Recruitment for SMEs: how to organise the hiring process without an expensive ATS

In an SME, a bad hire costs twice: in the time lost during selection and in the months it takes to notice the person does not fit. The market’s usual answer is an ATS, an applicant tracking system priced for recruitment departments that hire every week. But recruitment in SMEs runs at a different pace: two, five, ten hires a year. That does not call for an expensive recruitment tool; it calls for a clear process, written criteria and a place to keep what is decided. This guide explains how to organise that process step by step, with free tools or ones you already have, what the law requires regarding CVs and how to connect it with onboarding.

Before publishing: define the role and the criteria

Most failed selections are decided here. Before writing the job ad, put in writing:

What the person will do in the first six months, in five or six concrete responsibilities, not a wish list.
Three or four essential criteria and two or three desirable ones. If everything is essential, you will filter nothing.
Conditions: contract type, hours, schedule, on-site or hybrid, salary band and collective agreement. Stating them in the ad saves half the applications that do not fit.
Who decides and by when. In an SME it is usually the area manager with management; make it clear before the first interview.

With this you have the role sheet, which will serve for the ad, the interview script and to evaluate everyone by the same yardstick.

Publish where you are seen, without overpaying

Free or low-cost job boards and the public employment service, which also lets you publish vacancies at no cost.
Your own network: employees, clients, suppliers and former candidates. An internal referral with a small incentive usually outperforms an ad.
The company website, with a “work with us” page explaining what it is like to work there, even when there are no open vacancies.
Professional networks, with a post by the area manager, not only from the corporate profile.

Write the ad in the language of the role, not in adjectives. And avoid any requirement that could be discriminatory: Spain’s Law 15/2022 on equal treatment prohibits discrimination in access to employment on grounds of age, sex, origin, disability, sexual orientation and other causes, and job ads are the first place the Inspectorate and the courts look.

Screen with a criteria sheet, not with intuition

Without an ATS, the tool is a spreadsheet with one row per candidate and one column per essential and desirable criterion, scored from 0 to 2. It is dull and it works: fifty applications get ranked in twenty minutes, and anyone on the team reaches the same shortlist. Add a “date replied” column and reply to everyone, including rejected candidates; in an SME, employer reputation is built one application at a time.

Interview with a script and score on the spot

A common script with six to eight questions tied to the criteria, the same for all candidates. Questions about real situations (“tell me about the last time you…”) rather than hypotheticals.
Two interviewers where possible, scoring separately before discussing.
A short practical test related to the role, paid if it exceeds a couple of hours.
References with the candidate’s permission, asking about facts, not opinions.

Note the score for each criterion when the interview ends, not at the end of the process. Memory favours the last candidate and the friendliest one.

Decide, communicate and organise the onboarding

The decision is made on the criteria sheet, with the role sheet in front of you. Communicate it to the chosen candidate with the conditions in writing and to the finalists with a call. And here is where many SMEs lose what they have gained: the person accepts and on day one has no signed contract, no user account and does not know how to clock in.

Onboarding is the part of the process worth digitising from the start:

Registration and contract before day one: prior Social Security registration, contract signed electronically and notified on time. We detail it in the guide to digital employment contracts.
Onboarding documentation signed in the same act: data protection, remote-work agreement if applicable, equipment handover, disconnection policy.
App access on day one to clock in, see the calendar and request leave.
A 30-day plan with an onboarding buddy and a follow-up conversation scheduled.

Recruitment processes personal data from the first application, and SMEs tend to forget it:

Inform candidates, in the ad or at first contact, of who processes their data, for what, for how long and how to exercise their rights.
Do not ask for more than necessary: no photograph, no marital status, no health data unless the role justifies it.
Limit access to applications to those taking part in the selection, and do not forward them by email to half the team.
Set a retention period for the CVs of unsuccessful candidates and delete them when it expires, unless the candidate agrees to you keeping them for future vacancies.
References and social media: only with the candidate’s knowledge and limited to what is relevant to the role.

A shared folder with CVs accumulated over years is a typical, easily avoided breach.

When an ATS does pay off

If you hire more than one or two people a month, run several processes at once with several interviewers, or need reports on candidate sources and time to hire, an ATS saves time and earns its price. Below that volume, the process described here, with a criteria sheet and a good onboarding system, covers what an SME needs. And when volume grows, the recruitment module on LapsoWork’s Advanced plan lets you run applications inside the same platform that later manages the employee, without migrating anything.

We have a complementary guide on recruitment tools and another on how to reduce employee turnover, which is the other side of hiring well.

Frequently asked questions

Does an SME need an ATS to recruit staff?

Not if it hires a few people a year. A written process, a role sheet with criteria, a spreadsheet to score applications and an interview script cover selection. An ATS pays off when there are several simultaneous processes, many interviewers or more than one or two hires a month.

How long can I keep the CVs of rejected candidates?

For as long as you have informed and is necessary for the purpose. The usual practice is to set a reasonable period after closing the process and delete them afterwards, unless the candidate has agreed to you keeping them for future vacancies. Keeping them indefinitely without informing breaches the GDPR.

What can I not ask for in a job ad?

Requirements that discriminate by age, sex, origin, disability, sexual orientation or identity, religion or other grounds protected by Law 15/2022 and the Workers’ Statute, or unnecessary data such as a photograph, marital status or health. Describe the role and its criteria, not the kind of person you imagine.

How do I evaluate candidates objectively?

With the same criteria for everyone, defined before publishing the ad, a common interview script, on-the-spot scoring by each interviewer and, where possible, a short practical test related to the role. The decision is made on the scores, not on the overall impression.

What should be ready on the new hire’s first day?

Social Security registration done in advance, the contract signed and notified, the onboarding documentation signed, access to the app to clock in and check the calendar, and an onboarding buddy with a plan for the first thirty days.

Conclusion

Organising recruitment in an SME without an expensive ATS means deciding before publishing, screening and interviewing with the same criteria for everyone, handling CVs under the GDPR and not letting the process drop at onboarding. That last part, signed contract, documents and access from day one, is the most noticeable and the easiest to digitise. To see how onboarding looks with LapsoWork, try it free for 30 days.