Recruitment and hiring policy: from approved vacancy to signed offer

A founder hires a developer on a call, agrees a pay figure in the car park and tells HR to prepare the letter. Two months later a team lead asks why a colleague doing the same work earns less. Nobody can find the interview notes or the approval. A recruitment and hiring policy is meant to prevent that afternoon.

It standardises how a role is justified, advertised, assessed and offered. It covers every external and internal vacancy, including referrals, and it applies to everyone who takes part in a hiring decision, from the requesting manager to the person who sends the offer. Interns and trainees can be covered by the same policy or by a short annex.

Most hiring trouble begins before an advertisement goes out. The policy should say that no recruitment starts without an approved vacancy. A manager raises a requisition, HR checks it against the workforce plan and the budget, and a named approver signs it.

• Requisition form: role title, reporting line, reason (new post, replacement, expansion), target joining month and the pay range proposed.
• Job description: purpose of the role, main responsibilities, required skills, preferred skills and the person the role reports to.
• Recruitment budget: advertising, agency fees if any, assessment tools and referral rewards, approved before spend begins.
• Internal first or open to all: decide whether current employees see the vacancy before the public does.

Writing the job description is worth the effort. It becomes the yardstick for screening, the basis for interview questions and, later, the first reference point in the probation review. See how the probation and confirmation policy picks up from here.

Fair selection means the same criteria are applied to every candidate for the same role. Write the criteria down before applications arrive. Skills, relevant experience and behaviours linked to the job description are legitimate. Age, gender, religion, marital status or family plans are not.

The company must decide how many interview stages a role needs and who sits on each. A junior role might need a screening call and one panel. A lead role might add a practical assessment and a conversation with a senior leader. More stages give more evidence but lose candidates who accept faster offers elsewhere.

Candidate: [name]     Role: [title]     Requisition no: [number].
Criterion 1 (from job description): [skill]     Score [1 to 5]     Evidence: [one line].
Criterion 2: [skill]     Score [1 to 5]     Evidence: [one line].
Criterion 3: [behaviour]     Score [1 to 5]     Evidence: [one line].
Recommendation: proceed / hold / decline.
Interviewer: [name]     Date: [date].
Scorecards are filed with the requisition and kept for [number] months.

Technical and practical assessments need the same discipline. Set the task, the time allowed and the marking guide in advance. If candidates are asked to build something, say whether it will be used and avoid taking free work.

• Interview stages: how many, who attends and whether a panel member from another team must be present.
• Hiring authorities: which grades a department head can hire alone and which need the owner or a second approver.
• Compensation approvals: who may agree an offer inside the band, who approves above it and who records the reason.
• Verification requirements: which pre-employment checks apply to which roles, such as identity, reference and qualification checks, and what happens if a result is unclear.

Every option trades speed for control. A single approver is quick but invites favouritism. Two approvers slow a hire by days. Many companies settle on one approver inside the band and two outside it, with the rule written plainly in the policy.

1. 1

   Raise and approve the requisition.

   Manager submits the form. HR checks the plan and budget. The approver signs before any advertisement is placed.

2. 2

   Advertise and receive applications.

   HR posts the approved job description on the chosen channels. Referrals are logged with the referrer's name.

3. 3

   Screen and interview.

   HR screens against the written criteria. Interviewers complete scorecards the same day.

4. 4

   Check and decide.

   HR collects reference notes and runs the checks the policy requires, with the candidate's written consent. The hiring manager records the decision.

5. 5

   Approve pay and issue the offer.

   The pay approver signs the offer approval form. HR issues the offer letter and tracks acceptance.

6. 6

   Coordinate joining.

   HR confirms the date, lists the documents to bring and passes the file to onboarding.

Offer letters should state the role, reporting line, pay components, joining date, probation terms and the documents needed. Keep the wording consistent across hires so that terms are not negotiated by accident in an email thread. The hand-off to the employee onboarding policy should be a named task, not an assumption.

Reference and identity checks are only fair when candidates know about them. Tell candidates in writing which checks will run, ask for their consent and hold the results as restricted personal data. Do not contact a current employer without permission. The law on digital personal data reaches candidate information too, so get the privacy wording reviewed.

Decide how long unsuccessful candidates' files are kept and who can open them. Many companies keep a short, fixed period and then delete. State the period you choose in the policy, and make sure the applicant tracking sheet or software can enforce it.

Keep one hiring file per vacancy: requisition form, job description, screening sheet, scorecards, reference notes, check consents, offer approval form, signed offer and the joining checklist. Hiring managers and interviewers acknowledge the policy once, with the date and version, before they sit on a panel.

Review the policy each year or after any hiring dispute. Version it, record what changed and tell managers. If the stages feel heavy, recruitment process consulting can trim them. Where this policy sits in the wider set is mapped in the full list of 30 policies. Drafting help is on the policy and governance service page.

Title and ID: Recruitment and Hiring Policy, HR-POL-005.
Purpose: to hire fairly and consistently against approved needs.
Scope: all vacancies, internal and external, and all staff who take part in hiring.
Definitions: vacancy, requisition, panel, scorecard, pre-employment check.
Policy statements: no hiring without an approved requisition; criteria fixed before screening; [number] interview stages for [grade].
Procedures: requisition, advertise, screen, interview, check, approve, offer, join.
Roles: hiring manager, HR, approver, interviewer.
Approval authority: offers within band approved by [role]; above band by [role].
Exceptions: written reason, approved by [role], filed.
Violations: breach reviewed under the disciplinary and grievance policy.
Law and rules: [your adviser to confirm].
Forms: requisition, scorecard, reference note, check consent, offer approval.
Issue record: v[number] dated [date].
Revisit in [month], owner [role].
Panel members confirm: policy read, understood, accepted. Initials [x], date [date], version [number].