Template · Policies and handbooks
Recruitment and selection policy
In short
A recruitment policy sets the rules every hire follows: how a role gets approved, when it is posted internally first, how it is advertised, how candidates are screened, interviewed and selected, who can make an offer, and how records are kept. This recruitment and selection policy template covers each step, with notes on the US laws that shape them.
Recruitment and Selection Policy template
Recruitment and Selection Policy
Replace each [Placeholder] and delete options that do not apply. Add state and local requirements for every location where you hire, such as pay range disclosure, salary history bans and criminal history timing rules. Have employment counsel review before publishing.
1. Purpose and principles
This policy sets out how [Company Name] recruits and selects employees. Our aims are to hire people who can do the job well, to treat every candidate fairly and consistently, to comply with employment law, and to fill roles in a reasonable time. Hiring decisions are based on job-related qualifications and are made without regard to any characteristic protected by law, in line with our [Equal Employment Opportunity Policy].
2. Scope and responsibilities
This policy applies to all hiring of employees, including full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal roles, internal transfers and promotions, and conversions of contractors or temporary workers to employees. Hiring through staffing agencies follows the [Contingent Workforce Policy] but must also meet sections 6 to 9 of this policy.
- **Hiring managers** define the role, take part in selection and make the hiring recommendation. - **Talent Acquisition** manages advertising, screening, scheduling, candidate communication and offers, and owns the process. - **HR** approves job descriptions and pay ranges, handles background checks and onboarding, and keeps records. - **Finance / [approver]** approves headcount.
3. Requisition and approval
No recruiting may begin without an approved requisition in [ATS / HRIS]. Each requisition must include the job title, department, location, work arrangement (on-site, hybrid or remote), full- or part-time status, FLSA classification, pay range, reason for hire (new role or replacement) and target start date. Requisitions are approved by [hiring manager's manager] and [Finance / HR] for budgeted roles, and additionally by [executive] for unbudgeted roles. A current job description approved by HR must be attached.
4. Internal candidates
Open roles are posted internally for [5] business days before or at the same time as external advertising, unless an exception is approved by [HR leader], for example for confidential replacements or roles filled through a succession plan. Employees who meet the eligibility rules in our [Internal Job Posting Policy] may apply. Internal applicants are assessed on the same criteria as external candidates, and every internal applicant who interviews receives feedback on the outcome from Talent Acquisition or the hiring manager.
5. Advertising
Job advertisements must describe the essential duties and job-related requirements, state the pay range where required by law [or: for all roles], include our equal opportunity statement and how to request an accommodation, and avoid wording that suggests a preference based on age, sex or another protected characteristic (for example, "recent graduate" or "digital native"). Requirements such as degrees, years of experience or physical abilities must be genuinely needed for the job. Roles are advertised through [careers site, job boards, social media, community and school partners] to reach a broad pool of applicants.
6. Screening and assessment
Applications are screened against the minimum requirements listed on the requisition, applied the same way to all applicants. Pre-employment assessments, including skills tests, situational judgment tests and automated or AI-based screening tools, may only be used if approved by [Talent Acquisition leader / HR] after review for job relatedness, accessibility and adverse impact. Candidates may request an accommodation at any stage. We do not ask about salary history [where prohibited / in any location], and we do not ask about criminal history before [a conditional offer / the point allowed by applicable law].
7. Interviews and selection
All interviews for a role use a structured interview guide with the same core questions for every candidate and a scoring scale tied to the job's competencies. Interviewers must complete interviewer training before interviewing. Each interviewer records scores and evidence independently in [ATS] before discussing the candidate with others. Questions about protected characteristics or about family plans, health, religion, age, national origin or arrest records are not allowed. The hiring decision is made by the hiring manager with Talent Acquisition, based on the recorded evidence. No one may interview or decide on a candidate who is a relative, partner or close friend.
8. References, background checks and offers
Reference checks are completed by [Talent Acquisition / hiring manager] for [all roles / roles at level X and above] with the candidate's permission. Background checks are conducted only after a conditional offer, with written disclosure and authorization as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state law, and follow our [Background Check Policy], including individualized assessment and pre-adverse action notice before any decision based on the results. Only [Talent Acquisition / HR] may extend offers, in writing, using the approved offer letter template, with pay within the approved range. Pay outside the range requires approval from [approver].
9. Candidate experience and communication
Every applicant receives an acknowledgment of their application. Candidates who interview are told the outcome within [10] business days of their last interview. Candidate information is used only for recruitment, accessed only by people involved in the hiring decision, and handled in line with our [Privacy Notice for Applicants].
10. Records
Talent Acquisition keeps applications, résumés, interview notes and scores, assessment results, offer documents and records of hiring decisions for at least [one year from the date of the hiring decision, or longer where required by law or contract, or while any charge or lawsuit is pending]. Voluntary self-identification data is kept separately and is never used in hiring decisions.
11. Exceptions and review
Exceptions to this policy require written approval from [HR leader] and are recorded with the requisition. This policy is reviewed at least once a year by [HR / Talent Acquisition leader].
Effective date: [Date]. Approved by: [Name, Title].
How to use this template
- Map your current hiring process from requisition to start date, and note where managers do things differently today.
- Fill in the approvers in sections 2 and 3, keeping the chain short enough that requisitions do not sit for weeks.
- Decide your internal posting rule in section 4 and make sure it matches your internal job posting policy.
- Add the state and local rules for every hiring location: pay ranges in ads, salary history bans, criminal history timing and AI screening rules.
- Choose the record retention period with counsel, taking federal, state and contract requirements into account.
- Train hiring managers and interviewers on the policy before it takes effect, with a one-page summary of what they must and must not do.
- Audit a sample of requisitions each quarter against the policy and fix the steps that are routinely skipped.
What a recruitment policy is for
A recruitment policy turns your hiring process into rules that every manager follows the same way. Without one, each hiring manager runs their own version: one posts internally, one does not; one uses a scorecard, one hires on gut feel after a coffee; one quotes salary in the first call, another asks for the candidate's current pay. That inconsistency produces slower hiring, unhappy internal candidates and legal exposure.
The policy is not the same as a hiring plan. A recruitment plan covers a specific hiring need: how many people, which channels, what timeline. The policy covers how every hire is made, whatever the role. Keep the policy short enough to read in ten minutes and put the detailed how-to steps in process documents and ATS workflows that sit underneath it.
The legal rules that shape each step
US recruitment is regulated at almost every step, and the details vary by state and city.
- Advertising and screening: Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA prohibit discrimination in recruitment, including job ads that discourage older applicants and requirements that screen out people with disabilities without being job-related. See our equal opportunity policy for the full list of protected characteristics.
- Pay transparency: a growing number of states and cities, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Washington and New York, require pay ranges in job postings or on request.
- Salary history: many states and cities ban asking applicants about past pay; see salary history bans.
- Criminal history: many jurisdictions have ban-the-box laws delaying questions until after an interview or conditional offer.
- Background checks: the FCRA requires a standalone disclosure, written authorization and an adverse action process when using a consumer reporting agency.
- Automated tools: New York City's Local Law 144 requires bias audits and notices for automated employment decision tools, and other states have passed or are considering similar rules.
- Records: EEOC regulations generally require employers to keep hiring records for one year from the decision, longer for some federal contractors and when a charge is filed.
Rules vary by state and country, so build the policy to the strictest location where you hire, or add location-specific inserts.
Internal hiring policy choices
The internal posting rule causes more employee frustration than anything else in a recruitment policy. Employees notice when roles are filled without ever being posted, or posted after the decision was already made. Decide on a clear rule: most employers post every role internally for three to five business days, at the same time as or before external advertising, with a short list of documented exceptions.
Treat internal candidates fairly but not automatically. They should face the same criteria as external candidates, and they deserve a real conversation if they are not selected. An internal candidate who hears nothing is a stay-interview problem waiting to happen. Eligibility rules, such as minimum time in role and performance standing, belong in a separate internal job posting policy.
Structured selection as the default
The single most useful rule in a recruitment policy is that every candidate for a role is assessed on the same criteria, with the same core questions and a written score. Structured interviews are consistently found to predict job performance better than unstructured conversations, they are easier to defend if a decision is challenged, and they make it possible to compare candidates seen by different interviewers on different days.
Write the criteria into the requisition before the role is posted, so the bar does not shift once a favorite candidate appears. Require independent scoring before the debrief. Keep the list of approved assessments short, and check each one for job relevance and adverse impact before it goes into use.
Adapting the policy for high-volume hiring
A policy written for corporate roles will break in a contact center hiring 40 agents a month or a distribution center ramping up for peak. Sections that need adjusting:
- Requisitions: use evergreen requisitions approved once per quarter for a headcount target, rather than one approval per hire.
- Internal posting: post frontline roles continuously instead of for a fixed window.
- Screening: allow structured, validated screening steps such as short assessments, knockout questions and async interviews to run before a recruiter call, as long as they are applied identically to everyone and offer accommodations.
- Offers: let recruiters issue offers for standard roles within the approved pay rate without per-hire approval.
- Communication: set response-time targets in hours, not days. In hourly hiring, applicants who wait more than two or three days often take another offer.
Keep the fairness rules exactly the same. Volume is when inconsistent screening does the most damage, because one bad rule repeats across thousands of applicants.
Common mistakes
- Writing a policy so detailed that nobody reads it, while the real process lives in managers' habits.
- No rule on internal posting, or a rule everyone knows is ignored.
- Allowing hiring managers to make verbal offers or promise pay outside the range.
- Interview notes kept in personal notebooks rather than in the ATS, which makes them impossible to retain or produce.
- Copying another company's policy without adding your states' pay transparency, salary history and criminal history rules.
- Never checking whether the policy is followed. A quarterly audit of ten requisitions shows quickly where it is not.
Frequently asked questions
What should a recruitment policy include?
Purpose and scope, roles and responsibilities, requisition approval, internal posting rules, advertising standards, screening and assessment rules, structured interviews and selection, references and background checks, offer authority, candidate communication, record retention, and how exceptions are approved.
What is the difference between a recruitment policy and a recruitment and selection policy?
They usually mean the same thing. Some organizations use recruitment policy for attracting candidates and selection policy for assessing and choosing them, but most combine both into one recruitment and selection policy covering the full process.
Should an internal hiring policy require posting jobs internally first?
Many employers post every role internally for three to five business days, before or alongside external advertising, with documented exceptions for confidential or succession-planned roles. Whatever rule you choose, apply it consistently and tell employees how it works.
How long should recruitment records be kept?
EEOC rules generally require private employers to keep hiring records for at least one year from the hiring decision, and longer if a charge of discrimination is filed. Federal contractors and some states have longer requirements, so confirm the period with counsel.
Is a hiring policy template legally required?
No federal law requires a written hiring policy, but the laws it reflects, such as anti-discrimination rules, the FCRA, pay transparency and ban-the-box laws, apply regardless. A written policy makes consistent compliance much more likely.
Who should approve a recruitment policy?
Typically the head of HR or Talent Acquisition drafts it, employment counsel reviews it, and senior leadership approves it. Hiring managers should see a draft before it is final, since they carry out most of it.