Recruit IT Talent
- Changing workforce dynamics and increased transparency have shifted the power from employers to job seekers, stiffening the competition for talent.
- Candidate expectations match high consumer expectations and affect the employer brand, the consumer brand, and overall organizational reputation. Delivering a positive candidate experience (CX2) is no longer optional.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Think about your candidates as consumers. Truly understanding their needs will attract great talent and build positive brand perceptions.
- The CX2 starts sooner than you think. It encompasses all candidate interactions with an organization and begins before the formal application process.
- Don’t try to emulate competitors. By differentiating your CX2, you build a competitive advantage.
Impact and Result
- Design a candidate-centric talent acquisition process that addresses candidate feedback from both unsuccessful and successful candidates.
- Use design-thinking principles to focus your redesign on moments that matter to candidates to reduce unnecessary work or ad-hoc initiatives that don’t matter to candidates.
Recruit IT Talent Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should redesign your CX2, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
- Recruit IT Talent – Phases 1-3
1. Establish your current process and set redesign goals
Map the organization’s current state for CX2 and set high-level objectives and metrics.
- Win the War for Talent With a Killer Candidate Experience – Phase 1: Establish Your Current Process and Set Redesign Goals
- Candidate Experience Project Charter
- Talent Metrics Library
- Candidate Experience Process Mapping Template
- Candidate Experience Assessment Tool
2. Use design thinking to assess the candidate experience
Strengthen the candidate lifecycle by improving upon pain points through design thinking methods and assessing the competitive landscape.
- Win the War for Talent With a Killer Candidate Experience – Phase 2: Use Design Thinking to Assess the Candidate Experience
- Design Thinking Primer
- Empathy Map Template
- Journey Map Guide
3. Redesign the candidate experience
Create action, communications, and training plans to establish the redesigned CX2 with hiring process stakeholders.
- Win the War for Talent With a Killer Candidate Experience – Phase 3: Redesign the Candidate Experience
- Candidate Experience Best Practices Action Guide
- Candidate Experience Action and Communication Plan
- Candidate Experience Service Level Agreement Template
4. Appendix
Leverage data collection and workshop activities.
- Win the War for Talent With a Killer Candidate Experience – Appendix: Data Collection and Workshop Activities
- Candidate Experience Phase One Data Collection Guide
Workshop: Recruit IT Talent
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
1 Establish Your Current Process and Set Redesign Goals
The Purpose
Assess the organization’s current state for CX2.
Set baseline metrics for comparison with new initiatives.
Establish goals to strengthen the CX2.
Key Benefits Achieved
Gained understanding of where the organization is currently.
Established where the organization would like to be and goals to achieve the new state.
Activities
1.1 Review process map of current candidate lifecycle.
1.2 Analyze qualitative and quantitative data gathered.
1.3 Set organizational objectives and project goals.
1.4 Set metrics to measure progress on high-level goals.
Outputs
Process map
CX2 data analyzed
Candidate Experience Project Charter
2 Use Design Thinking to Assess the Candidate Experience
The Purpose
Apply design thinking methods to identify pain points in your candidate lifecycle.
Assess the competition and analyze results.
Empathize with candidates and their journey.
Key Benefits Achieved
Segments with pain points have been identified.
Competitor offering and differentiation has been analyzed.
Candidate thoughts and feelings have been synthesized.
Activities
2.1 Identify extreme users.
2.2 Conduct an immersive empathy session or go through the process as if you were a target candidate.
2.3 Identify talent competitors.
2.4 Analyze competitive landscape.
2.5 Synthesize research findings and create empathy map.
2.6 Journey map the CX2.
Outputs
Extreme users identified
Known and unknown talent competitor’s CX2 analyzed
Empathy map created
Journey map created
3 Redesign the Candidate Experience
The Purpose
Create a communications and action plan and set metrics to measure success.
Set expectations with hiring managers and talent acquisition specialists through a service level agreement.
Key Benefits Achieved
Action plan created.
Metrics set to track progress and assess improvement.
Service level agreement completed and expectations collaboratively set.
Activities
3.1 Assess each stage of the lifecycle.
3.2 Set success metrics for priority lifecycle stages.
3.3 Select actions from the Candidate Experience Best Practices Action Guide.
3.4 Brainstorm other potential (organization-specific) solutions.
3.5 Set action timeline and assign accountabilities.
3.6 Customize service level agreement guidelines.
Outputs
CX2 lifecycle stages prioritized
Metrics to measure progress set
CX2 best practices selected
Candidate Experience Assessment Tool
Candidate Experience Action and Communication Plan
Service level agreement guidelines.