Hiring Process Template

About the Hiring Process Template

This template is an interactive and customizable tool to help you track the entire hiring process. From application submissions to job offers, you can monitor each candidates’ progress as they move through the hiring process. The template visually maps out the different stages of recruitment and keeps the hiring cycle structured and transparent.

What is a hiring process?

Hiring a new employee is no small feat. It’s a cross-functional, resource-intensive process. For most organizations, hiring a new employee is a multi-step exercise to identify the company’s needs, the team’s needs, and to assess potential candidates.

Why use the Hiring Process Template?

Hiring the right new employees is a complex process for most organizations — a multiple-step, cross-functional, resource-intensive process that takes time and patience. There are a lot of applicant tracking systems that provide a detailed run-through of where each candidate is in the hiring process. However, sometimes it's helpful to provide a simple, high-level view of where employees are as they move from applicant to new hire. You can use Miro's Hiring Process Template if you don't have another tracking system or want to share a status with stakeholders easily.

What are the stages of the hiring process?

1. Identify the need. Do you need to fill a position that just opened? Lighten a team’s workload? Change something from an organizational perspective?

2. Devise a recruitment plan. The recruitment team needs to figure out how the role aligns with the company’s goals and business plan. They also must devise criteria for candidate screening and decide who will conduct interviews.

3. Write a job description that includes the key skills and experience required, then advertise the position.

4. Review applications.

5. When applications start to come in, many organizations do an initial phone screening. Phone interviews assess the candidate’s basic qualifications and culture fit.

6. Schedule a job interview. Early interviews are often one-on-one, but candidates may later engage in group interviews.

7. Conduct background checks. Review the candidate’s criminal record, verify their employment history, and talk to their references.

8. Make a job offer.

9. Once you’ve made an offer, the process doesn’t stop there. The employee must then fill out their hiring paperwork. That might include their W-4, I-9, and state withholding and registrations. You should then share the employee handbook and start the onboarding process.

How to create your own hiring process

Here’s how to create a customized hiring process using Miro’s template:

1. Open the Hiring Process Template. Using a pre-made template saves you time and effort when designing your hiring process. Miro’s template is fully customizable to your team’s needs.

2. Decide on the hiring process stages. The template comes with six columns — Applicants, Shortlist, Screening interviews, Skills evaluation, Background check, and Job offers. Add, remove, or edit the names of each column until the board appears as you want it.

3. Share the hiring process. To maintain transparency, share your hiring process board within your company. You can create a shareable invite link for your board or invite others via Slack or email. This step is the opportunity for the human resources department, hiring manager, and interview panel to collaborate and decide on the best hiring process.

4. Add applicants and their details. As candidates apply for the job, add them to your hiring process board. Click on each text box to add key information around each candidate, such as their name, date of application, and position they’ve applied for. You can also attach their resume, links to their portfolio, and any other relevant documents.

5. Move applicants along the board. As candidates move through the selection process, move each card to the next column. You can also create a section to keep track of candidates who were rejected or declined the job offer.

Hiring process best practices

1. Create a standard hiring process

Standardizing the hiring process is crucial for finding the best candidate for a role. You need to have a consistent way to evaluate all candidates to determine the suitability of each person. A standardized hiring process ensures your hiring manager and key stakeholders use the same reference points when making hiring decisions.

2. Know your company culture

The hiring process is as much about candidates getting to know you as it is about you getting to know them. Make sure your company culture is well-understood and that you convey this culture to prospective employees. Introducing your company culture from the beginning of the application process is a great way to recruit candidates who will fit in with your existing workplace culture.

3. Be thorough

Each stage of the recruitment process should be clearly defined, with detailed steps along the way. For example, candidates should go through a screening interview before passing through to the second round of interviews. Being thorough throughout the recruitment process will ensure that the most suitable candidates progress to the next stage.

4. Look for candidates within your company

Before advertising the position to external candidates, circulate the opening within your organization. You may have current employees in your talent pool who are suitable for the role. Internal recruitment has several advantages, including reduced hiring fees and a shorter onboarding time. Promoting someone internally also gives a strong message to your team that you value them and are committed to their career growth.

Use case of a successful hiring process template

Let’s look at an example of how a full-service digital marketing agency could use Miro’s Hiring Process Template to support their recruitment.

The Hiring Manager is in charge of creating a company-wide hiring process board. Because the company is hiring in more than one department, she adds swimlanes to separate the candidates for each department. The departments currently hiring are:

• Marketing

• Software development

• Design

She customizes the template so that the board has the following columns:

• Candidates. As the Hiring Manager receives applications, they are added to the board.

• Screening. The resumes and cover letters of each candidate are reviewed.

• Phone interview. A short, preliminary interview is conducted via phone to get to know the candidate a bit better.

• Interviews. Shortlisted candidates are invited for an in-depth job interview. This is where the candidate can ask questions about the details of the position and company culture.

• Practical exercise. Candidates are sent a practical exercise to gauge their skills. For example, software developer applicants are sent a full-stack developer coding test to complete online.

• HOD chat. A select few top candidates meet with the head of the department for their relevant department.

• Job offer. The hiring decision-making team comes to a decision, and a job offer is made to the most suitable candidate.