Recruitment Policy Template for Indian Companies

A recruitment policy sets out how your company decides to hire, where it looks for candidates, how interviews are run and who approves offers. It keeps hiring fair and consistent across departments and branches, controls headcount costs, and makes sure every joiner arrives with a proper offer, background check and appointment letter. HR, hiring managers and every interview panel member work to it.

When to use it: Adopt it once more than one manager hires, and apply it to every opening, including replacements and branch hiring. HR drafts it, and the managing director and finance head approve it because it controls headcount. Brief hiring managers and interviewers before their first panel, and share the relevant rules with recruitment agencies.

Recruitment policy template

Copy the text below and replace everything in square brackets with your company details.

1. Purpose

This policy makes sure that [Company Name] hires the right people for approved positions through a fair, consistent and documented process, at a cost within budget.

2. Scope

It applies to all permanent, fixed-term, trainee and intern positions at every location, and to recruitment agencies working for us. Staff supplied by manpower contractors are engaged under the contractor agreement and are outside this policy.

3. Definitions

Manpower requisition: the approved request to fill a position, stating role, grade, location, budgeted salary range, reason and target joining date.
Hiring manager: the manager to whom the new employee will report.
Offer approval matrix: the table in Annexure [Letter] showing who approves offers at each grade and salary level.

4. Policy

No position is advertised or filled without an approved manpower requisition.
Selection is on merit, against a written job description and selection criteria, in line with the Equal Opportunity Policy.
Roles at [Grade] and above are first opened to internal candidates through internal job posting.
Sourcing channels are internal job posting, employee referrals, the careers page, job portals, campus drives and agencies on the approved panel.
Agencies are engaged only on written terms, with fees and the replacement period agreed before any profile is shared.
Roles at [Grade] and above have at least [Number] interview rounds using a structured scoring sheet. Senior roles include a panel member from outside the hiring team.
No candidate is charged any fee at any stage of recruitment.
Offers are made within the approved salary range. Any exception needs approval from [Designation].

5. Procedure

The hiring manager raises a requisition, HR checks it against budget and structure, and [Approver Designation] approves it.
HR publishes the opening and screens applications against the criteria within [Number] working days.
Interviewers record scores and comments on the day of the interview.
The hiring manager and HR agree on the selected candidate. HR prepares the offer with a CTC break-up and gets it approved as per the matrix.
The written offer is issued, and the candidate accepts in writing within [Number] days.
Background verification is done as per the Background Verification Policy, and the offer is conditional on satisfactory results.
On joining, the employee receives an appointment letter setting out the terms of employment.
Interviewed candidates who are not selected are informed within [Number] working days, and candidate records are deleted after [Number] months.

6. Responsibilities

Hiring managers: define the need, take part in interviews and decide fairly on the criteria.
HR: run sourcing, screening, scheduling, offers and records, and keep the process on time.
Interview panel: assess candidates only on job-related criteria and record reasons.
Finance: confirm budget for each requisition.

7. Exceptions

To replace a critical role urgently, sourcing may begin before the requisition is approved, with written approval from [Designation]. The requisition must then be completed within [Number] working days.

8. Review

[HR Head Designation] reviews this policy every [12] months using time to hire, offer acceptance, early attrition of new joiners and agency spend, and updates the approval matrix after any change in grades or budgets.

What to include

Requisition before recruitment

Require an approved requisition for every opening, including replacements. It stops unbudgeted hiring and gives HR the salary range before anyone talks numbers with a candidate.

Written selection criteria

Agree the must-have skills, experience and qualifications before interviews start. Criteria written after meeting candidates tend to fit the favourite rather than the job.

Structured interviews

Use the same core questions and a scoring sheet for every candidate for a role. It makes comparisons fair and gives a record if a decision is questioned.

Offer approval matrix

Set out who approves offers at each grade and salary level. This prevents salary promises in interviews and keeps pay consistent across teams.

An appointment letter for every joiner

Under the OSH Code, an appointment letter must be issued to every employee. Build it into the joining step so that nobody works on an offer letter alone.

Candidate communication

Commit to telling interviewed candidates the outcome within a set time. Silence after interviews damages your reputation in the local job market.

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting managers promise salaries in interviews before HR has checked the range.
Hiring on gut feel after a single unstructured conversation.
Using agencies without written fee terms, which leads to disputes over who sourced a candidate.
Issuing an offer letter but never an appointment letter after joining.
Leaving candidates without any update for weeks after interviews.

Run it in ZeniaHR

The Recruitment Hub runs this process: job requisitions, a public careers page with a multi-step application form, a resume match score with a breakdown by skills, experience, role fit and education, and a pipeline board of New, Screening, Interview, Offer and Joined. Candidates pick interview slots from those offered, offers go out with an online accept or decline page, and a selected candidate moves straight into onboarding. Requisitions close once their openings are filled.

Onboarding Policy settings

See it on your own data

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Frequently asked questions

What is a recruitment policy?

A recruitment policy is a company's written rules for hiring: how positions are approved, where candidates are sourced, how interviews and selection work, who approves offers, what checks are done before joining and which documents a joiner receives. It keeps hiring fair, consistent and within budget across departments and locations.

Who approves a new hire in a company?

Usually the hiring manager raises the request, HR checks it against the budget and the organization structure, and a senior approver, such as the department head, finance head or managing director, signs off depending on grade and salary. The offer itself is then approved as per an offer approval matrix.

Is an appointment letter mandatory in India?

Yes. The OSH Code makes it compulsory to give every employee an appointment letter. Treat it as a separate document from the offer letter and issue it on or soon after the joining date, setting out the designation, pay and main terms of employment.

Can a company charge candidates a fee for recruitment?

A reputable employer should never charge candidates any fee for applications, tests, interviews or joining, and should say so in job advertisements. Requests for money in a company's name are a familiar sign of job fraud, so the policy should tell candidates how to verify an offer and report such requests.