What does a good hiring process look like, from vacancy to signature?

Five, and in this order. Each step produces something the next step needs. If it is missing, the process catches up on it later, and that costs more time than the step itself.

1. Define the need. One conversation between the manager who has to fill the role and the person who is going to search. Outcome: a one-page profile. What the person actually does in the first six months, which three things they must be able to do and which are merely nice to have, the salary range, the location, the hours.

2. Publish the vacancy. The profile becomes a text that answers the reader's questions rather than the company's: what will I do there, with whom, for how much, and why would I move. Then the channel: careers page, job boards, social media, direct approach. Outcome: applications from people who understood the job.

3. Review the applications and get back to people. A reply within one working day, even if it only says the application has arrived and when the next step comes. Then a short phone call with the people who fit the profile: ten minutes, three questions, one appointment. Outcome: a shortlist, and everyone on it knows where they stand. What an application route looks like that does not lose people along the way is described under application funnels.

4. Hold the interviews. Two are enough in most cases: one with the manager about the work, one with the team or a second person about working together. Both within two weeks of the application, both with the same questions for everyone, so that at the end you compare instead of remember.

5. Make the offer. Within two working days of the last interview, verbally first, then in writing, with everything that was discussed in the interview included. Outcome: a signature, and a person who finds on day one what they were promised.

Longer than the five steps suggest. UWV, the Dutch employee insurance agency, asks employers every autumn about the vacancies that arose in the previous twelve months. In autumn 2025 they called 45 per cent of those hard to fill; in 2024 and 2023 it was still 53 per cent.

The five steps themselves, when they run, take little time. What keeps a vacancy open for long sits in three places in between.

Before the vacancy. The position is open, but the profile is not ready, the approval sits with the board, the budget is being checked. What is achievable in practice: profile and approval within a week, because the conversation from step 1 settles both at once.

Between the application and the first contact. The application sits in an inbox, the manager is on holiday, HR is waiting for a reply. From the candidate's side: silence. After a week of silence they may already have an interview elsewhere. Achievable: a reply within one working day, from whoever sees the application, not after internal consultation.

Between the last interview and the offer. Everyone agrees, but the contract still has to pass two departments. Achievable: the commitment verbally on the day of the decision, the offer in writing within two working days. The contract can follow; the commitment must not wait.

Whoever removes these three waiting periods makes the process considerably shorter in most cases without removing a single step. With RPO, a partner takes responsibility for all or part of your recruitment process; what that looks like in practice is described under how we work.

As few people as possible, and one of them decides. Every extra person on the panel costs an appointment, and every appointment costs days.

What works is three roles. The manager who is filling the role is there from the first interview and decides. A second person from the team or the neighbouring department sees the candidates in the second interview and gives an impression, not a vote. And someone who runs the process, from HR or from outside: they keep the appointments, the feedback and the criteria together, so that the question of what matters is not reopened after every interview.

The criteria are fixed before the first interview, and they are the ones from step 1: the three things the person must be able to do. Whoever sets the criteria only after the interviews picks the person who left the best impression, and that is rarely the same person who does the job best. How we record interviews and feedback is described under screening and candidate follow-up.

How many interviews make sense?

Two. In our experience a third interview rarely brings anything new, costs another appointment and therefore days, and tells the candidate that you cannot make up your mind. If you want more certainty, replace the third interview with a one-hour assignment or a day on the job: that shows more than any further interview, and the candidate gets to know the work.

How quickly should you reject someone?

As quickly as you have decided, and with one sentence of explanation. A rejection after two days is a message to the candidate. A rejection after four weeks is an insult, and they will pass it on. Leaving someone in the inbox until the vacancy is filled feels free. It costs you the next application from their circle.

What if too few people apply, or candidates drop out?

Those are two different problems with two different causes. If too few applications come in, the problem sits in steps 1 and 2: the profile, the text or the channel. How to narrow that down is described under vacancies stay open. If candidates drop out along the way, the problem sits in steps 3 to 5: the waiting, the number of interviews, or an offer that turned out different from the advert. That is covered under candidates drop out.

Does the process have to be the same for every vacancy?

The steps yes, the depth no. For a warehouse or production role a phone call and one interview on site are enough, often on the same day. For a management role two interviews and an assignment are appropriate. What stays the same are the times in between: a reply within one working day, an offer within two. The person who operates a machine dislikes waiting just as much as the person who is going to run a department.

We build hiring processes so that nobody waits between the steps without knowing what for; if you would like to talk that through, SocialFind is happy to think along. If you would like articles like this in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.