Differentiation
Pre-Recruiting and its neighbours
Pre-Recruiting replaces no existing discipline. It comes before them and decides whether they hit the right target.
Neighbouring disciplines
What lies before and what lies after Pre-Recruiting
The four disciplines below all start at a later point than Pre-Recruiting. They need the role definition that is created in the phase before them.
| Discipline | Starts at | Relation to Pre-Recruiting |
|---|---|---|
| Recruiting | the search and selection | follows Pre-Recruiting |
| Active Sourcing | the active outreach | needs the role definition as its basis |
| Executive Search | filling leadership roles | becomes more precise through Pre-Recruiting |
| Requirements management | the criteria list | one step within Pre-Recruiting, not the whole |
Requirements management is the special case in this list. It is not a neighbour but a part of Pre-Recruiting. A criteria list describes what a person should be able to do. Pre-Recruiting first asks what the role must deliver, and derives the criteria from that.
Common mix-ups
Three terms that sound alike and mean something else
The prefix "pre" is misleading. These three terms either come after the offer or aim at the person instead of the role.
| Term | Does | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Hire Assessment | tests candidates | Pre-Recruiting clarifies the role, not the person |
| Pre-Selection | filters applications | assumes the role is already defined |
| Pre-Boarding | supports before day one | comes after the offer, not before the search |
Pre-Hire Assessment
A pre-hire assessment measures suitability: tests, structured interviews, work samples. It evaluates people. Pre-Recruiting happens before that and evaluates nothing. It sets what will later be evaluated against in the first place.
Pre-Selection
Pre-selection pre-sorts incoming applications. That is only possible once a role is posted and applications exist. Pre-Recruiting comes before the posting and makes sure the pre-selection works against the right criteria.
Pre-Boarding
Pre-boarding supports the future hire between signature and the first day of work. It sits at the end of the process, not the beginning. It has nothing to do with the phase before the search.
Org level
Pre-Recruiting and Job Architecture
Job Architecture is the organisation-wide and market-wide map of all roles: job families, levels, activity bundles. It describes how roles are structured and how they change. Pre-Recruiting works one level below. It designs the individual role before it is searched for and slotted into that architecture: its outcome, its decision rights, what it will be measured against in two years.
The relationship is familiar from software engineering. Requirements engineering clarifies what a component must do before the architecture places it. Pre-Recruiting is the requirements engineering of the role: the earlier discipline that supplies the architecture with its material.
Both need each other. The map says where a role sits. It does not say what this one role must deliver now so the hire holds. That question is answered by Pre-Recruiting, at the individual role, with the real people involved.
Boundary
Where Pre-Recruiting ends
Pre-Recruiting ends when the role stands: its purpose, its bottleneck, its success criteria, the picture of the right person. From there, search, selection and onboarding take over. Pre-Recruiting searches for no one, selects no one and hires no one. It only decides what all of that is aimed at.