How to Create a Hiring Plan

Last Modified

Aug 8, 2025

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Having the right people on your team who fit your needs, culture, and long-term goals starts with a hiring plan. At its core, stakeholders must align recruitment needs with business objectives. Instead of being reactionary to staffing, learning how to create a hiring plan enables you to be proactive.

The benefits of pivoting how your company hires are numerous, from lower recruitment costs to less churn to more productive employees. If your current hiring plan isn’t delivering results, it’s time to do a reset. When you have a cohesive strategy, it also streamlines the entire process, making hiring more effective and efficient.

In this guide, you’ll explore the basics of recruitment plans, a step-by-step how-to, mistakes to avoid, and more tips.

What Is a Hiring Plan?

A hiring plan defines your road map for recruitment success. It gathers insights and information from all hiring managers and others involved in the process and then connects them to your business’s goals.

In addition to practices for recruiting and hiring, a plan allows each manager in search of workers to customize the process based on the job and the required attributes of a good candidate.

Within a hiring plan, there should be long-term initiatives to establish a hiring framework, including:

Your company’s brand messaging relating to recruitment
A definitive company culture, a unique selling proposition, added to any job description
Hiring strategy descriptions and how they will be executed, including assets needed (e.g., people resources, software)
How you’ll measure recruitment success

The customizable components of this template can help hiring managers to tailor the hiring plan to their needs. Another would be interview questions that can also be updated to reflect the specific position.

This method of recruitment planning involves collaboration to set a consistent foundation for all hiring. It should also be fluid, changing based on internal and external trends.

Why You Need a Hiring Plan

Recruiting is expensive, and making a bad hire can cost you up to 30% of an employee’s yearly salary. Continuous turnover sinks the budget, impedes innovation, and disrupts progress.

By implementing strategic hiring through a recruiting plan, you can minimize these adverse effects. Since the hiring plan is a blueprint, you’ll be able to:

Identify the most qualified candidates.
Use the defined messaging to attract ideal applicants.
Enhance the candidate experience by having a clear workflow of how you hire and setting expectations at the start.
Improve the acceptance rate for offers.
Boost employee retention, as you’ll place people who best align with your culture.
Reduce the time to hire (the average is 44 days).
Decrease cost to hire (the average is $4,700).
Forecast hiring needs more accurately for the short and long term.

A hiring plan doesn’t directly result in these advantages. Many companies have programs in place but fail to realize these benefits. Many times, it’s the result of a strategy that’s too vague or incomplete.

So, what does a hiring plan that’s successful need?

Key Components of a Strong Hiring Plan

What should strategic hiring consider and include? These critical elements will help you build a recruitment plan that works for you and potential employees.

When you take the time to build this out, there’s no ambiguity about the process. There will be customizations by role, but these components are the foundation, enabling you to define goals, establish job descriptions and applicant workflows, and provide a positive candidate experience.

Let’s look at every aspect of the recruitment plan.

Culture Fit Definitions

Start with this question: What’s the “essence” of your culture, and what attributes should someone have to be a good match?

In this effort, you want to understand why your best employees mesh so well in the organization. What attributes do they have that you’d like to see future workers possess?

For example, initiative takers may be a must-have for your business because it’s in growth mode. You need staff to take ideas and turn them into action, instead of folks who wait around for direct instructions.

Hiring Strategy Details

This section focuses on hiring needs, with an assessment of your current workforce and future needs. It involves short-term and long-term planning.

Look over your current employee base and determine the gaps present today and what they will be in the future. The sub-steps in this phase include:

Needs identification across all current departments and assessment of skills gaps
Forecasting for future demand by reviewing long-term strategic business goals and the human resources needed to achieve them
Job descriptions development that highlights who you’re looking for, as well as promotes company culture and opportunities
Establishing employer branding messages beyond vague references or being a great place to work
Your sourcing channels, including job boards, social media, employee referrals, and networking
Technology tools needed for a streamlined, efficient recruiting workflow
Interview templates, timelines, actions, and best practices for anyone conducting interviews, including the entire lifecycle, from screening to offer
Recruitment steps to ensure you can source, screen, interview, and make an offer consistently, which can also reduce frustration from candidates and hiring managers

Setting Budgets

Budgets should have their own step in the process because the dollars allotted influence how you carry out a hiring plan. What are you allocating each year to recruitment? Will that number decrease or increase in the next budget cycle? Are there any cost savings that a defined hiring plan will reduce?

Establishing KPIs

How do you define success in hiring? That’s the key question to answer, and you should be able to do so by creating KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure the plan’s effectiveness.
You’ll need to define the metrics that will provide insight into success. Some to consider include:

Time to hire
Time to fill
Cost to hire
Retention ratios
Advertising performance (e.g., cost per click, impressions, conversions)
Time to productivity (how long it takes a new staff member to reach a performance level)
First-year turnover rate to track the number of employees who leave before hitting this milestone
Offer acceptance rate

Developing an Onboarding Strategy

A recruitment plan should also include getting employees set up for success. The experience in onboarding can set the tone for someone’s entire employment. If it’s positive, a new employee is more likely to become productive faster and stay longer. If it’s negative, it could mean quick churn.

Unfortunately, most new hires didn’t have the best onboarding. Only 12% of people said their experience was good, but when it is, they are 2.6 times more likely to have higher job satisfaction.

Here are some onboarding best practices:

Begin onboarding before the employee’s official start date: Send paperwork early, provide them with a what to expect in their first week, include an org chart, and gift them swag.
Formalize orientation: Put together a program that orients the person into the company. It can include things like company history, culture, bios of leadership, and practical things like IT and HR setup.
Ensure role clarity: Create a document that answers questions about what the position does, who they’ll work with outside of their department, and what the expectations are. When people have this road map, they gain knowledge around how they contribute to the company.
Provide ongoing support: Share how the organization will help the employee as they continue their career journey. This could include HR and mentorship programs.
Personalize the experience: Use your orientation framework as a base and encourage hiring managers to tailor it based on the person’s role.

Reviewing and Refining

Finally, the last step is continuous. A hiring plan isn’t set in stone. It’s meant to be a fluid document that changes as needed, whether that be internal or external forces. The recruitment strategy should address how often you’ll update it based on metrics, feedback, and trends.

In this phase, you also want to think about some what-if scenarios. Don’t get too in the weeds here, but you do need to account for some of the potential unexpected things that could occur.

For example, think about how economic pressures could freeze hiring. Can you somehow prepare for that by who you hire now?

Another scenario would be rapid growth that could occur when launching new products or services. A go-to market plan for these initiatives should include the hiring plan necessary to make these a success.

Labor market conditions can also disrupt hiring strategies. Is it currently hard to find talent with the skills needed? Are the roles you’re recruiting for relatively new? A lack of supply of candidates can be challenging, but you could develop programs to upskill, should someone have the fundamental attributes to make them a good fit.

Hiring Plan Differences: Startup vs. Established Company

There will be different approaches for a startup versus an established business. Startups typically want to attract early-stage talent and those willing to work in a somewhat volatile company where leadership isn’t risk-averse. New companies also have tighter budgets and resources to devote to recruitment.

A mature organization likely focuses more on scalability to achieve short- and long-term goals. They may also have bias entrenched in the current process or haven’t modernized the employee experience. Those in this category should revamp current processes to account for changing candidate perspectives.

What the two have in common are the foundational elements of a hiring plan to include consistency, measurement, optimization, analysis, and refinement.

How to Create a Hiring Plan: Step-by-Step

Now, let’s get into how to create a hiring plan. Follow these steps to develop your strategy.

Evaluate your hiring needs: What roles are vacant, and what talent do you need to meet future business objectives?

Set goals for recruitment: What areas of your business are expanding? What roles have high turnover?

Define qualifications: What are the hard and soft skills someone needs to be successful in a role?

Create your hiring workflow: What does the candidate experience look like? What processes and technology does the company need to streamline this? How will you screen applicants? Can you take advantage of automation and AI?

Choose where and how you’ll source talent: Where will you advertise roles — job boards, social media, recruitment agencies, or talent platforms?

Develop an interview strategy: How will you interview — in person, online, or both? Are there specific questions to ask universally to determine culture fit? What other role-based questions should interviewers ask? How can you simplify this with technology?

Outline your onboarding playbook: What does a new employee’s first day, week, and month look like? What training and resources do they need?

Review and refine: What do your KPIs look like three, six, and 12 months after implementing your plan? What have you learned, and how can you improve?

Common Hiring Plan Mistakes to Avoid

You’ve learned the right way to develop a hiring strategy. But there are also some things to avoid. These missteps are common but correctable!

Hiring Plan Mistakes to Avoid

Posting vague or overly general job descriptions: This can reduce applications and generate confusion. Additionally, consider if posting a salary range would be beneficial to attract applicants. This is especially critical for Gen Z recruiting. A study revealed that 85% of this generation would be less likely to apply if there’s no salary information.
Inconsistency in the interview process: Doing so could create unintentional bias and be a cause of bad hires. If hiring managers don’t stick to the basics, you could see higher churn.
Skipping screening: It’s important to check references, education, and job history. A survey of workers found that 70% have lied on their resumes. Verifying a candidate’s past could catch red flags. It’s not hard to integrate this into your recruitment process by using third-party resources that specialize in verification.
Hiring processes that are too slow or fast: You don’t want applications waiting for months for a decision. They’ll likely get an offer elsewhere. However, hiring too fast may mean you fail at due diligence.
Poor communication with applicants: When people don’t hear from you, they can form a negative opinion of the company. If they’re one of the most qualified candidates, this silence could mean you miss your chance to hire them. Be sure your hiring plan covers follow-ups.
Mandating requirements that don’t always correlate to success: Skills-based hiring focuses on the applicant as a total person and all they bring in experience, expertise, and attitude. Requiring a specific degree or platform knowledge could opt out candidates who are well-suited for the role.

Hiring Plan Template

Using a hiring plan template can be very useful. You can always customize based on your organization or industry. It helps you get started without feeling overwhelmed.

Here are some templates to review:

Note: Subscriptions may be a requirement for download.

You could also develop your own template as a collaborative process among stakeholders. You could start with one of these free templates as a guide.

Final Tips for Creating a Scalable Hiring Plan

You now have strategies, tips, steps, and resources to build a hiring plan. When these pieces are all put together, you can scale your strategy and adapt it as needed. By following this advice, you can hire smarter while reducing costs and turnover. Build your workforce for today and the future with these best practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hiring plan?

A hiring plan is a comprehensive recruitment strategy. It aims to align hiring needs with business goals. It should include a complete plan of the entire lifecycle of a hire.

Who should be involved in developing a recruitment plan?

A recruiting plan is a collaborative effort. Stakeholders can include HR, hiring managers, finance, and leadership roles.

How often should you update a hiring strategy?

At a minimum, you should review it yearly. Should internal or external factors arise, you should make adjustments based on these events. Also, the metrics you’re measuring can indicate it’s time for a refresh if you see these falling.

Can a hiring plan help with turnover?

Yes, creating one could decrease turnover. A strong plan considers the causes of why people quit and solutions to combat them. Not all turnover is preventable, but if you can define what leads people to leave and address those throughout the company, you could see these actions transform your churn rates.

BEST PRACTICES + TRENDS