The recruitment process
The recruitment process typically follows a structured sequence. It begins with a job requisition — a formal request to fill a position — which includes the role title, responsibilities, required qualifications, salary range, and reporting structure. From this, a job description is created and distributed through relevant channels.
Sourcing involves actively searching for candidates through databases, job boards, professional networks like LinkedIn, referrals, and direct outreach. Screening narrows the pool by reviewing CVs and conducting initial assessments to confirm candidates meet basic requirements. Shortlisted candidates proceed to interviews, which may include phone screens, technical assessments, panel interviews, and final-round meetings.
Once a preferred candidate is identified, the offer stage involves negotiating compensation, notice periods, and start dates. After acceptance, onboarding integrates the new hire into the organisation. Throughout this process, maintaining clear communication with all parties — candidates, hiring managers, and stakeholders — is critical to a successful outcome.
How recruitment agencies work
Recruitment agencies act as intermediaries between employers and job seekers. An employer (the client) engages an agency to fill specific roles, typically paying a fee based on a percentage of the placed candidate's annual salary — usually between 15% and 25% for permanent placements. For contract or temporary roles, agencies charge a margin on top of the contractor's pay rate.
Agency recruiters specialise by industry, function, or seniority level. This specialisation allows them to build deep candidate networks and market knowledge that in-house teams may lack. Common agency types include contingency firms (paid only on successful placement), retained search firms (paid upfront to conduct exclusive searches, typically for senior roles), and staffing agencies (focused on temporary and contract placements).
Recruitment methods
Internal recruitment fills roles from within the existing workforce through promotions, transfers, or internal job postings. External recruitment sources candidates from outside the organisation. Active sourcing involves recruiters proactively reaching out to candidates, while passive sourcing focuses on attracting applications through job postings, employer branding, and career pages.
Employee referral programmes incentivise current staff to recommend candidates from their professional networks. Campus recruitment targets graduates through university partnerships and career fairs. Social recruiting uses platforms like LinkedIn, and increasingly other social networks, to identify and engage potential candidates.
Direct sourcing, sometimes called headhunting, involves identifying and approaching specific individuals who are typically not actively looking for new roles. This method is most common for senior, specialist, or hard-to-fill positions where the candidate pool is small.
Key recruitment metrics
Time-to-fill measures the number of days between a job opening and an accepted offer. It is one of the most widely tracked recruitment metrics because it directly impacts business productivity and agency revenue. Quality-of-hire assesses how well a new employee performs, typically measured through retention rates, performance reviews, and hiring manager satisfaction.
Source-of-hire tracks which channels produce the most successful placements, helping recruitment teams allocate their sourcing budget effectively. Cost-per-hire includes all expenses associated with filling a role — advertising, agency fees, technology, and internal time. Offer acceptance rate measures the percentage of job offers that candidates accept, indicating the competitiveness of the employer's proposition.