Most recruiting processes actually alienate the best candidates

A few months back, I wrote an article about how broken the hiring process is. This article will be a bit similar, but it’s about the recruiting process. Namely, I’m discussing how companies design their recruiting process. What steps must a candidate go through? What’s the overall arc of the process like? And is your recruiting process set up in a way that gets you the people you want (or need) to be successful in your endeavors?

At most places, the answer to that final question is “Absolutely not,” and oftentimes the answer is “Exactly the opposite, sir.”

The first thing to understand about a recruiting process

Before we get too deep into this, let’s address two quick things.

(1) is that many a recruiting process isn’t about getting the best people. It’s about covering the ass of HR and the organization. That’s why we steep everything in process and automation. We all secretly know that won’t get us the best people, but we do it because HR is much more about compliance than value-add — and always has been, sadly.

(2) is that every article about recruiting process is complete pie-in-the-sky, utopian bullshit. “10 Ways To Maximize Your Recruiting Process” by some thought leader? You might as well…