How to Effectively Manage Recruitment Processes

If you are like most small and medium sized businesses, getting the most out of your recruitment process is a constant struggle. Resources at your disposal are limited if not non-existent, you may be wasting money on job ads and your time is getting sucked up scanning resumes late at night. So, how do align your business to be sure that you are effectively managing your recruitment processes?

One of the most effective ways you can be sure to set-up your recruitment process for success is to map out your process from start to finish and assign specific accountability to your team members. In taking this simple step, you will be sure that your resources are working for you.

RACI and Recruitment 

One simple way you can be sure you assign the right accountabilities to the right people is by using a model commonly referred to as RACI (pronounced RACE-Y). RACI stands for the 4 roles the team members in your organization will play during the process. 

1. Responsible

This responsible party is the team member who does the work and completes the task at hand. 

2. Accountable

The accountable party is the team member who is accountable for the overall success of the task. 

3. Consulted

The consulted party is the team member(s) who needs to be consulted on the task and asked to provide their feedback. 

4. Informed

The informed party is the team member(s) that need to be "kept in the loop", not necessarily formally consulted.

Creating your RACI Model for Recruitment

To get your RACI model for your recruitment process started follow this step by step guide:

1. Identify all the tasks in the recruitment process. Examples could include: job description creation, job advert posting, screening resumes, initial interviews, onboarding, etc.
2. Identify the team members involved in the recruitment process. Examples could include: Hiring Manager, Office Manager, HR Administrator, President, etc.
3. Set up a RACI template using a simple Excel worksheet or anything you can create a grid with (or download a free template here). Tasks should be set out vertically on the left and team members horizontally across the top.
4. For each task Ensure there is at least one person responsible for it; mark this with an "R".
5. Mark each task with just one person that is accountable for it; use an "A" where this team member and task meets. Although it may be tempting to add more than one person as accountable, we recommend sticking with just one person. When too many people are trying to control or manage the same task, project, or process the quality of the final result can suffer. Assigning just one "A" will remove the likelihood of miscommunication, conflicting priorities, and misaligned expectations that commonly happen when there are "too many cooks in the kitchen". Spend some time discussing who is officially accountable with your team members and update your RACI model accordingly.
6. Assign key people that should be consulted and informed to effectively complete a task in the recruitment process, but not too many! Identify these team members by marking them with a "C" and "I".
   

Things you Should Try to Avoid

When completing the RACI model for your recruitment process,ask yourself these questions to avoid potential problems

• Are there any team members that appear to be assigned to the majority of the tasks?
• Does that team member(s) need to be assigned that number of tasks?
• Does their current workload allow them to complete these tasks in a reasonable amount of time?
• Do you have complete agreement from your team on the assignments of tasks?
• Do you have the appropriate amount of people identified as responsible for a task?
• Are you assigning just one individual as accountable for each task?
• Are you assigning too many individuals as need to be consulted that actually only need to be kept informed?

So, good luck! Take this simple first step using our recruitment RACI model template and you will be sure to set up your recruitment process for success. And if you have any problems just get in touch.