Mass hiring: follow candidates from appointment to first working day
A large applicant list does not guarantee enough people on the production line. Recruitment needs a view of appointments, attendance, offers and actual starts. This example workflow helps recruiters and receiving teams agree on the evidence behind each stage.
1. Define demand before opening the campaign
Record site, role, planned shift, required start date and receiving manager. Separate replacement demand from additional headcount. Where skills are required, specify the assessment and assessor.
For example, a line needs 20 starters next week, including five experienced machine operators. These are different requirements; an undifferentiated applicant total cannot establish coverage.
2. Make each stage an observable event
An example funnel is new application, contacted, appointment booked, attended, assessed, offered, accepted and started. Record event date, owner and reasons for withdrawal. Booking is different from attendance; acceptance is different from starting work.
Preserve appointment history when rescheduling. Review possible duplicate applications before merging them. Limit collected information to the recruitment purpose, control access and define retention through company policy.
3. Calculate rates for the same candidate cohort
Suppose 100 people were booked, 70 attended, 40 received offers and 32 started. Attendance is 70/100 = 70%; starts per offer are 32/40 = 80%. Each rate identifies a different transition.
Do not divide this month's starters by this month's new applications when they belong to different groups. For a 30-day retention measure, include only starters with enough observation time and show the reporting date, eligible denominator and treatment of transfers or departures. Thirty days is an illustrative internal checkpoint.
4. Reconcile the onboarding handover
Send confirmed starters to the receiving HR team and manager before day one. Check identity, contact details, start date, role, shift and buddy. Link the employee record to the candidate record to prevent duplicate people.
Record a separate outcome for each no-show: rescheduled, withdrawn or awaiting contact. Refresh the handover list as events occur.
5. Use the weekly review to choose actions
- Recalculate outstanding demand using actual starts.
- Confirm appointment capacity and receiving owners.
- Assign follow-up for no-shows and unclear outcomes.
- Compare recruitment sources using consistent cohorts and observation periods.
- Reconcile duplicate records, start dates and employee handovers.
Close the review with a specific action. More applications will not fix a bottleneck in the receiving process.
Examples and checklists are proposed workflows to adapt to your organisation’s rules and operating conditions.
Discuss your organisation’s workflow
Review the data, responsibilities and workflow that fit your current operations.