What is End-to-End Recruitment?

Many recruitment companies advertise end-to-end recruitment assistance, but what is it and do most recruitment companies offer it?

End-to-end recruitment refers to the entire recruitment process from start to finish. It includes Planning, role-defining, sourcing, interviewing, decision making and onboarding. End-to-end external recruiters usually manage the entire recruitment process and work alongside the hiring manager or HR on what is called a recruitment process outsourcing agreement (RPO). RPO agreements are usually exclusive to just one recruiter, benefitting everyone in the process:

• RPO partners act as an extension of your internal team. They take the time to get to know your company, culture and goals to create a focused recruitment plan.

• The recruitment process is streamlined with one point of contact so hiring managers can spend more time on more important tasks.

• RPO partners have strategy experience, which can give you an edge over competitors.

• They are committed to and invested in your recruitment process, which reduces the time it takes to hire someone.

• RPO partners should be able to offer flexible, tailored and scalable solutions.

• They design and follow extensive methodologies to ensure hiring those people who meet the organisational needs, not just on paper, but also in practice.

• Having a dedicated hiring partner improves the candidate experience.

End-to-end recruitment can also be conducted internally by the hiring manager and HR.

There are many stages involved in the end-to-end recruitment process, which are often time-consuming and tend to take time away from hiring managers who could be spending time on more beneficial, revenue-driving tasks for the company.

Therefore, many companies choose to outsource their entire recruitment process.

Preparing your recruitment plan

Sourcing

Targeting active candidates

Targeting passive candidates

Select the right candidates

Presenting the offer

The notice period

Onboarding

Preparing your recruitment plan

The first step of any end-to-end recruitment process is preparation. Whether you’re replacing someone or it’s a new role, establishing what experience, skills, and characteristics the ideal candidate needs to have is essential. What does the ideal candidate look like, and what will they need to succeed in the role?

Create a person/job description that outlines the tasks, roles, and responsibilities. Preparation in the recruitment process is often overlooked; however, it is the foundation of successful recruiting.

Once this is created, you can move on to sourcing the right candidates.

Tip: Foresee your hiring needs

Many companies start their hiring process too late – when they need someone. To streamline your recruitment process, it is essential that you foresee your hiring needs. If you plan to upscale your company, you will also need to do this in terms of manpower. For example, if you want to grow your company revenue by 25%, you’re likely going to need 25% more manpower. Plan ahead so that you don’t have an open headcount, which will ultimately slow down your growth and cost you money.  

The first step in hiring is to establish and define the ideal candidate and candidate persona. Once you have established what your ideal hire looks like, you can start to create a detailed job description that includes the skills and experience which is desired for the ideal candidate.

Constantly review the kinds of skills and experience your current successful team has so you can create an accurate description of what you would like to attract in a future employee.

Communicate with the rest of the team and HR so you are all briefed on what is needed. Once you have a clear idea of who you want for the role, you can move on to sourcing your ideal candidate.  

Sourcing

Finding the right candidates is likely to be the most challenging part of your recruitment process. There are multiple ways to source candidates depending on the seniority and skills you need the right candidate to have. There are multiple sourcing strategies that target different types of candidates:

Targeting active candidates

Active candidates are people who are actively seeking a new position. They are open to new opportunities and will likely be applying for positions on job boards and social media, including LinkedIn. The best way to target active candidates is by advertising on social media, job boards and other online channels.

Targeting passive candidates

Passive candidates are people who are not searching for a new opportunity. They tend to be professionals who are happy within their role but would consider a new position if the opportunity was right. Executive search recruiters and recruitment specialists will focus on passive candidates as they can target them when looking for specific skills and experience. Their role is to approach these candidates, get to know them, and then see whether their profile matches the job and person specifications.

For C-level or senior roles, targeting passive candidates is the best option as it requires a specific set of skills to find these candidates.  70% of the global workforce is composed of passive talent (LinkedIn), so passive talent is something you should strongly consider targeting if you are serious about hiring the right people.

The best way to target passive candidates is through specialist executive search methods and strategies.

It’s crucial to understand the difference between active and passive candidates and recognise that targeting both is the only path to successful recruiting.

Tip: After you have determined what you want in the ideal candidate – it is time to find them.  There are endless avenues to consider when it comes to sourcing candidates.  You need to consider the number of people, budget and the seniority of people you want to hire.

Expert recruiters will have a wider network than your internal recruiters which may be better for more senior roles, and junior roles may be more suited to general or internal recruiters.

For more information on sourcing candidates, download our Sourcing Candidates recruitment guide.

Select the right candidates

The task of selecting the right candidates is different depending on whether you have sourced active or passive candidates. If you have sourced active candidates, you will need to review them all to determine who is a good fit for the role and your company.

If you have chosen to source passive candidates, you should only have a select few who you have already qualified by communicating with them and aligning their skills and experience with your job role.

Once you have shortlisted your candidates, you can organise to interview them. Most hiring managers like to conduct in-person interviews so they can meet the candidates for themselves. This is a great way to see how they interact on a personal and professional level. It is also a more accurate way to see whether someone fits into the dynamic and culture of the team and company.

Tip: Once you have interviewed each candidate, you should have some idea as to who stands out from the crowd and those who are simply not right for your company.  While it is always difficult to make a decision, if you have structured your interviews correctly, it will point you in the right direction.

Ask the opinions of your recruiters too, as they will be able to advise you on who they think is best for the role.  

Presenting the offer

Once the hiring manager decides who is the best fit for the position, an offer will need to be presented to the candidates. During this stage, there may be negotiations on salary, package, holiday and start dates. Once all negotiations are finalised, contracts will be signed, and the candidate will be required to hand in their notice to their current employer.

Tip: Avoid working against the person you are hiring, and always be understanding as well as considering everything they say.

Your recruiter will also be on hand to help with negotiations involving the contract and packages to make it as seamless as possible. 

The notice period

This step is often forgotten about. It is the time between presenting the offer and onboarding, which is usually the chosen candidate’s notice period.  During this time, excellent communication is required. Great recruiters and companies will stay in touch with candidates who are due to start with them to avoid them losing interest and be there to answer any questions or doubts. Communication needs to be exemplary (use these tips to improve your communication) to avoid candidates finding other opportunities or, worse, being counter-offered by their current employer.  If candidates choose not to start with you during this period, your recruitment process goes right back to the beginning.

Onboarding

Onboarding is perhaps the most important part of the recruitment process. This involves introducing your new hire to the team and company and familiarising them with the organisation’s processes and policies. Most importantly, it’s a chance for them to get to know the company’s culture.

Research by Glassdoor found that organisations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%, so it can be extremely beneficial for you and your company if you get it right.

The consensus among HR professionals is that onboarding should take at least three months (BambooHr), which is a large investment of time. It includes ongoing training and development to ensure people feel like they are learning and progressing in their new position.

Tip: Onboarding is often one of the most overlooked elements of recruitment; however, if you get it wrong, then it could be catastrophic for your business. What scares most candidates in the recruitment process is a lack of guidance. Have a clear plan for training, development and introduction to the existing team. Making an individual feel welcome in the team is a great start. This should then be followed by support and guidance throughout their time at your company.

Recruitment is one of the largest challenges of any business, with 72% of employers reporting to have a ‘hard time’ finding skilled candidates (Manpower Group, 2018). It is a full-time commitment. If your organisation doesn’t have the resources to fully commit or can only partly commit, outsource, and put it in the hands of a specialist. It will likely save you precious internal resources and be a lot more successful (depending on the recruitment partner you choose).