The recruitment process can be a hectic endeavor for any business. However, having an effective recruitment policy makes it easy to select the right candidate who meets the job-related competencies and is a great fit for the company.
Recruitment policy is a document that summarizes the guiding principles on how an organization will conduct the recruitment process. It ensures that the hiring process is not only consistent, fair, and transparent but will ultimately lead to selecting the right candidate based on merit and relevance.
For a recruitment policy to be effective, there are four major components it should include. This post explores what they are.
Hiring Philosophy
The hiring philosophy defines a company’s standpoint and attitude. It includes the company’s values and ethics, as well as brand value. The goal of a hiring philosophy is to show what the company believes in, and what it holds dear.
It should further expand on the brand’s achievements and future goals in terms of enhancing the experiences of clients. The brand’s purpose must be concise, powerful, and written with the intent of drawing the kind of people suited for the company.
The company’s value must be transparent and true. More importantly, what’s written on paper must be a reflection of what happens in practice. Whether a company’s commitment is ensuring diversity, or uplifting the local communities, they must practice what they preach.
Hiring Practice
This defines how a vacancy would be filled in practice; who is in charge of hiring, how selection would be made; the interview process, verification process, and more. It’s typically the longest part of the recruitment policy.
For new roles and replacement roles, here are some of the major procedures the hiring practice should include:
- Indicating who’s responsible for approving new hires before the search for a candidate begins.
- Defining who’s responsible for writing a detailed job description.
- Defining if the candidate will be gotten internally or from external recruiters.
- Defining the roles of each person on the hiring team.
- Establishing the interview process and how it will be conducted (either one-on-one, panel, or remote interviews).
- Defining the stage reference checks, skill assessments and other verification will be done.
- Indicating the types of background checks that will be done. For instance in Australia commonly used checks include criminal history checks like a national police check australia, educational verification, criminal history checks, and more.
- Assigning the person responsible for negotiating job offers with the new candidate.
The hiring practice will vary based on the specific role. For instance, hiring a company driver must include a driving record check. It may not be relevant for a plant worker. Therefore, the practice must be well-tailored for each role in the company.
Hiring Standard
A good hiring standard must embrace transparency, compliance, and strict adherence to labor laws. A company that operates within multiple states or countries has to pay closer attention because labor laws do vary. Running the policy document through a local labor attorney will ensure that it meets the labor requirements for that district.
The hiring standard section of the recruitment policy should also address issues like illegal interview questions, hiring biases, data protection of candidate information, and employment of foreigners.
It should also take care of whether the company allows the hiring of the relatives of existing staff or if they’re given preferences. Many companies do not allow that because of conflict of interest but it is a model adopted by many successful family businesses.
Hiring Vision
This section of the recruitment policy highlights the vision of the company. It defines where the company is headed and how selecting the right people will help attain that vision.
It includes how the company envisions the growth and development of their employees and the business as a whole. A company vision that incorporates employees leads to buy-in into the company’s brand, which results in loyalty and eventual success.