Finding the right employee is no longer about simply reviewing resumes and conducting traditional interviews. Recruiting the right talent requires a thoughtful and methodical approach. A single-phase interview process might leave gaps, but a multi-phase hiring strategy ensures a deep understanding of a candidate’s skills, personality, and cultural fit.

Businesses need to adopt innovative recruitment strategies to evaluate candidates holistically. We recently employed a multi-phase hiring process, and it was extremely successful. Our success lies in our ability to balance technical competence with behavioral insights, ensuring we hire individuals who fit both the role and our company culture. Through our methodical use of tools like one-way video interviews, psychometric assessments, and work sample assignments, we’ve created a seamless hiring experience that minimises the risk of hiring mistakes.

Let’s explore how to build a multi-phase hiring process: Lessons from Wamly’s recruitment journey.

How to Build a Multi-Phase Hiring Process: Lessons from Wamly’s Recruitment Journey

How to Build a Multi-Phase Hiring Process

Creating the Job Description and Ideal Candidate Persona

Before diving into the hiring process, we first defined the essential foundation for our recruitment: the job description and the ideal candidate persona. This step is crucial for clearly outlining the skills, experience, and personality traits that the perfect candidate should possess.

The job description was carefully crafted to include the core responsibilities, the skills needed for the role, and the goals for the position. This was paired with an ideal candidate persona—a detailed profile outlining the desired personality type, soft skills, and attributes that would make someone a great fit for our specific workplace culture.

For a social media coordinator, we needed a creative, tech-savvy individual who could think outside the box, work autonomously, and engage with diverse audiences.

Actionable Steps for Creating Job Descriptions and Candidate Personas

  • Ensure the job description lists all the key tasks and responsibilities the role entails.
  • Clearly state both the hard skills (e.g., social media tools, analytics) and soft skills (e.g., communication, creativity) required.
  • Build a Candidate Persona by creating a profile of your ideal candidate that covers personality traits, motivations, and work style.

Phase 1: Using One-Way Video Interviews for Initial Screening

Once the job description and persona were defined, we used our own one-way video interview software (Wamly) to begin the screening process. 

One-way video interviews allowed candidates to record their responses to pre-set questions, which our recruitment team could then review at their convenience.

This phase helped us quickly identify candidates with strong communication skills, creativity, and a personality that aligned with our values. Scoring each response, our team rated candidates on a scale of 1 to 5 based on their answers, which helped narrow the pool down to a top 10 list.

Actionable Steps for Implementing Wamly’s Video Interviews

  • Get your own Wamly Portal.
  • Build your application form and interview questions
    • Developing Key Questions: Focus on questions that reveal both technical abilities and soft skills, such as, “How would you handle a social media crisis?” or “Describe a time when you had to engage with a difficult audience.”
  • Configure Psychometric Assessments and Background Checks

 

Learn more about the Wamly Software

Phase 2: Assignments/Skills test

After narrowing down the candidates, we moved on to the next phase: a skills test. 

For a social media coordinator, it was vital to ensure the candidate had practical experience and could demonstrate creativity and professionalism in real-world tasks.

The candidates were given an assignment that reflected actual job responsibilities, such as creating a mock social media campaign. This phase not only tested their technical abilities but also their consistency, relevance, and attention to detail.

Our team evaluated each submission based on several criteria: relevance, creativity, consistency, and professionalism. By scoring the assignments, we could identify the top performers who demonstrated the right blend of expertise and originality.

Actionable Steps for Assignment/Skills Testing

  • Design a Role-Specific Assignment by creating a task that mirrors real-world responsibilities. For example, a social media coordinator might be asked to develop a content calendar or propose strategies to increase engagement.
  • Use Objective Evaluation Criteria. Rate submissions on various dimensions, such as creativity, relevance to the role, and professional presentation.
  • Set a Deadline, ensure candidates have a reasonable, but challenging deadline to assess their ability to work under pressure.

How to Build a Multi-Phase Hiring Process: Lessons from Wamly’s Recruitment Journey 3

Phase 3: Psychometric Assessments

Once the assignments were scored, our top candidates moved on to psychometric testing. This phase allowed us to assess personality traits and cognitive abilities, focusing on how candidates would fit within our existing culture and how they handled stress, collaboration, and decision-making.

Psychometric assessments provided deeper insights into the candidates’ behavioural tendencies, helping us identify individuals with the right balance of creativity, independence, and team spirit—qualities essential for a successful social media coordinator.

Actionable Steps for Psychometric Testing

  • Wamly’s software now has integrated Psychometric Assessment so if you use our software you can just configure that.
  • We specifically wanted to assess more than just the top 2 candidates, ensuring the assessment results could really help us fairly differentiate between the top 10 filtered out candidates.
  • Send it to your “long list” of candidates to complete with a reasonable, but challenging deadline.
  • The job match score easily allows for filtering on the rank list and making your decision to move to the next round. 
  • Consider psychometric test results alongside technical skills and interview performance to get a holistic view of each candidate.

 

Phase 3: Psychometric Assessments In Wamly

Phase 4: In-Person Interviews for Final Candidates

Our final round involved bringing the top 5 candidates in for in-person interviews. This phase was designed to assess how well each candidate would fit within the team, their communication skills, and their overall impression.

During these interviews, candidates were evaluated on cultural fit, confidence, and their ability to handle pressure. Our team carefully scored candidates on these factors, ensuring they not only met the technical requirements but could also thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.

Actionable Steps for Conducting Final Interviews

  • Focus on Behavioral Questions. Ask about specific past experiences that highlight how candidates handled challenges, collaboration, and success.
  • Ensure key stakeholders and team members are present in these interviews to evaluate cultural and team fit.
  • Evaluate Soft Skills, consider how candidates communicate, how they handle pressure and their overall alignment with company values.

Phase 5: Candidate Immersion and Team Engagement

To finalise the selection, we invited the top 3 candidates to spend an afternoon with us, interacting with team members and experiencing the work environment firsthand. This immersion phase allowed candidates to get a feel for our company culture and helped us assess how well they integrated with the team.

Candidates were encouraged to ask questions and engage with department heads, ensuring that any concerns or uncertainties on both sides were addressed before a final decision was made.

Actionable Steps for Candidate Immersion

  • Invite your top candidates to spend a day with the team, observing and participating in meetings or discussions.
  • Create opportunities for candidates to ask questions and learn more about the role and the company.
  • Pay attention to how candidates engage with your team and how well they adapt to the work environment.

Phase 6: Making the Final Decision and Hiring

After the immersion phase, our team made the final decision by reviewing the candidates’ performance across all phases. Each section was weighted according to its importance in our selection matrix:

  • Form criteria and video interview first: 10%
  • Behavioral competency: 15%
  • Ability/skills test: 25%
  • Assignment quality: 25%
  • Formal interview: 15%
  • Relevant experience: 5%
  • Qualifications: 5%

By applying these weightings, we ensured that our final choice was based on a well-rounded evaluation of each candidate, resulting in a hire that was both technically proficient and culturally aligned.

Actionable Steps for Final Decision-Making

  • Assign different weights to each phase of the hiring process, prioritising the most important factors for the role.
  • Consider input from every step of the process—video interviews, assignments, psychometrics, and in-person interviews.
  • Rely on the data and insights gathered throughout the process to make an informed, objective decision.

Phase 6: Making the Final Decision and Hiring
How to Build a Multi-Phase Hiring Process

Our comprehensive, multi-phase hiring process demonstrates the importance of structure, consistency, and thorough evaluation when it comes to finding the right candidate. By utilising tools like one-way video interviews, psychometric assessments, and assignments/skills test, we were able to identify the best candidate for our social media coordinator position.

For companies looking to refine their recruitment strategies, adopting a multi-phase process modeled after our approach offers a clear path to success. Each phase—from screening to immersion—serves as a vital checkpoint, ensuring that only the most qualified, well-rounded candidates make it through.

By taking the time to evaluate not just skills but also personality, work style, and team dynamics, businesses can avoid costly hiring mistakes and build stronger, more cohesive teams for the future.