Recruiting new staff for an organisation is an important procedure that needs to be done well. This is so that the organisation hires the right staff in the quickest and most cost-effective manner. For this to be done well, the organisation needs a system so that the recruitment process follows a number of well-defined and logical steps.

The first stage is identifying a vacancy. Usually this is the responsibility of a line manager who will decide that due to staffing or work requirement changes a vacancy will arise. Examples of these changes are resignation, retirement or creation of a new position in the department. The manager will need to carefully review the situation in terms of budget and long term requirements.

Next, the manager or the HR department must consider whether a suitable candidate exists in the company or whether the organisation will have to recruit from outside. If the latter, they will have to decide whether to use a recruitment agency or advertise themselves.
 
If accepting applications from outside the company, the HR dept will have to screen all incoming CVs and prepare a shortlist of candidates to invite for interview.

Other than the face-to-face interview, the candidate may be required to take a skills/aptitude test, submit work samples, and undergo psychological testing. A check on the references submitted by the candidate is of vital importance.

The successful candidate will then sign a contract and generally need to serve a probationary period before being accepted as a full-time employee.