Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring the best-qualified candidate for a job – someone who not only has the right skills and experience, but also fits the company’s culture.

The recruitment process can be divided into three main stages:

1. Planning
2. Sourcing
3. Screening
4. Selecting
5. Onboarding

1. Planning

The first stage of the recruitment process is planning. This is when the company decides what positions they need to fill and what kind of candidates they are looking for.

2. Sourcing

The second stage of the recruitment process is sourcing. This is when the company starts to look for candidates. They may do this by advertising the job, searching on job boards, or using recruitment agencies.

3. Screening

The third stage of the recruitment process is screening. This is when the company starts to narrow down the candidates to a shortlist. They will do this by looking at the candidates’ CV’s, interviewing them, and doing background checks.

4. Selecting

The fourth stage of the recruitment process is selecting. This is when the company chooses the candidate they want to hire. They will do this by considering the candidates’ skills, experience, and fit with the company.

5. Onboarding

The fifth and final stage of the recruitment process is onboarding. This is when the company welcomes the new employee and helps them settle into their new job.

Synonyms for recruitment

These are synonyms for recruitment:

• Staffing
• Talent Acquisition
• Talent Attraction
• Sourcing
• Placement
• Executive search

Staffing

The meaning of staffing is very similar to recruitment, but where recruitment is broadly used to refer to any process related to finding and hiring the right candidates, staffing is primarily but exclusively used in the context of recruitment by specialized recruitment agencies. These agencies are often referred to as recruitment agencies or staffing agencies. To ''staff'' literally means to fill one or multiple positions.

Talent Acquisition

The meaning of talent acquisition is similar to recruitment, but is a newer way of framing recruitment as an ongoing process of acquiring talent (strategically) as opposed to a more transactional approach to filling vacancies. Talent acquisition is also a commonly used term in job titles of recruitment professionals, examples are 'Talent Acquisition Specialist' and 'Talent Acquisition Manager'. Since talent acquisition is mostly used to describe an ongoing process of acquiring talent, it is mostly used to refer to internal recruitment processes and positions, but occasionally it's also used to refer to external recruitment activities like those of recruitment agencies.

Talent Attraction

The meaning of talent attraction is similar to recruitment although it is more commonly used in the context of a marketing driven approach to hiring. Talent attraction strategies for example usually deploy marketing campaigns to pull candidates in to the employer's brand, mission and open job positions (attract). This can be done through a blog, other content like videos and social media strategies to engage candidates.

Sourcing

The meaning of sourcing is used in a similar way to recruitment but is mostly focussed on the initial part of the recruitment process; the search and initial outreach to candidates. Mostly sourcing is used int he context of finding passive candidates who did not apply to jobs and generally are not actively looking for a job but you 'source' them to become interested in your company and job positions but can also be used in the context of job advertising and other recruitment techniques.

Placement

The meaning of placement is similar to recruitment and most similar to the meaning of staffing in the sense that it's a more transactional perspective on recruitment and about placing individuals for particular open vacancies rather than a more holistic view to recruitment like talent acquisition and talent attraction. The term placement is primarily used by recruitment agencies to refer to their services of helping to fill specific roles in the name of the hiring company.

Executive search

The meaning of placement is similar to recruitment although executive search places the emphasis on finding and hiring more senior, executive, candidates. Executive search is focussed on roles like Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), other positions in the executive suite, Vice Presidents or directors.