The recruitment process, step by step
What happens between sending your CV and receiving an offer: screening, phone call, HR interview, technical test, final interview and references.
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In short
A typical recruitment process has six stages: CV screening (often by software, then a recruiter in under a minute), a short phone screen, an HR interview on motivation and behaviour, a technical interview or test on the job itself, a final interview with the manager, then references and the offer. Each stage eliminates candidates for a different reason, so each one needs its own preparation.
From the outside, recruitment looks like a black box: you send a CV, and weeks later you get an answer — or you don't. From the inside it is a funnel with a handful of stages, and each one eliminates candidates for a different reason.
Knowing which stage you are in tells you what the person in front of you is actually trying to find out. That is most of the preparation.
1. CV screening
What happens: in larger companies, an applicant tracking system (ATS) filters CVs first, looking for the keywords of the job description. The CVs that pass are read by a recruiter — often in less than a minute.
What eliminates you: missing the must-have skills, or describing them in different words from the offer. A CV that says "built web interfaces" will not match a filter looking for "React".
How to prepare: reuse the exact vocabulary of the offer where it is true of you, put the most relevant experience at the top, and keep the layout simple enough for software to read.
2. The phone screen
What happens: a 10 to 20 minute call with a recruiter, sometimes unannounced. They check that the CV is real, that you understand the role, and the practical points: availability, location, salary expectations, languages.
What eliminates you: a vague answer to "why did you apply?", a salary far outside the budget, or being unreachable and unprepared when the call comes.
How to prepare: have a two-minute version of your introduction ready, know your salary range, and answer unknown numbers in a quiet place — or call back.
3. The HR interview
What happens: the longest conversation about you: your path, your motivation, your strengths and weaknesses, how you behave under pressure, in conflict, in failure. Often run by an HR recruiter, increasingly by video.
What eliminates you: generic answers that could come from any candidate, no concrete examples, and a poor fit with how the team works.
How to prepare: five real stories told with the STAR method, and the most common interview questions rehearsed out loud.
4. The technical interview or test
What happens: proof that you can do the job. Depending on the field: a coding exercise, a case study, a written test, a role-play with a "client", or questions that dig into a project on your CV.
What eliminates you: not the wrong answer as often as candidates think — more often it is silence. Interviewers want to follow your reasoning, and a candidate who thinks out loud and gets stuck usually scores better than one who stays quiet and guesses.
How to prepare: revise the fundamentals of the field, be able to explain every line of every project on your CV, and practise explaining your reasoning while you work.
5. The final interview
What happens: a meeting with the manager you would report to, sometimes a director or the team. Fewer test questions, more conversation: how you would approach the first months, what you expect from the role, whether they want to work with you every day.
What eliminates you: seeming to want a job rather than this job, or having no questions of your own.
How to prepare: know what has been said in the earlier rounds, prepare questions to ask at the end, and be ready to discuss the salary concretely.
6. References, offer and negotiation
What happens: the company may call one or two former managers or supervisors, then makes an offer — usually by phone first, then in writing.
What eliminates you at this stage: rarely anything, unless a reference contradicts what you said. Tell your referees in advance that they may be called.
How to prepare: decide in advance the minimum you would accept and the points that matter besides the salary (start date, remote work, training), so you can answer an offer calmly rather than on the spot.
How long does it take?
Usually two to six weeks from application to offer, longer in large groups and the public sector, shorter in startups and call centres. A short, polite follow-up email a week after an interview is normal; daily ones are not.
The stage you can practise
You cannot rehearse a CV filter, but you can rehearse the interviews — stages 2 to 5 — and that is where most candidates are lost. Talk2Hire simulates the HR and the technical interview from your own CV and the job you are targeting, scores every answer, and offers live sessions with real recruiters for the final rehearsal.
Read next: how to prepare for a job interview in 7 days and what changes when you interview in Tunisia.
Reading about it is not practising it.
Take a real interview — an AI interviewer that asks follow-up questions, or a live session with a working recruiter. Every session ends with a recording and a scored report.