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There are so many challenges for everyone right now.
While we may not have control over when current restrictions will be lifted or foresee the end of social distancing, we can focus our energies and resources on what we can influence or affect to help our organisations become stronger. In this short series of forthcoming insights, Kim Tolley, Head of Operations at Eploy, shares her ideas on discovery sessions, analysis and of course practical advice.
A realistic starting point
A great place to start is to look at the challenges your organisation is facing and separate what you can influence or control, and what you cannot. Think about some of the challenges you can't control and ask if there are any aspects at all that you can influence, even if it is only small – it's still a win!
"In my role at Eploy, as well as juggling schoolwork with three lively teenage boys at home, I have been working on our internal processes. We have a relatively new department within the team, and that has brought new challenges. Not only is it a new function with new team members, but we need to find new ways to do things that we have always done. We need to introduce new practices, change the way we communicate and collaborate and define new processes (and train, embed and continuously improve them).”
Discovery
"I started by holding discovery sessions to understand pain points and issues (both in business as usual and lockdown/permanent home working). Once the issues were defined, we took each item in turn and looked to find the root cause of the problem. A good way to do this is the 'five why's'. It's one of the most straightforward approaches to root cause analysis, but it's very effective.
"Start by writing down the specific problem you are having. It's essential to be clear on what the issue is and can help the team focus on the same problem. Work with your team to ask why the problem occurs and keep asking why until the team agree that they have identified the root cause".
An example in your recruitment process might be:
Problem:
A candidate accepted an offer with another employer before you were able to formalise their employment offer. Why?
They didn't receive an offer from your organisation early enough. Why?
There was a delay in raising the employment offer. Why?
The Recruitment Administrator mislaid the offer pack. Why?
Human error. Why?
Lack of training on systems and processes to track offer requests and processing.
Human error?
"In this example, it would be easy to stop when you identify 'it's just human error' – but on these occasions, there is always a reason. There may be processes and/or systems in place to track and monitor the processing of offers and candidate onboarding. Still, if the person doing the job hasn't received sufficient training to add or update the candidate's details to this process, it can always be missed. There may also be issues within the process to oversee compliance.
What tools can you make better use of?
Kim concludes, "As you look to find solutions, think about what tools and software you already have that you can make better use of. What adaptations have your people made during lockdown to work effectively? Can these adaptations provide benefits permanently?
"Work through each issue in turn and identify the root cause. You can then use this analysis to create an action plan for improvement."
Take a self-guided tour
Take a self-guided tour through the Eploy experience for some inspiration on where to begin to influence throughout the entire journey from Job Requisition to Onboarding. If you're ready to see more, schedule a live demo or start your free e-recruitment trial.
