Recruitment process: the 8 steps to hire effectively

The recruitment process is the set of steps a company follows to fill a position, from identifying the need to onboarding the person hired. It has eight steps: needs analysis, job description, sourcing and distribution, screening and pre-qualification, interviews, decision, offer and negotiation, onboarding.

Each step has an owner, a deliverable and its classic mistakes. The whole process takes time: APEC, the French executive employment association, measures an average of 12 weeks for the most recent executive hire (Pratiques de recrutement de cadres, 2025 edition). And the market remains tight: France Travail, the French public employment service, counts 2.275 million hiring projects for 2026, 43.8% of which employers expect to be difficult (BMO 2026 survey).

What is a recruitment process?

It is the way your company hires, written down and shared: who approves the need, who screens, who interviews, who decides, and within what time frame. Once formalised, it prevents steps from being skipped, ensures that all candidates for the same role are treated the same way (a legal obligation) and shows where hiring gets stuck.

Recruitment process vs recruitment strategy: what is the difference?

The recruitment strategy, or talent acquisition strategy, sets the big choices: which profiles to target, on which channels, with which employer brand and which budget. The recruitment process carries it out, role by role. A good strategy poorly executed loses candidates along the way.

The 8 steps of the recruitment process in one table

The 8 steps of the recruitment process in detail

For each step: what you do, who is involved, common mistakes and what AI can take on. Durations are not given step by step: no reliable public source measures them that way.

1. Analyse the need

What you do. Before opening a position, you check the reason (replacement, new role, peak in activity), then set the type of contract, the budget and the target start date. It is also the time to ask whether the need can be met internally, through mobility or training.

Who is involved. The hiring manager, the HR manager or recruiter, and the person who approves the budget.

Common mistakes. Copying the profile of the person who is leaving instead of redefining the role. Opening a search without an approved budget, then freezing it while candidates are already in interviews.

Where AI helps. Very little. The decision belongs to the manager and to senior management.

2. Write the job description and the job ad

What you do. The job description is the internal reference document: duties, reporting line, skills, working conditions. Two deliverables come out of it. First, the job ad, with a title candidates actually search for, concrete duties, location, remote work, pay and the steps of the process. Second, the criteria grid used for screening: must-have criteria (regulated qualification, driving licence, language, location) and expected criteria. France Travail advises setting a pay range before writing the ad.

Who is involved. The manager for the job content, the recruiter for the wording and legal compliance.

Common mistakes. Twenty “essential” skills that put off good profiles. An internal job title nobody types into a search engine. A criterion unrelated to the role, or even discriminatory (age, sex, origin), which is prohibited from the job ad onwards.

Where AI helps. It produces a first draft of the ad and flags gendered or exclusionary wording. This is its most common use: according to APEC, only 4% of companies that hired an executive in 2024 had built AI into their process, and most use it to write job ads. The recruiter proofreads, and the manager approves the criteria.

3. Source candidates and distribute the job ad

What you do. You choose where the ad will be seen. Distribution channels (job sites, France Travail, APEC, careers site) reach people who are looking for a job. Sourcing channels (direct approach, employee referral, targeted advertising) go after people who are already employed. For their executive hires in 2024, 84% of companies posted a job ad, 76% used their network, 73% social networks and 66% direct approach (APEC). The channel-by-channel detail is in our guide to recruitment channels.

Who is involved. The recruiter, the manager and employees for referrals, sometimes a recruitment agency.

Common mistakes. Posting on a single job site and waiting. Not recording the source of each application, which makes it impossible to know which channel actually hires. A shortage of applications remains the main difficulty: 74% of companies that struggled to hire executives cite it (APEC).

Where AI helps. It targets profiles by occupation and location, allocates distribution across channels based on their results and adjusts it during the campaign. The recruiter sets the target, the budget and the criteria.

4. Screen and pre-qualify applications

What you do. You compare each application with the criteria grid, then check the key points in a short conversation. According to APEC, 69% of companies used phone or video pre-screening for at least one executive hire in 2024. They assess motivation first (62%) and technical skills (56%), then salary expectations (39%) and availability (35%).

Who is involved. The recruiter; the manager approves the shortlist.

Common mistakes. Skimming when volume rises. Changing criteria as you go through the pile, so that two equivalent candidates are not treated the same way. Leaving applications unanswered for weeks.

Where AI helps. This is where it saves the most time. An application pre-qualification agent enriches each application, compares it with the criteria approved by the recruiter and gives it an explained score out of 5: why the profile matches, and on which criteria it does not. The recruiter reads the explanation, then keeps or rejects. The decision remains human.

5. Conduct the interviews

What you do. One or more interviews, supplemented where needed by a test or a work sample. You ask all candidates for the same role the same questions and score them on a common grid. In 2024, 56% of companies with 250 or more employees gave candidates a test for at least one executive hire, compared with 45% of SMEs (APEC).

Who is involved. The recruiter, the manager, sometimes a peer or the manager’s own manager.

Common mistakes. The “gut feeling” interview with no grid. Questions unrelated to the role, or even prohibited (see the legal framework below). Too many interview rounds, which lose the best candidates, who are often in talks elsewhere.

Where AI helps. In preparation: a personalised interview guide, built for this candidate for this role, with an open question on each point to explore. Assessing the interview remains the panel’s job.

6. Decide

What you do. A debrief brings together everyone who met the candidates. You compare the grids, pick a candidate and a second choice, then reply to every unsuccessful candidate.

Who is involved. The manager, who decides, and the recruiter, who safeguards the method and equal treatment.

Common mistakes. Choosing the last candidate seen. Leaving the finalist without news during internal approval. Never replying to the others.

Where AI helps. It compiles the grids and notes into a comparative summary. The choice itself is human, and the law requires it: Article 22 of the GDPR prohibits subjecting a person to a decision based solely on automated processing that significantly affects them.

7. Make the offer and negotiate

What you do. You send a written offer: role, fixed and variable pay, benefits, start date, probationary period. After agreement come the contract and the formalities, including the pre-hiring declaration (DPAE) that France Travail lists in its 10 key steps for recruiting.

Who is involved. The manager and HR, senior management if pay goes beyond the planned range.

Common mistakes. Discovering the candidate’s salary expectations at offer stage. A vague verbal offer. Taking too long to respond to a counter-offer. Note that the European pay transparency directive requires candidates to be informed of the pay or pay range before hiring, and prohibits asking about their salary history. The French bill transposing it was presented to the Council of Ministers on 10 September 2026 (info.gouv.fr).

Where AI helps. Very little: negotiation remains a matter between people.

8. Onboard the new hire

What you do. You prepare the arrival (workstation, access, equipment), organise the welcome, appoint a buddy and set objectives and check-ins until the end of the probationary period. In France, for a permanent contract (CDI), its maximum initial length is 2 months for employees and workers, 3 months for supervisors and technicians and 4 months for executives, renewable once under conditions (Service Public).

Who is involved. The manager, HR, the buddy and the team.

Common mistakes. Considering that recruitment ends at signature. Holding no check-in before the end of the probationary period.

Where AI helps. It automates reminders and the arrival checklist. Support remains the manager’s job.

The legal framework of the recruitment process

In France, three rules apply from the job ad to the decision.

• Non-discrimination. No candidate may be rejected because of their origin, sex, age, family situation, pregnancy, state of health, disability, physical appearance, surname, place of residence, religious beliefs or trade union activities, among the other criteria listed in Article L1132-1 of the French Labour Code.
• Prohibited questions. The information requested must have a direct and necessary link with the job offered or the assessment of the candidate’s abilities (Articles L1221-6 to L1221-9). No questions about health, family situation, plans to have children, trade union membership, sex life, housing or leisure activities. Assessment methods must be relevant and disclosed to the candidate, and their results remain confidential. Reference: the official page Candidat à une offre d’emploi : méthodes de recrutement autorisées (in French).
• GDPR. Candidates are informed about the use of their data, how long it is kept and their rights. According to the CNIL, the French data protection authority, the file of an unsuccessful candidate should not, in principle, be kept for more than two years after the last contact. Finally, the AI Act classifies AI systems used for recruitment as high-risk: their rules apply from 2 December 2027 (European Commission). Our page on GDPR and the AI Act in recruitment details the obligations.

Measure your recruitment process

A process improves when each step is measured: pre-qualification time, share of qualified applications, interview rate, offer acceptance rate, retention at the end of the probationary period. Formulas and dashboard are in our article on recruitment KPIs.

These measures require dates and statuses to be recorded somewhere. In 2024, half of companies with 250 or more employees used recruitment software (HRIS or ATS) for their executive hires, compared with 17% of SMEs (APEC). To get equipped, read how to choose your ATS.

Frequently asked questions about the recruitment process

What are the steps of the recruitment process?

Eight steps: needs analysis, job description and job ad, sourcing and distribution, screening and pre-qualification, interviews, decision, offer and negotiation, onboarding.

How long does a recruitment take?

For an executive in France, 12 weeks on average according to APEC (2025 edition, 2024 data), a figure stable since 2022. No equivalent public statistic exists for all roles. The duration depends mainly on the number of qualified applications received and on how quickly decisions are made.

What makes a recruitment process effective?

Criteria written down and approved with the manager before distribution, the same questions for all candidates for a role, a reply to each of them, short gaps between steps, and indicators tracked by role and by channel.

Which questions are prohibited in a job interview?

Any question without a direct and necessary link to the role: health, family situation, plans to have children, religion, origin, sexual orientation, trade union membership, political opinions, housing, leisure activities. In France, a candidate rejected on discriminatory grounds can take the case to the employment tribunal (conseil de prud’hommes).

Can AI screen applications instead of the recruiter?

No. It can analyse applications, score them and explain that score, but the decision must remain human: the GDPR prohibits decisions based solely on automated processing, and the AI Act regulates these uses.

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