Begin by writing a short and clear description of the job opening. Keep the description as short as possible by listing the skills necessary for the job, avoiding unnecessary skills, keep the list on-point and avoiding 'alphabet soup'.
You can find inspiration for the Job description by describing a typical day and by looking at Linkedin to identify the skills and experience of really good candidates. Post the job in multiple places - dice, monster, linkedin, theLadders. Consider also posting on local borads, and on craigslist. Make sure that each place you post has a tracking code so that you can refine the job post.
Avoid unnecessarily complicated tracking systems. If your system requires making an account, filling out pages of information and multiple emails you will discourage applicants. In fact, the more opportunities that applicant has - the more likely they will abandon your application. Apply the same principles to the job application as you would to an ecommerce check-out.
avoid jargon or silly sounding descriptions "code-ninja", "developer-rockstar" unless you are actually hiring band-mates.
Treat applicant tracking like you would a product. Define measurable goals and stick to them. How many resumes do you want to see each week? what quality resumes? Where are the applicants coming from? What Job sites are sending us the best applicants?
As the results of your recruiting become available, tweak the job description to get the best flow of applicants. Setting up software to track resumes and communication makes measuring your performance much easier. Your software should at least track contacts, phone calls, and interviewer impressions. If buying software isn't in your budget, use a spreadsheet or Google docs.
Always be sure to keep any information confidential. Always read and note information in cover letters and on the resume on a separate sheet of paper. Show respect to the candidate's resume for a best impression.
On interview day type out and distribute a schedule of everyone who will interview. Print out a packet with the interview schedule including times and locations. Distribute a package to each interviewer. Include:
Put an appointment in everyone's claendar for the time of the interview. Arrange the location of each interview ahead of time. Consider having someone walk the candidate from office to office. If you choose instead to have the candidate stay put make sure that interviewers are on time.
Don't forget water/coffee breaks and to allow bathroom breaks.
If time allows, consider a quick office tour and product demo.
Have a plan for walking the candidate out of the building. At that time be sure to mention next steps and followup.
On interview day ensure that there are no abscences. If one of the interview team is missing you will lose valuable insight into the candidate. That's also why there must be no late arrivals. Everyone should be on-time and ready to go.
Record all answers to interview questions. The answers should be available to the interview team during the results sessoin, and should aslo be available later for comparison and question refinement.
Go over the questions asked and the answers given. Once a decision has been made, make sure that the HR team is ready to put together an offer and to respond to the candidate quickly.
Great articles to help refine your Interview process:
How to Hire Great People Every Time.
The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0) by Joel Spolsky