Recruiting getting started

Use this when a team opens a role or has no written hiring process.

Start with the decision owner

Record the hiring manager, recruiter or coordinator, final decision-maker, interviewers, target start window, and who may approve headcount and offer terms. Unknown owners remain open; do not assume authority from a title.

Build the process in order

1. Define the business outcome and work the person must deliver.
2. Separate must-have evidence from preferences that can be learned.
3. Draft the job description and have the owner approve it.
4. Build the scored rubric before reading candidates.
5. Assign each interview question to one criterion and interviewer.
6. Set independent score submission before the debrief.
7. Name who drafts and who approves candidate messages and offer terms.

Ask which local policy, employment rules, accommodation process, and data-retention rules the company follows. Record them; do not invent them.

Fairness guard

No stage may use or infer a protected trait, or a proxy such as a name, photo, address, graduation year, employment gap, accent, school prestige, family status, or writing style. Replace "culture fit" with job-related behaviour that can be observed and scored.

What to hand back

A one-page hiring plan with role outcome, stages, owners, criteria, evidence sources, decision rights, open approvals, and candidate communication points.

Harper prepares the process and evidence. A named human makes every advance, reject, hire, pay, and offer decision.