Recruitment Guide for Job Hunters
Episode 114 - Understanding the Recruitment Process: The step-by-step process from advertising a job to starting a new role
Note: This Podcast is a rebroadcast of Episode 67.
Job hunting takes longer than you think.
I know you don't like the sound of that. However, I did not start this podcast to sweeten the pill for you. I started this podcast to tell you like it is. And in this first episode of our 2021 series, I'm going to take you behind the scenes into my Job Hunting Made Simple online course and group coaching program.
In this episode, I'm sharing Lesson One of Module Four of the Job Hunting Made Simple program. Module Four is all about understanding and succeeding in the Recruitment and Selection process. In Lesson One, which you are about to listen to, I explain how organizations design, approve and advertise job positions. You will learn all the steps companies go through to advertise a job, how hiring decisions are made and how the selection process unfolds.
Being aware and understanding the whole recruitment and selection process is an essential aspect of successful job hunting. If you want to play the game to win, you need to understand the rules of the game.
It's also essential to understand the recruitment and selection process from the other players' points of view. Here are some questions you can ask yourself and others to gain more insight into the role you want to apply for:
Why was this role advertised?
What is the organization trying to achieve by creating this new role or seeking a new person for this role?
What does it mean for the organization to invest time, money, and resources to advertise this job position?
Once you listen to this episode, you will understand the selection process in a complete and accurate way, not just from the candidate's perspective. My goal is for you to have the confidence and the sense of control to know what's going on the other side of the field when you're planning to apply for jobs in the future.
Let's break the entire process down to straightforward actions and go through it in detail.
Two ways job vacancies are created
There are two ways that job vacancies are created. First, companies advertise an existing vacant position. A vacancy can occur when somebody:
resigns,
has to be absent from the job for an extended period of time (for example, maternity leave), or
has been was terminated (i.e., fired).
Depending on how bureaucratic the organization is, it can take long for that role to be advertised again.
The second reason for a job advertisement is when a new role is created. The organization's budget approval for a new role can be pretty time-consuming if it is complex, big, and bureaucratic.
As you can imagine, there is a lot at stake, both when there is a vacancy for a current role or a new role.
Two ways a job vacancy is filled
The first way a job vacancy is filled is through internal promotion. Succession planning is a big part of organizational and professional development. There could be professionals internally who are keen to apply for that role or groomed for that role by their managers.
However, many times there are no internal candidates. There may also be a need to advertise the job externally because the organization's policies and procedures require that jobs be advertised. Or the decision-makers want to make sure that the very best candidate for that role is the one that gets the position, so they advertise both internally and externally. This way, they can compare and contrast the internal and external candidates and hire the best fit for the role.
Therefore, the second way a job vacancy is filled is externally through a job advertised publicly. External candidates can be completely unknown to the organization, or they may come through via a referral. That means that the candidate is known to someone that works in the organization. There are incentives for company staff to identify and refer good candidates for externally advertised jobs.
Two ways a job vacancy is advertised
If it's decided that a job will be advertised externally, it can be done:
In-house: The manager or HR handles the process. They develop the job advertisement, and they develop the position. The position description is possibly already set and approved by them, but the job ad is done. They will then go to platforms like LinkedIn or Seek or indeed or other platforms. They will then buy space on those platforms, sometimes pay for specific ads, and advertise.
A recruitment agency can support the manager and the HR team with initial recruitment stages because that can be very time-consuming.
If it's a senior role, they may have to outsource this to a search company. Those are what we call headhunters or search professionals. They are often specialized in specific sectors and are experts in helping organizations find senior executives for their top roles. Sometimes search companies won't even advertise, and they will look within their pool of candidates and their networks.
What happens before you see the job advertisement?
Depending on the organization, a job ad can be drafted, finalized, and reach the internet in a matter of hours. For example, in a small and agile organization that works flexibly, a new job can be advertised a few hours later when a position is made vacant. On the other hand, in a large organization, the job description and advertisement need to undergo an extensive approval process that can be very lengthy. It can take days, weeks, and even months before a job ad reaches the market. That has been my experience managing teams and filling vacancies in my departments when I worked in the public and nonprofit sectors. Even in the corporate sector, the approval process for a position description, job advertisement, and request to advertise a new or existing job can take months.
Why so many delays? New job advertisements may need to be cross-checked to see if it is required, and HR may want to check if internal candidates may transition into the role. The organization may also have affirmative action programs, which means they may work with partners to identify candidates from minority groups before advertising more widely. These are critical HR policies and procedures that need to take place. For example, if a large organization has a subsidiary going through a restructure, they may consider making staff redundant. Some staff may transition into vacant roles, saving jobs and saving money for the organization. From an HR perspective, if job vacancies happen, they need to consider "are there existing staff on the bench that could transition into these roles?"
As you can tell, creating a new job or advertising a job vacancy can be very time-consuming, taking a lot of human resources until it finally reaches you, the job candidate, like a job you see advertised online.
Three types of job advertisements
Now let's look at how job ads are posted online in LinkedIn, Seek (Australia only), Indeed, and the company's website. Today, most job candidates look for jobs on large platforms such as LinkedIn, Indeed, or Seek (Australia only). But job ads are also shared on personal and company social profiles.
For example, let's say Ericson Australia has a LinkedIn profile. If a position is made available, the organizations would likely write a job ad on LinkedIn. It's also very likely that the Ericsson Australia staff who either work closely with the role advertised or work in HR would write LinkedIn posts so that their connections would see the job ad and know that they are hiring. This amplifies the job ad's reach and the ability to bring in high-quality job candidates for the role.
Suppose the organization decides to outsource part of the recruitment and selection to a recruitment agency or an executive search company. In that case, those organizations also have LinkedIn pages, and their recruiters have personal profiles. They will all be posting and promoting on LinkedIn because it's in their best interest to encourage their client assignment as widely as possible.
Depending on your sector and country, other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can be an avenue to identify suitable job opportunities. Like on LinkedIn, companies may have both personal and company accounts on these platforms and use them to promote the job vacancy to their followers, friends, and members of groups they belong to on Facebook. I have seen more and more jobs being advertised on Facebook groups lately.
Job vacancies are also shared on unique job boards, such as those managed by industry and professional associations, chambers of commerce, and special interests. I liked unique boards to search for job opportunities. I think that employers that take that step further into identifying the best job boards for the jobs they are advertising are looking for the very best candidates. If they take the time to find those unique job boards, they will give higher importance to the candidates that come through those boards. I believe that if you apply through those job boards, you will be perceived as a higher-quality candidate. As a former recruiter and manager, I used boards like that, my perception, and experience. In Australia, examples of boards like that are organized by https://www.probono.com.au/ , Ethical Jobs, and job boards organized by universities for their alumni. Professional and industry associations also tend to have excellent job boards. So if you are a member of a professional association, check if they have a job board for members. They tend to be of outstanding quality.
Summary and extra tips for job hunters
In this blog and on the podcast episode, we went through what's happening behind the scenes at organizations when hiring decisions are made. Armed with this knowledge, you can now find solutions and plan how to get noticed for promotion and job opportunities. Job hunting is not just about going to LinkedIn job advertisements and applying randomly and in high numbers. You will get through to the rounds of the recruitment and selection process and ultimately get the role if you remember how the opportunities came about in the first place to better position yourself for the role.
You need to be highly networked internally within your organization to know that job vacancies are available, when new positions are being designed, and when internal candidates are being considered.
It would be best if you were ready to apply once those jobs are out there.
If you're applying on public job boards, such as LinkedIn, you apply at the tail end of the process. You need to be patient and interested and have a very high-quality application to stand out because everybody's already excited and ready for whoever is the best candidate to start as soon as possible.
So now you've learned how the selection process unfolds. And you can then now empathize with the team running it and understand all the different players and all of the various aspects of a great strategy and a very complex process happening and how you are one piece of that puzzle.
I hope you found learning about the recruitment and selection process, from start to finish. In my experience, once job hunters know the challenge and complexity of hiring new professionals, they become more mindful, empathetic, and switched on to the employers' and recruiters' needs.
Timestamps to guide your listening
00:25 – Job hunting takes longer thank you think
04:14 – 2 ways a job vacancy is created
05:40 – 2 ways a job vacancy is filled
07:28 – 2 ways a job vacancy is advertised
11:08 - What happens before you see the job advertisement?
15:18 – 3 types of job postings
23:12 – Summary and extra tips for job hunters
Transcript of this episode
Job hunting usually takes longer than you think.
I know you don’t like the sound of that. However, I did not start this podcast to sweeten the pill for you. I started this podcast to tell you like it is. And in this episode, the first episode of our 2021 series, I’m going to take you behind the scenes into my Job Hunting Made Simple online course and group coaching program.
This lesson teaches lesson 1 of the Recruitment and Selection Module, which is Module 4 of the program. I explain how job positions are typically designed, approved, and advertised by organizations.
Being aware and understanding the whole recruitment and selection process is an essential aspect of successful job hunting. If you want to play the game to win, you need to understand the rules of the game, right?
It’s also important to understand the process, or game, from the other players’ points of view. Why was this role advertised? How? What is the organization trying to achieve? What does it mean for the organization to invest time, money, and resources to advertise this role?
In the Job Hunting Made Simple Online Course and Coaching Program, we start each module by raising awareness for the problem at hand. In this case, the recruitment and selection process. So what you’re about to hear is the first lesson in that module. Then, we focus on how to play the very best game to win. How do you become the best candidate going through the recruitment and selection process?
Usually, each module has 3 to 5 lessons so that we can really dig deep and ensure that by the end of that module, the candidate is ready, feels confident, and can activate a great game, pitch, and in this case, nail the recruitment and selection process in the weeks ahead so they can get that great job.
Ok, now that you know what this episode is all about, I hope you are curious to hear about it. So let me tell you what it really takes to find a job through a recruitment and selection process, start to finish. Here is Lesson 1, Module 4 of The Job Hunting Made Simple program:
Hello, let's start lesson one of week four recruitment and selection. So today, we're going to go through a whole series of rules of twos. We will very simply understand the selection process in a very complete and accurate way, not just from the point of view of the candidate, but really thinking holistically, comprehensively, and what's going on behind the scenes on the other side of the wall when you're sort of thinking about your application so much. Still, you know, I want you to have the confidence and the sense of control that, you know, what's going on. On the other side of The field.
In This lesson, you will learn all the steps companies go through in order to advertise a role, how hiring decisions are made and how the selection process unfolds. Two ways Rules let's break the entire process down to very simple actions and go through it in detail. So the two Ways that job vacancy is created, there is a vacancy that can take up to three to four months to be approved, or there is a neat, completely new role that can take up to a year or more to be approved. Okay. So a vacancy is when somebody resigned, somebody is very sick and unwell. Somebody is structured out of the position, let go, because they're not performing well, fired, underperformed, or there was some very challenging situation the person had to leave even then, depending on how bureaucratic the organization is, it can take a long time for that role to be, advertised again. If it's a new role, the budget approval for that can be quite time-consuming if the organization is complex and big, and bureaucratic. So as you can imagine, there is a lot at stake, both when there is a vacancy of an existing role, or if it is a new role, the two ways a job vacancy is filled is through a promotion internally, a position filled by an internal candidate. So as a position is made vacant or a job, a new role is being designed. There's a lot of people already sort of being considered for that role. Succession planning is a big part of team development, human resources, and professional development. And there could be people that are keen to apply for that role or are being considered for that role by their managers. However, many times either there isn't somebody internally, or there is also a need to advertise externally either because policies and procedures, protocols, require the position to be advertised or because they want to make sure that the very best candidate for that role is the one that gets the position. So they want to compare and contrast the internal candidate with whoever advertised from an external environment. And they see who the best candidate is. So it is advertised internally or externally. Sometimes organizations are so large and complex that even an internal advertisement can bring in lots of interesting candidates and, made to be filled by an internal or external candidate, as I said. So those are two ways a position can be filled, two ways a job vacancy is promoted. So if it's decided that a job will be advertised externally, it can be done So in-house, so the manager and or HR handles the process. They develop the job ad, they develop the position, or the position description is possibly already developed and approved by them. But the job ad is done. They will then go to platforms like LinkedIn or Seek or indeed or other platforms that we will soon address in this presentation. And they will buy space on those platforms, sometimes pay for specific ads and advertise, or they made the side to hire a recruitment agency to support the manager and the HR team with initial recruitment stages because that can be very time-consuming or if it's a senior role, they may also, or they not also, but they may instead, have to, outsource this to a search company. So those are what we call headhunters or search professionals, and they will find C-level heads of candidates to be considered for those roles. Sometimes search companies won't even advertise. They will just look within their pool of candidates and within their networks. Sometimes they will advertise those roles. It really depends on the position. And, what's at stake two ways, a job vacancy is filled through formal application. , the applicant is an unknown applicant. Nobody knows that the applicant's deposition was advertised on LinkedIn, Indeed Newspapers, and nobody knows that candidate until they apply, or another way a job, a job vacancy is filled is through a referral. The candidate is known to someone, to the manager, to somebody in HR, to colleagues inside that organization, the recruitment agency, or recruitment agency contexts. In fact, there are incentives for company staffing within recruitment agencies for recruiters to identify great candidates and present them for those opportunities. So I have worked for organizations where if I presented and recommended great candidates for a specific role that was advertised. That person then got the role. I would receive compensation, a bonus of a thousand dollars, $2,000. So the compensation is quite good, $5,000. I remember that times never got one, though, but yeah, they were there. If you recommend good people for four positions three steps before an ad is made public, what happens before you even get to see the job ad? Depending on the size of the organization, the job ad can be drafted, finalized and, reach the internet in a matter of hours. So if it's a small organization or a very nimble organization that works in a very flexible way, a very start-up way, you know, a position is made vacant or upon a new position is approved a few hours later, it's advertised, or in a large organization, the position description and job ad need to go through a very thorough approval process that can be very lengthy. It takes forever for that point between the approval coming through and the job actually reaching the market. You know, that's more of my experience. Remember, I've worked in the public sector, not for profit, so it needs board approval. It needs to go through a whole internal red tape. And it could take a while three months, four months, even in a large organization, the position description, job ad, and request to advertise a new or existing role can take months. It may need to be cross-checked to see if it is really required. If there are internal candidates that may transition into the role and or if there are formative action candidates that are minorities, not where we're presented in the company that needs to be given a first go through special channels. Now, these are very important policies and procedures that need to take place. For example, if an organization is really large and there is a strategy to reduce an existing structure. So let's say there is a subsidiary that is going through a restructure, and they are considering making people redundant. There could be some people sitting on the bench that could transition into other parts of that larger organization. If opportunities are made, then we need to consider, are there people here sitting on the bench that could transition into those roles? So it's an important cost-effective way to consider moving good people around, but also a way to keep your great employees keep the corporate knowledge internally, make sure that people that you want to keep you are able to keep and transition them into good roles. The other aspect is, of course, minorities that are not well-represented. There could be opportunities within specific channels that the organization works with to see if they can be identified and brought in for interviews prior to the opposite, the position being, advertise more widely. So, you know, going through all of that, if you really want a candidate to come through quickly, it can be very time-consuming for the whole department and put a lot of things in on standby, but it needs to be done in a large organization. When a job is given the green light, a lot of ground has been covered. Possibly 70% of the energy and resources happen even before the position is advertised externally in a small organization. Advertising for a role is a very big deal. Even if it happens quickly and fast and less complicated and bureaucratic, it's still a very big investment for smaller organizations to bring in somebody new. , there is a lot of expectations to be met, and usually, the person coming in needs to make sure that they can add value to the team in more ways than one and, and be very open to, you know, get their hands dirty do all kinds of different jobs. Even if the position description is specific in a small organization, sometimes it's all hands on deck, and it's a big deal to include a new member of the team. It's a big-budget consideration, three types of job postings. Now let's look at how job ads reach the interweb job ads are posted in traditional channels. LinkedIn jobs see indeed and companies, websites are the traditional ways that jobs are advertised and how also candidates look for jobs traditionally. And, and the majority of candidates would quickly go into LinkedIn or Seek. Now, indeed, this is widely used as well. But job ads are also shared on personal and company social profiles. So LinkedIn personal and company profiles, both the hiring organization. So, for example, let's use, as an example, Erickson, okay, big international company. They will have a LinkedIn profile. They may even have, I just pulled that out of my head, but they may even have a country-specific LinkedIn profile. They could have an Erickson Australia. They could have a Bosch, and they could have Bosch Australia. If a position is made available, it's very, very likely that the organizations would write a job post on LinkedIn to advertise that job. It's also very likely that the individuals in that company that is close to that position, either because they work in HR or because they work within that team, that's hiring that they would write posts so that people within their network know that they're hiring and, within their circle of influence, they can bring in good high-quality candidates. Also, if the organization decides to outsource part of the recruitment and selection to a recruitment agency or an executive search company, those organizations also have LinkedIn profiles, and they will be posting on those LinkedIn profiles, and those partners or consultants that work for them will also in their personal LinkedIn profile, be promoting those opportunities because it's in their best interest to promote it as widely as possible. And they know that people that follow their company links and their personal links are people that are interested in their careers, people that are looking for jobs. So they will be posting there as well. Twitter is the same as LinkedIn in both personal and company accounts, depending on your sector. Twitter can be quite a good way of identifying good job opportunities, Facebook, and LinkedIn groups. Now I have seen more and more positions being advertised on Facebook, private groups. I am not yet a very big fan of LinkedIn groups. I haven't seen LinkedIn groups be as intimate, exciting social, and community-oriented. As the Facebook professional groups. I am involved in quite a lot of Facebook professional groups. I have tried the LinkedIn professional groups. I have found them really bland, really, you know, not exciting and very static. Whereas the Facebook groups are much more interactive and add more value to me as a professional, and on those groups, I have seen more and more people placing job opportunities there, both small businesses and large businesses placing them there. Job opportunities with links to either LinkedIn or Seek. On the Facebook posts, job ads are also shared on special boards. Now I really liked special boards for job opportunities. I think that employers that take that step further into identifying the best job boards for their positions, that they are advertising are employers, and they are looking for the very best candidates. I also believe that if they take the time to find those special boards, that they will give higher importance to the jobs the candidates that come through those boards because they have already funneled, they kind of self-select the candidates. So if you apply through those job boards, you will be perceived as a higher quality candidate as a former recruiter or somebody who, as a manager, used boards like that. I did that. And as a colleague and somebody who network with other recruiters, that's the feeling that I also had from my counterparts in other organizations. So the boards I'm talking about in Australia, there is a website called pro bono. And that website is a newsletter is a think tank for the not-for-profit sector. It's a really great website to follow if you're interested in the, not for profit sector in Australia, and they have a great job board for the sector. So that is a good one to follow ethical jobs, not just for the not-for-profit sector, but for every organization out there that is interested in identifying candidates that care about working for ethical organizations. And, that's a good one as well, to look into alumni job boards, especially if you're early in your careers. And by early, I mean up to six years, six-year post-graduation, I would go into the university, alumni platforms and check those Monash and deacon and Melbourne university, I mean, Basie Melbourne. So I'm using those as examples. They have great job boards and, I'm assuming many other universities also do professional, and industry associations also tend to have great job boards. So if you are a member of a professional association, check out your website and see the job boards that they have, if any, and if they do, have a look at those. They tend to be of very good quality. So in this lesson, what we went through was what's happening behind the scenes at the organizations that you are applying for, how hiring decisions are made, which means you need to be creative and resourceful in how you get noticed for promotion and job opportunities. It's not just going to Seek and applying randomly and, and in, you know, high numbers that you will get opportunities. You will get opportunities. If you remember how the opportunities come about in the first place and all the steps that opportunities go through before they're actually advertised on Seek. So there, you need to be somebody who is high networked internally within your organization, so that you know that job vacancies are available, that you know, that new positions are being designed, that internal candidates are being considered. And then you need to be ready to apply once those jobs are out there. And remember that, if you're applying on Seek or LinkedIn or any of those job boards, you are applying at the tail end of the process. You need to be patient and interested and have a very high-quality application to stand out because everybody's already excited and ready for whoever is the best candidate to start as soon as possible. So you've learned how the selection process unfolds, and you can then now empathize with the team, running it and understand all the different players and all of the different aspects of a great process and a very complex process happening and how you are one piece of that puzzle.
I hope you found it useful learning about the recruitment and selection process, from start to finish. In my experience, once job hunters know the challenge and complexity of hiring new professionals, they become more mindful, empathetic, and switched on to the employers’ and recruiters’ needs.
If you are interested in learning more about The Job Made Simple Online Course and Coaching Program, I will be running it again as a group coaching program starting later this month for seven weeks. Register your interest to attend on my website: https://www.renatabernarde.com .
In a few weeks, I will also invite you to attend a free webinar, where I’m going to give insight into what it takes to have the best career you can have and introduce you to the new, updated version of The Job Hunting Made Simple, which I am re-designing and running starting in late February. SI will provide you more details about the webinar in the next episode and also in my upcoming newsletters. If you are not yet subscribed to my newsletter, go to my website and sign up now. There’s a link in the episode show notes or google Renata Bernarde, and you will find me.
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About the Host
Hello, I’m Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I’m also an executive coach, job hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach professionals (corporate, non-profit, and public) the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress.
If you are an ambitious professional who is keen to develop a robust career plan, if you are looking to find your next job or promotion, or if you want to keep a finger on the pulse of the job market so that when you are ready, and an opportunity arises, you can hit the ground running, then this podcast is for you.
In addition to The Job Hunting Podcast, on my website, I have developed a range of courses and services for professionals in career or job transition. And, of course, I also coach private clients.
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