So I am planning to get my friend to join, but I am concerned that if I do things in the wrong order we won't get the benefits from it. I wanted to buy him the game as a surprise rather than just sending him the recruitment code, however I am concerned that if he just registers the new account and begins a full access account he won't be able to use a recruitment code that I send him.

So do I have to send him the recruitment code first and have him make the account, apply the code, THEN apply the Steam code (How do you register a Steam copy anyway?)?