Enabling End-to-End Recruitment with SAP SuccessFactors

Recruitment is the first step for enabling the organization for its staffing requirements. It is important to value this step in the organization as it enables to bring in the right pool of talent at the right time. The right talent who will be the best fit to fulfil the roles and responsibilities required to build a profitable organization. The process of recruitment may vary from company to company, but the end goal of it remains the same. Processes for recruitment may vary within an organization – whether it is to source candidates within the company that relates to internal movement or to source candidates from outside based on the requirements of the role. The fundamental recruitment lifecycle consists of six different phases - preparing, sourcing, screening, selecting, hiring, and onboarding. 

Preparing: In this stage, the recruiter gathers information from the hiring manager once the job requisition is approved internally. The recruiter understands the required skills, role in the team, personality, and capabilities of the suitable candidates. The recruiter then writes the job description and does the necessary job postings or advertisements.  

Sourcing: This stage focusses on building and maintaining the talent pool – a database which holds profiles of the candidates which meets the requirements. 

Screening: The screening process is carried out to filter the suitable candidates by resume screening, phone screening, pre-selection assessments based on cognitive testing, job sampling, personality testing, etc. This stage aims to bring the number of candidates to a manageable group.  

Selecting: This step focusses on sending assignments, arranging interviews, participating in the interview process, and providing feedback to the candidates. The major activity in this stage is scheduling and maintaining a close contact with the hiring manager.  

Hiring: Once the recruiter and hiring manager have reduced the shortlist to between one and three candidates, it is time to do a reference check and, in some cases, also a background check. It also includes discussion about the salary, benefits & compensations. The recruiter must gather all the information about the candidate and once he or she is sure about the candidate, he/she releases the offer letter.  

Onboarding: The recruiter’s job doesn’t end with hiring the candidate. Once the candidate has signed the contract, the pre-boarding period starts. It refers to the time between the candidate signing the contract and starting their new job. It is crucial to keep in touch with new hires during this period to keep them engaged and excited to get started. Things to do during a pre-boarding can vary from sending the new hire the employee handbook, inviting them to (informal) team activities, sharing information about their first day, having a face-to-face or virtual coffee with them, and so on. Once they have built a rapport, the freshly hired employees may feel more comfortable sharing their concerns with the recruiter, at least during the first couple of weeks. 

Wrapping Up: Full cycle recruiting can help build better relationships with the hiring managers and the candidates. It can also provide a good experience for everyone involved in the hiring process. Before implementing this type of recruiting, though, carefully consider your organization’s policies and needs.  

Recruitment process with SAP SuccessFactors:

As a recruitment team, you’ve the responsibility to not only hire but to also ensure a seamless hiring and onboarding process. SAP SuccessFactors features include end-to-end recruiting and onboarding process. SAP SuccessFactors recruiting brings innovation and enhancements in recruiting across several areas, including applicant management, interview scheduling, job posting, candidate feedback, and more. It does not work in isolation, but it integrates various modules with SAP SuccessFactors viz. Employee Central and Onboarding Process.  

The first stage is the recruitment position detail gathering which can be done from Employee Central within SAP SuccessFactors which manages the entire hire-to-retire functions of an employee within an organization. The open recruitment position detail is passed to the hiring manager or recruiter. The recruiter will create a job requisition. Requisition would encompass all the details about number of open positions, definition of the template type and date of the new job.  

Once the requisition is created within SAP SuccessFactors’ Employee Central, then it is taken to the management for approval. It will be then routed for job posting on various career portals,  including internal postings, external postings as well as agencies based on the business needs of the organization. 

Candidates will be able to see the jobs postings in all the job marketplaces including in the company career portal, through which it is expected from them to apply for the concerned jobs, based on their required skill sets. In the application process, the candidate has to build his profile with his resume and the necessary details asked by the recruiter. Once the application is received by the recruiter, it will then be shortlisted by the recruiter or hiring manager to proceed for the next steps, to carry out the job interview. The recruiter needs to schedule the interview and inform the hiring the manager based on his available slot.  

Based on the interview, a rating is provided by the interviewer. This rating helps to determine the success of the candidate getting into the role. If the candidate is suitable for the role required then the recruiter will move to the next steps. There are three steps the recruiter has to take before the offer is released – initiation, approval and release. The candidate then gets the offer from the recruiter. Once the candidate accepts the offer, it is then sent for initiating the onboarding. For details on SAP SuccessFactors onboarding process, watch our blog space for updates. 

If you’re looking to empower your recruitment teams to deliver successful candidate experiences via SAP SuccessFactors recruiting, contact us now. Our consultants can advise you how best to get on to it in order to have a seamless integration with your HR.

Suruchi Majumdar 

SAP SuccessFactors Consultant