Design Thinking is a method for the practical, creative resolution of problems using the strategies designers use during the process of designing.Design thinking has also been developed as an approach to resolve issues outside of professional design practice, such as in business and social contexts.
Design thinking is best known as a creative approach to problem solving that leads to innovative solutions that work better for people / experiences.By balancing both intuitive and analytical approached, design thinking seeks to understand complex challenges, brainstorm potential approaches and find innovative solutions.
Being creative is not an option any more. It’s a must! The Digital Divide is rapidly shrinking due to advancement in Technology. This is why there’s a need for many new roles which require Creative Problem Solving in the HR. Like Recruitment Marketing, Inbound Recruiting, Social Media Recruiting, Candidate Relationship Management, Data-driven Recruiting and many others. Creativity in the process of delivering best candidate experience, designing and implementing the best Employer Branding strategy, attracting talent and implementing the latest HR technology is a must!
Creating a career site, and just leaving it there praying to get quality applicants, doesn’t work! Companies like Amazon, Booking.com. have changed the way we shop / buy. The user experience is great. With minimal efforts we get what we want. The best part is, that we no longer search, the best options are available. The career site should be SoLoMo (Social, Local & Mobile) Just as we want the best experience while shopping / travelling, our candidates want the best experience while applying / exploring opportunities. No one likes searching on a company page, design the career page in a way that, all the information that a candidate is looking for appears. Many Companies still don’t monitor candidate experience. Which is a crucial step for improving recruiting strategy and attracting job seekers. Candidate Experience is essential to improve recruiting efforts, Attracting & Retaining Talent. Remember- the job seekers today are “Connected Candidates”
While designing the Candidate Experience process, you must fully immerse yourself in the world of the Candidates. They have so many touch points throughout the application process, with so many stages involved. A great experience at each touch point is essential. Evaluate your existing hiring process from the lens of a candidate. Collaboration with your Employees, New Hires, declined candidates and ex-employees is extremely important. Building Empathy in this way will empower you to identify opportunities where you can build upon and improve your candidate’s journey (experience)
Empathize
Explore Candidates Experience & problems with Empathy. Begin with end user in mind- Candidates. Empathize with your candidates, then ideate ways to streamline their application & evaluation experience. Leverage Designing Thinking in reducing the “time to apply” for a job post. Have the option of applying with their Social Media Profiles like LinkedIn. Wouldn’t it be a great experience, if a candidate could apply for a job, in just 3 clicks!
Define
Leverage Design Thinking to define a streamlined process at each stage of Hiring:
- Application
- Evaluation – Assessments / Interviews
- Offer
- Pre-Joining
- Onboarding
Design a process to regularly communicate, update & engage with your candidates. Standardize the frequency in which you would communicate / engage with your candidates. Timely update on their application status, communication of roles that match their skill / interest.
Ideate
Innovation is born from clash of ideas. Tap into your Intuition, Curiosity and Imagination. Collaborate with your Employees, New Hires, declined candidates and ex-employees. Diversity fosters new Ideas, Insights and Innovations. Employees define candidate persona and your Employee Value Proposition. Only with the help of your current employees you can find out what are the characteristics of your perfect employee. You can figure out what is it that attracted them and kept them in your company. What your ex-employees say about you is as important as what your employees have to say about you. Declined candidates, will help you identify what doesn’t work / areas of improvement.
Prototype
Prototyping is getting the Ideas and Explorations out of your head and into the physical world. This is where Innovation is brought to life. Once you’ve picked the best idea, build a simple prototype that you can quickly launch & test. A prototype could be a New Policy, Process, Tool in PDF, video or even a game. Have Mock-ups, Storyboards. Fail quickly & cheaply, but manage the solution building process. Keep it Simple.
Test
Testing is the chance to get feedback on your solutions, refine solutions to make them better, and continue to learn about your users. Prototype as if you know you’re right, but test as if you know you’re wrong. Innovation should be refined. Teams that use Design Thinking prioritize the feedback of the customers they are trying Empower. As you endeavour to elevate your candidate experience, testing your process is fundamental. It will not only teach you which elements of your recruiting process you should eliminate, improve, or maintain – it will make your stake holders feel valued. If you really want to know if your solution works, you’ll want to test it with your target audience and gather feedback again. This process of prototyping and testing might go on for a few cycles until you get it right.
We live in a dynamic world, applying Design Thinking to HR is becoming essential. Especially in Talent Acquisition & Attraction. Design Thinking can be used to improve and optimize Recruiting and Hiring Strategy. Companies that take a Design Thinking approach to improve their Hiring Strategies, will have a huge competitive advantage over companies that don’t.
