Hiring looks like a straight line on a careers-page FAQ. Inside a company it is a relay race with handoffs, vetoes, and places where time quietly dies. This is the full path from “we need someone” to “they are productive,” stage by stage.
1. Job approval
What happens: Headcount is requested, justified, and funded. Finance, HR, and the hiring manager agree on level, budget range, backfill vs net-new, and target start timing.
Done looks like: A req ID, an approved pay band, a named hiring manager, and a real date the seat can start.
Where it breaks: Posting before approval. “Soft approved” roles that freeze mid-search. No owner for the budget.
2. Job description
What happens: The team turns the need into a public and internal brief: mission of the role, must-haves, nice-to-haves, location rules, leveling, and success in the first 6 to 12 months.
Done looks like: A JD a recruiter can source against and a candidate can self-select with. Must-haves are few and real.
Where it breaks: Wish lists dressed as requirements. Copy-paste from a peer company. Degree walls for middle-skill work. No success criteria, only tools and buzzwords.
3. Posting
What happens: The role goes live on the career site and selected boards. Distribution is a choice, not a default spray.
Done looks like: Accurate title, honest location and pay range where required, clear apply path, and an expiration or review date so the post cannot become a ghost.
Where it breaks: “Urgent” language on a frozen seat. National posting for a local-only job. Ranges that interviewers treat as fiction.
4. Sourcing
What happens: Recruiters and hiring managers hunt beyond the inbound pile: Boolean search, referrals, communities, prior finalists, school and technical-college partners, outbound sequences.
Done looks like: A pipeline with named, contacted candidates who match the brief, not just a big applicant count.
Where it breaks: Post-and-pray. No outbound. Ignoring silver medalists. Waiting for the perfect inbound unicorn.
5. Screening
What happens:
