How SLAs Can Transform Your Hiring Process

Do you use SLAs in your hiring process? If not, here are some great reasons to consider doing so.

Starting with the recruiting intake call, which is typically the initial conversation between the hiring manager recruiter about an open role the recruiter is tasked with being filled. The purpose of the intake call is to set expectations, discuss the role, and determine if there are other important skills, experiences, or relevant abilities not outlined in the job description. During an intake call, the SLA or service level agreement is discussed.

In addition to an intake call to discuss the new position, a recruiter can deliver 2-4 candidates during the intake call or within two business days from position sourcing to discuss the types of skills, experiences, and qualifications these candidates who were sourced based on the job description and intake call are lacking.

The SLA or Service Level Agreement Defined

Service-level agreements, or SLAs, are simply formal written agreements between recruiters and hiring managers that spell out the expectations and the responsibilities of each party in the recruitment and hiring process. By spelling out responsibilities, timelines, deliverables and success measures in advance, SLAs outline who is responsible for what, and what timeframes are realistic. These agreements make communication easier, improve results and help to build strong hiring manager relationships. This is the key to hiring faster and gaining higher acceptance rates from your best candidates.

SLAs are essentially informal contracts that help facilitate conversations and help level set expectations focused on building a relationship between the hiring manager and recruiter. Both parties have a commitment in the hiring process and within the service level agreement are agreeing to commit to specific deadlines and promises such as candidate follow-up, time of interview, recruiter/hiring manager communication, and the giving and receiving of candidate feedback.

There is one prerequisite to SLAs: Buy-in from your hiring managers. SLAs won’t work if the relationship and the respect are not there first. SLAs have value even in just getting the conversation started with your hiring managers. Frame it as a process improvement that will serve both of your goals, and you can create that all-important buy-in.

SLAs in Hiring and Recruiting, and Best Practices

Since the recruiting function doesn’t actually make hiring decisions, it is defined as a “service function” that provides services to hiring managers. Because great service delivery is essential in recruiting, it makes sense for recruiting and HR leaders to follow the practices of other successful business service functions and to adopt service-level agreements.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are important in human resources and recruiting for several reasons:

1. Sets Clear Expectations

SLAs establish specific performance standards for HR services, such as response times, hiring timelines, and resolution of employee issues. This clarity helps align the expectations of HR teams with those of other departments and stakeholders.

By setting clear expectations, SLAs hold HR and recruiting teams accountable for delivering consistent and high-quality services. This accountability ensures that tasks are completed efficiently and within agreed-upon timeframes.

2. Improves Efficiency and Productivity

SLAs help in defining and standardizing HR and recruitment processes, reducing inefficiencies and ensuring that tasks are handled in a timely manner. This leads to quicker hiring cycles and more effective HR operations.

With SLAs in place, HR teams can prioritize their workload based on agreed service levels, ensuring that critical tasks are addressed promptly while maintaining overall service quality.

3. Enhances Communication and Collaboration

SLAs foster open communication between HR teams, recruiters, and their internal clients (e.g., hiring managers, department heads). This transparency helps manage expectations and facilitates smoother collaboration across departments.

By clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and expected outcomes, SLAs reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings or conflicts between HR and other stakeholders.

4. Supports Measurement and Continuous Improvement

SLAs include measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that allow HR teams to track their performance against agreed standards. This data-driven approach helps identify areas for improvement and drive continuous enhancement of HR services.

Regularly reviewing SLA performance enables HR teams to benchmark their services against industry standards or internal goals, ensuring they remain competitive and efficient.

5. Enhances Candidate and Employee Experience

SLAs in recruiting ensure that candidates receive timely responses, clear communication, and a consistent hiring experience. This improves the candidate experience and strengthens the employer brand.

For employees, SLAs ensure that HR-related services, such as benefits administration, payroll, and issue resolution, are handled promptly and efficiently, contributing to overall job satisfaction.

6. Mitigates Risks and Ensures Compliance

SLAs often include compliance-related benchmarks, ensuring that HR and recruiting processes adhere to legal and regulatory requirements. This helps mitigate risks associated with labor laws, data protection, and other HR-related regulations.

By clearly defining service expectations and performance standards, SLAs help HR teams anticipate and address potential risks, such as delays in hiring critical roles or failure to meet compliance standards.

Back to the SLA

By measuring the actual time it takes to receive feedback, talent acquisition teams can often uncover critical bottlenecks in the recruitment process and avoid both delays and the potential loss of good candidates who get caught in “we don’t have an update for you” limbo.

Make sure you set and schedule follow up meetings and appointments. Hold both yourself and the hiring manager accountable.

Getting quick feedback from the manager about the quality of the submitted candidate slate is critical. An internal SLA of two business days for managers to provide feedback and a decision on candidates is generally recommended.

Finally, if the recruiter and hiring manager don’t understand each other, it can be incredibly costly. An unclear position leads to a mis-hire and can cost a client up to a third of the new hire’s salary to replace them. Avoid the disconnect between hiring managers and recruiters to save everyone time and headaches. Because in this competitive war for talent, recruiting best practices like this can really make a difference.

Jessica Miller-Merrell is a workplace change agent focused on human resources and talent acquisition. She’s also the founder of Workology (formerly Blogging4Jobs) and can be contacted on Twitter at @jmillermerrel.