Wrap up: 5 Key Learnings from the HCDT Workshops for Recruitment

In what used to be the domain for marketers, Kevin Wheeler and I spotted an opportunity for transference where we adapted the principles of design thinking to create a series of Human Centred Design Thinking (HCDT) workshops for recruiters in May 2016.
Held across nine days in five different cities (Auckland, Wellington, Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne) and attended by Australia & New Zealand top organisations such as Air New Zealand, Bupa, National Australia Bank, Rio Tinto and Westpac, these workshops provided a great opportunity for attendees to learn how to transform their organisations’ hiring processes and understand how the methodology could be applied to attract and recruit candidates that are IDEAL for the critical and scarce positions.
[bctt tweet=”5 key learnings from the Human Centred Design Thinking workshops for recruiters” username=”ATCevent”]
Not to be outdone, Kevin and I did some learning of our own as well. As we guided the attendees through the challenges they faced, it struck us that some of the issues were similar and that it could be symptomatic of the entire recruitment industry. They include:

  1. Many organisations do not really consider the type of candidates who are IDEAL when they develop their attraction strategies. They are really busy and do not have the time to develop proper targeted tactics and are usually reliant on the spray and pray method.

IMPACT: This means they spend more time screening candidates who are far from IDEAL. It is inefficient and a waste of valuable resources.

  1. Gaining a budget to work on the Human Centred Design Thinking methodology and recruitment processes is an issue. This requires justification and unless the organisation’s target audience is the consumer, this justification is not as easy to achieve.

IMPACT: The main consideration for most organisations when deciding whether to improve the candidate hiring experience is its potential impact on profits and their brand. In today’s volatile economy, many are unwilling to set aside extra funds as this is not seen as an essential business component.

  1. Most existing recruitment processes are based around the organisation’s needs, not the candidate’s. To make their processes more IDEAL candidate-centric does require a reasonable amount of effort and not everyone is able to commit to it

IMPACT: While many organisations have developed EVPs, few are detailed enough to be applicable for improving the candidate experience.

  1. There is a reasonable amount research available on the candidate market from Seek and LinkedIn but organisations need to undertake their own research to really understand their IDEAL candidate needs.

IMPACT: The importance of gaining this information is key in improving the candidate experience. Until a budget could be established, most research on candidate experience will have to be based on assumptions rather than facts.

  1. Creativity was a key attribute to attract the IDEAL candidate and Kevin and I were very happy to see that most attendees were extremely creative and unafraid to share their ideas and solutions.

IMPACT: Given time, space to manoeuvre and a methodology to guide them, internal recruiters can be a very innovative bunch and organisations would do well to encourage a culture of creativity so as to tap onto this potential. Our guest blogger Dr Amantha Imber recently contributed an article on “5 Ways to Create a Culture of Innovation” in an organisation and it is a good read for anyone who is trying to drive positive change. Amantha will also be speaking at the upcoming Australasian Talent Conference 2016 in Sydney. Find out more here.

[bctt tweet=”Kevin and Trevor were struck by some of the similarities of the issues faced by the industry” username=”ATCevent”]
While we recognise that overcoming these challenges is not easy, we do hope that the HCDT workshops did go some way to bridging the chasm and encourage organisations and their leaders to start looking at their recruitment functions from a more candidate-centric perspective. We will also be discussing this further during the Talent Management Leadership Summit 2016 in July.
Lastly, Kevin and I would also like to thank all the amazing attendees who signed up for the workshops. What started off as an idea eventually came into fruition and we are glad to have you all part of it.
See you at our next event – the Australasian Talent Conference 2016.
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