Involving hiring managers in recruitment: 3 solutions

Involving hiring managers in recruitment often takes a lot of follow-up. You send profiles, the manager is slow to answer, and your best candidates accept another offer. Three solutions exist: frame the hiring, train the manager, and let them review profiles on their phone.

Why are managers slow to respond?

Apec, the French executive employment agency, identifies four obstacles among operational managers:

1. Time: HR teams cite managers' limited availability (Apec, 2025).
2. Vague criteria: the manager writes the job description alone in 54% of cases (Apec, 2025).
3. Training: 77% of managers would like training on defining skills (Apec, 2022).
4. Information: some managers ask for updates on progress (Apec, 2022).

How to involve hiring managers?

1. Frame the hiring

This solution addresses vague criteria and the lack of information. Before publishing the offer, take 20 minutes with the manager for the recruitment brief. Write down three to five criteria, each marked essential or desirable. Agree on a response time, for example 48 business hours for each batch of profiles. Every Friday, send the manager three lines: profiles received, profiles in interview, next step.

With this framework, you and the manager screen on the same criteria. The manager still has to find time to open your emails.

2. Train managers in recruitment

77% of managers ask for training on defining skills, and 76% on conducting interviews (Apec, 2022). For an open position, spend 20 minutes on criteria and interview questions, then 10 minutes on writing feedback.

A trained manager gives more precise feedback. Their response time still depends on their availability.

3. Let managers review profiles on their phone

This solution addresses the lack of time. A field manager spends the day away from their computer, with their phone in their pocket. With an approval app, they receive the profiles on that phone. They open the resume and give their answer between two tasks.

How does mobile manager approval work?

On their phone, the manager finds the profiles to review, sorted by position. They read the resume and the job description. They accept or reject the profile. You see their decision right away in your ATS.

Check security before choosing a tool. A resume contains personal data, for which you remain responsible. The CNIL, the French data protection authority, recommends strong authentication, device locking and remote wiping of work data.

How to approve candidates with JobAffinity Mobile?

With JobAffinity Mobile, the manager opens the full profile, the actual resume and the job description. They accept or reject in 1 click, and you see their decision right away in JobAffinity. The data stays in the company's JobAffinity account.

Thanks to this app, JobAffinity measures 95% adoption among managers. The app is available on the App Store and Google Play. Request a demo.

To go further, see the difference between an ATS and an HRIS and our ATS guide.

Sources

Accessed on October 7, 9 and 14, 2026.

• Apec, Regard des recruteurs sur le recrutement de cadres, November 2025 (in French)
• Apec, Le rôle des managers dans les recrutements, 2022, 800 managers (in French)
• CNIL, BYOD: what are the good practices? (in French)
• JobAffinity, Features, manager approval