Recruitment Process Steps: A UK Guide for Small

Last reviewed: 27 October 2026 against Acas and GOV.UK guidance (see Sources).

The short answer: a UK recruitment process has nine steps: agree the need, write the job description and person specification, advertise, screen applications, shortlist, interview, decide, make a conditional offer with a right to work check, and onboard with a written statement on day one. No law sets the steps, but the law applies at every one of them: discrimination, data protection and right to work checks.

Acas puts it plainly: "There are no set processes that are required by law. But employers must follow a fair process." This guide is for a small UK employer running that process without an HR team: what happens at each step, who does it, and what you have to get right.

The 9 Steps at a Glance

Step	Who usually does it	What you must get right
1. Agree the need	Hiring manager and budget holder	Employee, worker or contractor? Can you afford the full cost?
2. Job description and person spec	Hiring manager	Essential criteria the job really needs
3. Advertise	Recruiter or owner	No discriminatory wording; your business name on the advert
4. Screen applications	Recruiter or owner	Use only the information you told applicants you'd use
5. Shortlist	Two or more people	A consistent scoring system
6. Interview	Hiring manager plus one	Same questions, notes against the same criteria
7. Decide and reject	Hiring manager	A recorded reason; tell unsuccessful applicants
8. Conditional offer and right to work	Owner or recruiter	Right to work check before they start
9. Onboard	Owner or line manager	Written statement on day one; tell HMRC by the first payday

Step 1: Agree the Need

Before anything is written, agree three things with whoever holds the budget: why you're hiring, whether the work needs an employee at all, and what it will cost.

GOV.UK's step-by-step guide for first-time employers starts here: check whether you're taking on an employee or someone with another employment status (agency staff, freelancers, contractors), and check you can afford the National Minimum Wage, employer National Insurance, sick pay, pension contributions and family leave pay on top of the salary. If this is your first employee, you also need to register as an employer for PAYE and get Employers' Liability insurance before they start.

Step 2: Write the Job Description and Person Specification

The job description says what the person will do. The person specification says what they need to do it, split into essential and desirable criteria.

Keep the essential list short and honest. Every essential criterion becomes a pass-or-fail test at screening, so a criterion that isn't really essential will remove good applicants. Acas warns that words like "recent graduate" or "highly experienced" can discriminate on age, and that you "must be able to prove you have a good reason for any job requirement in your advert".

Leave right to work out of the essential criteria. It's a check you make at the offer stage (step 8), not something to judge from a CV. Our guide to fair CV screening criteria explains which criteria hold up and which don't.

Step 3: Advertise the Role

You're not legally required to advertise, but Acas recommends it: you reach more suitable applicants and you're less likely to discriminate. It suggests advertising in at least two different ways or places, for example a jobs website and your own careers page.

Give applicants the job description, the person specification and what you'll need from them later: proof of right to work, references or a health check. GOV.UK adds that the advert must include your business name and contact details (or the agency's), and that your application form should only collect information you need.

Step 4: Screen Applications

Screening removes applications that can't do the job: they miss an essential criterion. Read each one against the person specification, and nothing else. Acas says to "use the information you've told applicants you will use", and to avoid deciding from someone's personal social media.

This is the step that breaks a small team. Reading every application properly takes time, and the ones you read last tend to get less attention than the first. What is CV screening? compares the ways to do it, from reading every CV by hand to screening software.

Step 5: Shortlist for Interview

Shortlisting ranks the applications that passed screening and picks who you'll interview. Acas recommends that "ideally 2 or more people should be involved in choosing who to interview", using a consistent scoring system: turn each point in the job description and person specification into a checklist and score every application against it.

Decide how many people you'll interview before you start, then take the top scores. Our worked shortlisting grid shows the whole process with six CVs, including a tie at the cut-off.

Step 6: Interview

Ask every candidate the same core questions, tied to the same criteria you screened against, and have each interviewer write their notes before they compare views. Make reasonable adjustments if a candidate asks for them.

You don't have to interview by law, but Acas says it can still be a good idea, both to check the person is right for the job and to reduce the risk of discrimination. Our interview feedback form gives each interviewer a structure for their notes.

Step 7: Decide, and Tell the Others

Make the decision from the interview evidence against your criteria, and write down the reason. If an unsuccessful candidate asks why they weren't chosen, that note is your answer.

Tell everyone you interviewed, and ideally everyone who applied. A short, specific message is kinder than silence. Our rejection letter templates cover rejections after screening, after a first interview and after a final interview.

Step 8: Make a Conditional Offer and Check Right to Work

Make the offer in writing. Acas lists what the offer letter should include: the job title, whether the offer is conditional (on references or a health check, for example), salary, hours, benefits, pension, holiday, location, start date, any probation period, and how to accept.

Then check the person's right to work. GOV.UK is clear: "You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them." Check every person you're about to employ in the same way, whatever their background. If the role needs a criminal record check (healthcare or work with children, for example), find which DBS check applies.

If you include no conditions, the offer is unconditional, and Acas warns that withdrawing it could be against the law.

Step 9: Onboard

On or before their first day, give the new employee a written statement of employment particulars: the principal statement on day one, and the wider written statement within two months. Tell HMRC about them on or before their first payday, and check whether you need to put them into a workplace pension.

Keep their recruitment records only as long as you have a clear business need for them. GOV.UK's data protection guidance says not to reuse application data for anything else, such as a marketing list.

How Long Does a Recruitment Process Take?

There's no legal timescale, so plan backwards from the start date you need. Two dates are fixed by others:

The candidate's notice period. Their contract sets it. The legal minimum is a week if they've been in their job for more than a month, but many contracts ask for longer, so ask at interview.
Pre-employment checks. A right to work check must be done before they start, and a DBS check, if the role needs one, takes as long as the Disclosure and Barring Service takes.

The steps you control are advertising, screening, shortlisting and interviewing. Of those, screening is where a small team loses the most time, because it grows with the number of applications.

Where Marxel Fits

Marxel is an applicant tracking system with CV screening built in, and it covers steps 3 to 7:

Advertise: publish the job on your Marxel careers page and in a job board feed that Indeed, Adzuna, Talent.com and Jooble can read.
Screen and shortlist: Marxel turns your job description and notes into criteria you review, then shows each candidate a Best match band (Strong, Good, Partial or Low) with the must-haves they meet and the CV evidence behind it.
Interview and decide: send a booking link from your own Gmail or Outlook, record interview evidence against the same criteria, and compare every interviewer's notes side by side before one named person records the decision.

Hiring managers join free and see only the jobs they're added to. The Free plan screens 200 CVs a month with no credit card.

FAQ

What are the main stages of the recruitment process?

Planning (agree the need and write the job description and person specification), attracting (advertise), selecting (screen, shortlist, interview and decide) and appointing (conditional offer, right to work check and onboarding). Guides number the steps differently; this one uses nine.

Is there a legal recruitment process in the UK?

No. Acas says there are no set processes required by law, but you must follow a fair process, and discrimination and data protection law apply throughout. You must also check right to work before someone starts, and give employees a written statement on their first day.

Do I have to interview candidates before offering a job?

Not by law, unless your own policy says so. Acas still recommends interviewing, so you can check the person is right for the job and reduce the risk of discrimination.

When should I check right to work?

Before the person starts work, normally once you've made a conditional offer. Don't screen CVs on right to work: check every person you're about to employ in the same way.

What do I need to do before hiring my first employee in the UK?

Register as an employer with HMRC and set up PAYE, get Employers' Liability insurance, check your workplace pension duties, and check you can afford the full cost of employing someone. GOV.UK's Get ready to employ someone guide lists every step.

Sources

All accessed 27 October 2026.

Recruitment Process Steps: A UK Guide for Small Employers