Recruitment and Selection Process in Canada 

Introduction

In Canada there are about 25,000 companies considering only those that have more than 100 employees. That is a huge quantity of different work environments, so it is reasonable to consider that internal business processes may vary among these companies across the country. In addition, about 90% of the workforce in the country is regulated by provincial governments, what makes everything even more complicated.

However, key business processes have similarities in their steps since goals are very similar. That happens in the recruitment and selection processes.

Core Steps

Below there are some characteristics of the recruitment processes in most of the companies in Canada, no matter the size.

Application

This is a period defined by the company to accept applications from candidates. It starts with the identification of a job opening by the company, what can come from HR planning or manager request. Then, the job requirements are determined, and appropriate sources and methods are chosen. Then, applications start. Application package can include not only resume and cover letter, but also an online assessment containing questions to help the employer to focus on the skills and characteristics they are looking for. This assessment takes place just after resume and cover letter application and may be mandatory to finish application. The recruitment process ends within this step.

Interviews

After a certain quantity of applications have been received by the employer, interviews can start. There are different ways to conduct an interview. The most common way to conduct the first interview is by phone. In that phase an HR representative contacts the potential employee with some basic questions related to candidate’s profile. After the first contact from HR, candidates are invited to an interview in person with line manager in partnership with HR.

That interview can take place at the company site, which is the most common way, or in an external location. In that phase the candidates will be assessed regarding their hard skills related to the role and regarding their soft skills. That is why HR representative attends this phase. Depending on the role level, other interviews can be part of the process. For instance, if the company is multinational and the position to be filled is a manager position, perhaps the candidates will have to attend interviews with managers from headquarter.

Job Offer

After interviews are done, the next step is the job offer. However, it does not mean the process is finished. Normally the companies select three candidates considered approved from previous steps and then contact them by phone to confirm that they are available and ask for references. After reference checks are conducted, then the final offer is issued for the preferred candidate.

The reason why more than one is selected for the final step is because it is common for the whole hiring process to take more than four weeks, so candidates may be no longer available, or they may fail the reference check. If only one candidate is selected and any of those problems happens, the entire process would have to start over. TrendsHiring people is considered for many companies the most important thing they do because of several factors.

Therefore, everything related to recruiting a new employee is continuously being challenged to improve results for the organization. We are in a candidate-driven era since power is shifting from employer to the employees and many recruitment specialists consider that the transformation taking place will significantly impact the way companies hire people in the upcoming years in Canada and maybe around the world.

Analytics

Use analytics to measure the success of sources used to hire personnel is becoming more common. Technology will help to define which recruitment source is the best option for each hiring process based on a huge quantity of factors. It is expected that costs and time to hire are decreased while quality of hire is improved. Artificial IntelligenceApplicant tracking systems are being already used to screen candidates. That saves a lot of time from HR department.

Diversity and Inclusion

Companies considered innovative have been taking benefit from diversity and inclusion since a long time ago. Now is time for most of the companies do the same. Social MediaMany employers have converted networking websites from dangerous mediums to market assets. They are using this tool to hire new employees. Recruiters go to networking websites to assess potential candidates profile.

Video Assessment

Videos created by the potential candidates are helping employers to assess communications skills. That is becoming more popular because it helps to save time during the recruitment process.

Conclusion

As competition for talented people in Canada is more intense than ever, innovative companies will separate themselves from archaic and outdated. Understanding the workforce of the future will provide the HR staff with more chances of success, which means help companies to be more profitable.