Hiring pipeline: the system to guide your candidates through the selection process

Hiring pipeline: the system to guide your candidates through the selection process

Today, selection process, as well as research work by candidates, is mostly done online and digitally. It is easier to interact with candidates, communication is clearer and recruiting times are significantly reduced. All factors that give a positive image of the company and help to retain candidates for future job searches, but are irrelevant without proper management of the Hiring Pipeline!

Disorganization, lack of data analysis and sloppy process control can compromise the success of the selection procedure, creating confusion in the HR team and negatively affecting the candidate experience. For this reason, it is essential to have a tool that allows recruiters to not lose sight of their candidates during the selection process. This is the case of the new hiring pipeline developed by In-recruiting, and integrated into the ATS, which allows you to track, manage and monitor – even at a visual level – the progress of candidates until they are employed.

Hiring Pipeline: what it’s all about

In HR, we often use the term the recruiting funnel to refer to the process that turns a candidate into a new team member. Similarly, the hiring pipeline accompanies the candidate towards hiring, monitoring their progress through the various stages/steps that make up the selection process. Unlike the classic funnel, which has a broader and more generic spectrum of analysis, the hiring pipeline allows you to focus more on candidates to find the one who best fits an ad and the company’s specific needs.

This is a system that allows you to track and manage, even at a visual level, the progress of candidates in the selection process directly from the ATS. This means that the recruiter will be able both to see and monitor the progress of the process and of each candidate, thanks to the modern graphic interface, and to manage the progress with a dynamic system of movement of the candidate between the various steps of the selection.

How does In-recruiting’s Hiring Pipeline work?

The functioning of the hiring pipeline is very simple and intuitive and helps the recruiter to have a clear idea of the selection in progress. The process includes 8 steps/categories that correspond to precise moments in the selection process:

  1. Applied: the candidate has registered for the ad
  2. Sourced: the candidate has been associated with the ad by the recruiter
  3. Screen: the profile is analyzed and the skills match and verified with the requirements of the ad.
  4. Interview: the candidate is invited for an interview (in person or remotely)
  5. Evaluation: the profile is evaluated in the final phase of the process
  6. Offer: a job offer is made to the candidate
  7. Hired: the candidate is hired
  8. Disqualified: the candidate is considered unsuitable or has refused the offer

The first two steps (applied and sourced) constitute, together, a first preparatory phase essential to start the actual selection process (screen). Each category, recognizable and customizable with different colors, is preparatory for the next one and therefore for the advancement of the candidate towards the final employment (hired). The recruiter can easily manage the progress of candidates at any time: those who are suitable can be “dragged” to the next category to continue the process, while those deemed unsuitable (disqualified) will be stopped.

The importance of KPIs in the recruitment process

The hiring pipeline offers a complete overview of the selection status of each vacancy, avoiding those famous “bottlenecks” that hinder the process. The analysis of data and of some fundamental recruiting KPIs and metrics facilitates the success of the selection strategy, which, if not, can be adequately corrected. Among the main metrics to be monitored in each phase/category are: the number of candidates present, the percentage of candidates progressing and that of candidates excluded from the process, the estimated mean time, as well as conversion rates, ad views, origin of applications, recruiting time and costs, rate of acceptance and rejection of offers, etc.

Let’s take a practical example to understand the importance of these indicators for a correct understanding of the selection process. Suppose, then, that you publish an ad for a search for a new Back-end Programmer.

2 days after publication, 100 people have responded to the ad by sending their CVs. The first introductory steps of the process will be used to qualify the applications before the start of the selection process. It is possible, in fact, that with the publication and circulation of the ad on various platforms, job sites, social shares, CVs that are not suitable with the Job Position will be collected and, therefore, will not be admitted to the next phase.

Of the 100 CVs, only 80 will pass to the screening phase during which it is necessary to verify that the profiles meet the requirements of the ad. This phase also makes it possible to identify the most qualified candidates who meet the company’s needs and invite them for an interview. For this reason, it may take longer.

A portion of the candidates (50) are still active in the pipeline and will interview in the next 5 days. The average time of the interview phase is significantly reduced by using live video interview systems – such as Meetin – or video presentation.

The remaining candidates (20) will be carefully evaluated and, again hypothetically, only 2 of these will receive a job offer. This is because it may happen that the interests of the company and the candidate do not match and the latter decides to refuse the offer. Eventually, the candidate accepts the proposal and is hired leaving the hiring pipeline.

Benefits of the Hiring Pipeline

The hiring pipeline is therefore a very useful tool for recruiters. In addition to making the selection process smoother and more dynamic, it allows them to verify that the ratio of selection time to cost is appropriate. Among the main advantages

  • optimize time to hire e time to fill
  • recognize weak points in the selection process and correct them
  • focus on the enhancement of candidates
  • make the candidate’s experience in the pipeline positive
  • improve the quality of the recruiter’s work
  • organize, control and monitor recruiting processes
  • increase the data and statistics available on vacancies
  • provide feedback to candidates on the progress of the process

Want to learn more about In-recruiting’s new Hiring Pipeline? Request a demo and see how you can improve your hiring process with this and other recruiting software features.