t do this preparation, you will probably not make it to the next round. Also, ensure you have some questions prepared for the interviewer, as this demonstrates that you have done your research about the company and that you are keen on the position you are applying for.
If you are prepared, respond well, and are aligned with the interviewers, you should get to the next round!
Second-Round Interview
In a second-round interview, you will be asked what you got out of the first interview and whether you have more questions about the role and your company. It is possible the interview may be with other team members. A good interviewer will go into more detail about the organisation, showcase their products, and explain their services or company systems to open up more conversation and see how that aligns with you. They will educate you about their clientele and customer service expectations.
It may be down to one or two final candidates to choose from, so the interviewers are focussed on how you would work and fit into their company culture. This is also a big deciding factor.
Note that the interview process can be done by an employer or a recruitment agency.
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Reference Checks
After completing the interviews and the employer is ready to make an offer to the best applicant, they will most likely check references. They may also conduct police checks or compliance checks, depending on the role.
Companies will conduct reference checks to clarify your characteristics and ability. They will ask questions to your referees and check that your responses in your interviews match up with your referee responses.
Do not fake your referees or have a mate do them for you, as a good interviewer will pick up on this from the questions asked. If you break the trust, this will damage your credibility, and you will not be offered the role.
Have 2-3 referees set to go. These can also be character references of someone who knows you. Be ready to have the contact details of your referees so you don’t hold up this process, and ensure your referees know of the job you’re applying for so they can give you an excellent reference.
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Job Offer
Congratulations, you have now received the job offer!
Stay tuned for our next blog, which will be all about how to accept a Job Offer.
We hope that gaining knowledge about the recruitment process will help calm the nerves but, more importantly, will put you in a place where you are better prepared for the interview to land the job you want.
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