What is full cycle recruiting? Learn the process and benefits

Any recruiter will tell you that hiring a great employee isn’t as easy as it seems. It is time-consuming, exhausting, and often frustrating. Hiring from start to finish is no small task, but that’s exactly what full cycle recruiting is – an end-to-end hiring process that is designed to streamline the hiring process and ensure the best candidates get hired and stay with the company.

This article takes a deep dive into the full cycle process of recruiting, what it is, how it works, and how it can benefit your company.

Definition and Meaning of Full Cycle Recruiting

Full cycle recruiting, also referred to as end-to-end recruiting or full life cycle recruiting, is a term used to describe the holistic recruitment process, usually handled by a single recruiter. This recruiter owns every stage of talent acquisition: from sourcing to screening to onboarding and is referred to as a “full cycle recruiter.”

The primary benefit of this type of recruiting is that having one individual driving the end-to-end process improves efficiency and creates a consistent, positive candidate experience.

What Sets Full Cycle Recruiting Apart from Other Recruitment Models

A full cycle recruitment process is most common for small- to mid-size companies where the hiring volume isn’t enough to necessitate siloed specialists. Instead, the full cycle recruiter is a jack-of-all-trades (and master of all!) who is tasked with being the sole recruiter, interviewer, and hirer for an open requisition.

In contrast to the full cycle process is a specialized recruiting process. Many large hiring teams have specialists who focus on one stage of the hiring process, such as a dedicated sourcer, expert scheduler, onboarder and so on.

Neither model necessarily performs better or generates stronger candidates. Nor does either model provide a more positive candidate experience. It’s more a matter of what is the most optimal use of the resources dedicated to your recruitment operations.

It’s important to point out that the rise of AI recruiting software and predictive analytics in the overall hiring process has helped HR departments  streamline processes, automate  tasks, and identify efficiencies. The integration of AI into HR tech stack is not only common now but necessary to remain competitive.

The Role of a Full Cycle Recruiter: Responsibilities and Skills

As the driver of the overall hiring process and often the single point-of-contact, a full cycle recruiter is responsible for everything, from identifying new positions, sourcing and screening quality candidates, managing candidates through the interview process, negotiating offers and packages, and even onboarding.

From a skill set perspective, a full cycle recruiter must possess solid writing and communication skills to create job postings, conduct interviews, and foster a personable candidate experience. They should be well organized, calm under pressure, and understand the ins-outs of social media and other job posting channels. And they must be adept at using various technologies and software packages, like HireVue software platform, that can assist a full cycle recruiter through the entire hiring lifecycle.

But as many skills that this type of recruiter must possess, they can’t simply clone themselves to handle large-scale hiring needs or specialized roles that must be filled. It’s important to recognize the importance of technology integration and software as your hiring processes evolve with your company.

Key Stages of the Full Cycle Recruiting Process

The full cycle recruiting process varies depending on the organization or position, but in general consists of these six steps:

1. Preparing
2. Sourcing
3. Screening
4. Selecting
5. Hiring
6. Onboarding

Step 1: Preparing a Job Opening for Success

Preparing refers to identifying a hiring need, working with the hiring manager to define the ideal candidate, and determining qualifications. During this stage, the FC recruiter is responsible for creating an inclusive job description and posting it to job boards, social media, and employee referral programs.

Communication with the hiring manager is vital, as the hiring manager is the final decision maker, so early alignment is key.

Step 2: Sourcing Talent – Building a Strong Candidate Pool

The sourcing step is focused on generating a strong list of applicants to evaluate. Typically, this involves using sourcing tools and/or manually researching candidates with relevant skills and experience, then sending personalized communication, inviting them to apply through appropriate channels. It also commonly involves looking at past applicants or contacts in your talent pool to reengage those who may now be a strong fit.

A full cycle recruiter will also look at metrics to optimize the number of inbound applicants they receive. This includes making the application process effortless with resume parsing tools, adjusting where they put their ad spend, and adding easy-to-apply channels such as text-to-apply.

Step 3: Screening Candidates to Identify the Best Fit

The screening step involves progressing applicants who are a potential fit and dispositioning those who don’t meet the necessary qualifications. Traditionally, this is done with a resume review and phone screen.

Thanks to the growing sophistication of AI, hiring teams are now commonly using chatbots to prescreen applicants for “knock-out” questions. And to reduce time-consuming phone screens and scheduling considerations, on-demand software platforms facilitate “anytime/anywhere” candidate interviews. Recruiters and hiring managers can then quickly review multiple interviews side-by-side and more efficiently prioritize candidates,

For a full cycle recruiter, what technology they use during the screening step largely depends on applicant volume and how frequently they hire for the open position. With high volume hiring, the value of screening solutions increases exponentially.

Step 4: Selecting Candidates with Consistent and Fair Practices

After top applicants are identified, the FC recruiter is tasked with providing structure so hiring managers make decisions that are consistent, compliant, and based on factors predictive of future job performance. This is crucial, as it’s common for even well-trained interviewers to slip into ad hoc and inconsistent interview practices that often lead to biased decisions. Templates with recommended questions and evaluation rubrics are extremely helpful in keeping the conversation focused on job-relevant qualifications.

Step 5: Making the Offer and Securing Acceptance

After the interview, the recruiter will connect with the hiring manager to help inform a hiring decision. Once the top candidate is identified, they will extend an offer. From there, the recruiter will handle negotiations, background checks, reference checks, and set a start date. Any and all paperwork and logistics are managed by a single individual at this point. They serve as the liaison between the company and the candidate.

Step 6: Onboarding and Integrating New Hires into the Team

Once the paperwork is complete, the recruiter will continue to engage with the new hire during pre-boarding. The purpose of this is to prevent drop-off and get new hires to show for their first day and engage in onboarding activities. They typically welcome the new hire on their first day and continue to be the point of contact for any questions. With consistent communication and efficient onboarding, the new hire can quickly convert to a value-adding employee.

Benefits of Implementing a Full Cycle Recruiting Approach

A full cycle type of recruiting approach has numerous benefits, as a single person has expertise and insight into the entire hiring process. Here are some of the advantages.

Improves Efficiency Across Hiring Stages

Because of their close knowledge of all stages in the hiring process, numerous efficiencies take place that don’t exist in a team environment.

• Eliminates potential delays between stages that would exist in a team environment
• Streamlines the decision-making process
• Provides for more consistent, accessible, and effective communication
• Ensures accountability across all stages

Creates a Positive and Consistent Candidate Experience

 A key benefit to having a full cycle recruiter is candidates know who to reach out to. They develop a one-on-one relationship and feel value even before they’ve been hired. For the recruiter, they can more quickly identify stronger candidates and proactively move candidates through the hiring process.

Provides Insights into the Hiring Process

Along with the efficiencies an FC recruiter brings to the overall process, as a single point of contact affords other benefits. As the owner of the various stages, the recruiter can identify shortcomings in the process and more quickly implement solutions.

Lastly, a full cycle approach will reduce time-to-hire, ensure better quality hires, improve retention and lower hiring costs.

Common Challenges Faced by Full Cycle Recruiters

A full cycle process for recruiting requires a single person to have significant knowledge of and a range of competencies in the overall recruiting and hiring process. This alone is impractical and a challenge for any organization to find. But there are other challenges to overcome with this type of recruiting.

Managing the Entire Recruitment Process Independently

The recruitment process is resource intensive, with each stage requiring specialized expertise. For success to be achieved, all stages must function together harmoniously. A single individual in this role will likely have shortcomings in one or more of the stages required to function optimally.

Balancing Speed and Personalization in Full Cycle Recruiting

One individual recruiter can oversee only a finite number of candidates and still provide a personalized experience. Even with the right tools, there is a limit to what one person can accomplish. It’s up to the recruiter to balance speed with personalization, but with speed often comes mistakes. This is where strategies like how to hire faster can help optimize both speed and quality. Again, having the right software support is paramount.

Dealing with High Volume Hiring and Limited Resources

Even for a smaller operation, recruiting curve balls come frequently. Perhaps it’s a new project that requires a narrow skill set or a premier client that requires significant short-term additions to your headcount. It’s up to the FC recruiter to rise to the challenge. As HR manager, if your first step is to hire more people on your recruiting staff, it’s time to take a deeper look at how AI and HR data analytics can streamline your operation, scale up, and solve dilemmas with your existing resources before throwing more people at the problem.

Keeping Your Eggs in One Basket

An FC recruiter is still human. What is the plan if this recruiting unicorn must take an extended break or leaves the company? After all, their skill set is in high demand. The loss of institutional knowledge can be difficult to replace.

The solution lies in your ability to leverage technology and all it has to offer.

Leveraging Technology in the Full Cycle Approach to Recruiting

Since full cycle recruiters handle every step of talent acquisition, they need to pass some of these tasks off to their tech stack. Without the right technology in place, they won’t achieve the desired outcomes of efficient recruitment and still provide a positive candidate experience.

What does this look like and what tools are needed?

Essential Tools for Each Stage of Full Cycle Process for Recruiting

Every stage in the recruitment process can benefit from the integration of technology. At the Preparing stage, a recruiter can use AI and other automation tools to draft job descriptions and post to various job sites. Instead of having a scheduling specialist, a full cycle recruiter can use automated interview scheduling software. Rather than having an entire team devoted to prescreening, an FC recruiter can use on-demand interviewing to collect interviews that can be reviewed more efficiently than phone screens.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are extremely beneficial. By streamlining all aspects of the hiring process, a single recruiter can manage a larger number of applicants, find better quality hires, reduce the time-to-hire, accelerate onboarding, as well as integrate with other HR systems, like payroll.

Lastly, the advancements of AI allow chatbots to do more and improve engagement with candidates throughout the recruiting life cycle, which can help identify stronger candidates and move them more quickly through your hiring process.

How Automation Enhances Efficiency in the Hiring Process

The key benefit of Automation is reducing the time it takes to accomplish various tasks. A full cycle recruiter should apply automation to almost everything they do to increase efficiency, reduce human error, and allow the recruiter to focus on providing a better, more personalized candidate experience.

Examples of Technology for Full Cycle Recruiters: Scheduling, Screening, and Onboarding

In the scheduling process, automation can provide faster, smoother scheduling, giving candidates the ability to select interview times and reduce the back-and-forth of scheduling conflicts. Automation software will also provide reminders for interviews and allow the recruiter to provide real-time feedback to keep the candidate moving forward.

In the screening process, automation can provide assessments for consistent and fair evaluations to ensure objective decision-making. And with minimal oversight required of the recruiter, automated assessments happen more quickly and are instantly recorded in your system. Automation at this step-intensive stage, reduces delays and keeps candidates moving quickly.

With studies showing that up to 20% of new hires leave a job within 45 days, providing a positive onboarding experience is crucial. Automation in onboarding provides a consistent, measurable experience for candidates, ensures compliance, reduces paperwork, and reduces the time to onboard so your candidate can get to work.

Adapting Full Cycle Recruiting to Different Business Sizes

A full cycle approach to recruiting isn’t for every business, but it can help you achieve your HR goals with less resources, provided it’s utilized properly.

Full Cycle Approach to Recruiting in Small and Mid-Sized Businesses

Because of its end-to-end approach to recruitment, full cycle recruiting is ideal for small and mid-sized businesses that don’t require large-scale hiring and have limited resources for their HR departments. Here’s why it’s good for smaller businesses?

Single point-of-contact, internally: For the business, they have one person who manages the entire process, so there’s no confusion on decision making, and leadership has better insight into the hiring process.

Single point-of-contact, externally: Candidates have a better experience when they’re interacting with one person throughout all stages of the process.

Streamlined recruiting process: With one owner of the multiple stages, they can prioritize better, make quicker decisions, and pivot more nimbly when the business needs change.

Better candidate pool: A single individual will have deeper insight to each candidate and in a better position to identify the strongest candidates and focus attention on getting them hired.

Reduce hiring time: With the streamlined approach all stages of the hiring process move more quickly.

But a single individual running the entire process is also more susceptible to subjectivity in their decision-making, even if they’re unaware. This is where software tools can help keep the screening and interview stages as objective and open as possible.

Scaling the Full Cycle Model for Large Organizations

The six stages of full cycle hiring are still valid for large organizations. Scaling the model as a company’s hiring needs change involves several components. Initially, it may seem like a good idea to simply hire more people. That should be your last resort.

First, assess your current processes. Identify pain points and any shortcomings that may exist. It’s likely that these can be improved upon to further streamline your hiring operation and ease into upward scalability.

Second, identify what stage of the hiring cycle needs the most support. It may not be your pain point. For instance, onboarding may be your biggest pain point, but you’re overwhelmed with sourcing. Look for software tools to automate a stage in your hiring process.

Eventually, scalability gets to the point where more hires are needed for your team. As the end-to-end manager of the hiring process, the full cycle recruiter will be best suited to decide what roles need to be filled first, such as a data analyst automation specialist or sourcing specialist. Be deliberate with your first hire(s) and ensure the gap your filling is the right one.

Conclusion: Key Takeaways and Best Practices for Full Cycle Recruiting

Having a successful, scalable full cycle process for recruiting requires thoughtful planning and execution.

Top Tips for Effective Full Cycle Recruiting

Hire the right person: A solid full cycle recruiter is rare  in the HR industry. You likely won’t find someone who’s an expert at every stage of the process. What will suit your business’ needs the best? Your candidate should have expertise in your industry, be able to speak to all stages of the process with knowledge and experience, be forthcoming with any weaknesses, and make sure they are rock solid communicators. Consider a set of skills tests and see how they measure up to your criteria.

Give your full cycle recruiter the support they need: Again, good FC recruiters are in is a high-demand. If they aren’t satisfied with your company, they’ll find another. Offer to pay for additional training and other career development opportunities. Show a career path and how their role can expand as the company grows. Along with benefits, a professional development plan helps them realize you value them as an integral, necessary part of the business.

Implement software solutions: HR software packages can be customized to provide solutions to specific challenges your hiring process faces and scale up as your HR needs expand. Initially, this might be an applicant tracking systems or sourcing automation tools. Later, as your business grows, a more comprehensive suite may be more suitable.

Continually assess your processes: An HR department, even if it’s small, needs to stay in front of current business needs. Review what is being done and how it might be done better. Identify what’s missing and how your operation can benefit by simple improvements to what you’re already doing.

Full Cycle Recruiting Drives Long-Term Success in Talent Acquisition

A full cycle approach to recruiting isn’t the right fit for every business. But with the right full cycle recruiter driving the process, you will be ready to handle the challenges created by your company’s success. To recap, the benefits include an improved candidate experience, higher quality hires, better retention, improved communication, and focused accountability in all six stages of the full cycle recruitment process.

Whether you are a recruiting specialist or full cycle recruiter, HireVue’s end-to-end hiring experience platform helps create a more efficient hiring process. To learn more, explore our platform.