Build a Complete Hiring Process

Putting It All Together

In the previous lesson, we explored hr policies, communications, and workflows. Now let’s build on that foundation. Over the past seven lessons, you’ve built skills in every major stage of the HR lifecycle:

• Writing inclusive job descriptions (Lesson 2)
• Screening candidates with structured rubrics (Lesson 3)
• Designing interviews with behavioral questions (Lesson 4)
• Creating onboarding programs (Lesson 5)
• Writing performance reviews (Lesson 6)
• Drafting policies and communications (Lesson 7)

Now it’s time to connect these pieces into a single, cohesive hiring workflow that you can use for any role at your organization.

What You’ll Build

By the end of this capstone, you’ll have a complete hiring process document that covers every stage from “We need to hire someone” to “They’re fully onboarded and have their first performance check-in scheduled.” This isn’t a theoretical exercise – you’ll build it for a real role at your organization (or a role you plan to hire for).

From Parts to Process

The biggest insight from this course: hiring isn’t a series of isolated tasks. It’s a connected system where each stage feeds the next:

Job Description → defines → Screening Criteria
Screening Criteria → feed → Interview Questions
Interview Evaluation → informs → Offer Decision
Offer Decision → triggers → Onboarding Plan
Onboarding Milestones → set up → Performance Reviews

When these stages are disconnected – when the job description says one thing, the interview evaluates something else, and onboarding covers a third thing – hiring becomes inconsistent and unpredictable. When they’re aligned, you get a process that reliably identifies and develops great people.

Step 1: Define the Role

Choose a specific role. Not a generic template – a real position your organization needs (or recently hired for).

Help me define a role specification for [Job Title] at
my organization.

Context:
- Company type: [size, industry, stage]
- Team: [team the person will join, size, reporting
  structure]
- Why we're hiring: [backfill, growth, new function]
- Key challenges: [what makes this role hard]

Generate:
1. Role summary (2-3 sentences)
2. Top 5 competencies needed for success (ranked
   by importance)
3. Deal-breaker requirements vs. learnable skills
4. Success metrics (how we'll know this hire is
   working at 90 days)

This role specification becomes the foundation document that everything else references.

Step 2: Create the Job Description

Using the framework from Lesson 2, draft the job posting:

Using this role specification:
[paste role spec from Step 1]

Write a job description following this structure:
1. Hook: Why this role matters (2-3 sentences)
2. Responsibilities: 4-5 specific, outcome-focused
   bullet points
3. Requirements: 3-4 must-haves only (no nice-to-haves)
4. Benefits: Specific compensation range and perks
5. About us: 2-3 sentences about the team, not
   company history

Use inclusive, gender-neutral language.
Keep under 600 words.

Checkpoint: Run the output through the Job Description Bias Checker. Note any flags and address them.

Step 3: Build the Screening System

From Lesson 3, create your evaluation framework:

Based on this job description:
[paste job description from Step 2]

Create:
1. Knockout criteria (2-3 binary pass/fail requirements)
2. Screening rubric with 4-5 evaluation dimensions
   (weighted, with defined scoring levels)
3. Phone screen guide (4 questions with scoring rubric)
4. A decision template: "Advance to interview if..."

Alignment check: Does every screening dimension trace back to a competency in the role spec? If you’re screening for something that isn’t in the job description, either the JD or the rubric needs updating.

Step 4: Design the Interview Process

From Lesson 4, build your interview plan:

Based on this role specification and screening rubric:
[paste relevant sections]

Design a 3-round interview process:

Round 1: Phone screen (done in Step 3)

Round 2: [Skills/Technical]
- 2-3 competencies to assess
- 3-4 behavioral questions with follow-ups
- Scoring rubric for each question
- Duration: 45-60 minutes

Round 3: [Behavioral/Culture]
- 2-3 different competencies to assess
- 3-4 behavioral questions with follow-ups
- Scoring rubric for each question
- Duration: 45-60 minutes

Also include:
- Interviewer assignments (who assesses what)
- Post-interview debrief format
- Scoring calibration process
- Decision framework: "Hire if..." / "Don't hire if..."

Alignment check: Every competency from the role spec should be assessed in at least one interview round. No competency should be assessed in more than two rounds (depth over breadth).

Quick Check

Map each competency from your role spec to a specific interview round. If any competency isn’t assessed anywhere, you have a gap. If every round tries to assess the same competency, you’re being redundant.

Step 5: Prepare the Offer Process

Often overlooked but critical. Draft:

Create offer process documentation:

1. Offer letter template for [Job Title]
   - Key terms to include
   - Language that's warm, not just legal
   - Clear next steps for the candidate

2. Offer call script
   - How to deliver the offer verbally
   - What to cover: role, comp, benefits, start date
   - How to handle negotiation

3. Rejection email template (for final-round candidates
   who didn't get the offer)
   - Respectful, specific, encouraging
   - Leaves the door open for future roles

Step 6: Build the Onboarding Plan

From Lesson 5, create the onboarding program for this specific role:

Create an onboarding plan for [Job Title]:

1. Preboarding checklist (offer acceptance → day 1)
2. First-day agenda (hour by hour)
3. First-week plan (day by day)
4. 30-60-90 day plan with specific milestones for:
   - Knowledge/learning goals
   - Relationship-building goals
   - Contribution/output goals
5. Onboarding buddy assignment criteria
6. Check-in cadence and format

Alignment check: The onboarding milestones should connect directly to the competencies you hired for. If you assessed problem-solving in the interview, the onboarding plan should give the new hire opportunities to demonstrate and develop problem-solving.

Step 7: Connect to Performance Management

From Lesson 6, close the loop:

Create a first performance review template for [Job Title],
designed for 90 days after start.

Include:
- Evaluation dimensions matching the role spec competencies
- Self-assessment prompts for the new hire
- Manager assessment framework using Observation-Impact-
  Assessment-Direction format
- Goal-setting template for the next review period
- Discussion guide for the 90-day conversation

This completes the cycle. The competencies you defined in Step 1 are now assessed at every stage: screening, interview, onboarding, and performance review.

Your Complete Hiring Process Document

Assemble everything into one document:

Create a cover page and table of contents for my
complete hiring process for [Job Title].

Sections:
1. Role Specification
2. Job Description
3. Screening Process (knockout criteria + rubric)
4. Interview Process (rounds, questions, rubrics)
5. Offer Process (letter template + call script)
6. Onboarding Plan (preboarding through 90 days)
7. Performance Review (90-day review template)

For each section, include:
- Owner (who's responsible)
- Timeline (when this happens)
- Tools/systems used
- Key decisions and decision-makers

Maintaining Your Process

A hiring process isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it document. Build in feedback loops:

After every hire, ask:

• Did the job description accurately reflect the role? (Ask the new hire at 90 days)
• Did the screening criteria predict interview performance?
• Did interview performance predict job performance?
• Where did onboarding fall short? (Ask the new hire and their manager)

Quarterly review:

• Which interview questions produced the most useful signal?
• Where are candidates dropping out of the process, and why?
• Is your pipeline demographic data reflecting the diversity of your applicant pool?
• What feedback have candidates given about their experience?

Annual refresh:

• Update competency models based on what top performers actually demonstrate
• Refresh question banks with new behavioral questions
• Review and update policies referenced in the process

Exercise: Build Your Capstone

Complete Steps 1-7 for a real role. If you don’t have an active requisition, use a role you recently hired for and build the process retroactively – you’ll immediately see gaps in your previous approach.

Minimum deliverable: Role specification, job description, screening rubric, one interview round with questions and rubric, and a 30-60-90 onboarding plan.

Full deliverable: All seven steps, assembled into a single document you can share with hiring managers and your HR team.

Key Takeaways

• A complete hiring process connects every stage: description, screening, interviews, offer, onboarding, and review
• Every stage should trace back to the same set of role-specific competencies
• Build the process for a specific role, not a generic template – specificity is what makes it useful
• Alignment checks at each step ensure your process is coherent, not fragmented
• Treat the process as a living document – track outcomes and refine continuously
• The time investment in building this system pays dividends every time you hire for this role

Congratulations on completing the Smarter Hiring with AI course. You now have the skills and frameworks to make every stage of the hiring lifecycle faster, fairer, and more effective. Claim your certificate and start putting these tools to work.