Maud Dias, Talent Acquisition Manager, Financial services

Reflection – Value Chain Analysis

Challenge & Selection

The first time I heard about Design Thinking was through my professional association, Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (Bachhpan). The article stated the numerous benefits of using this new tool or  approach in Recruiting.  As a recruiter, I was first curious to understand how this new method would be  beneficial and took on this course.

I recently accepted a new challenge: Talent Acquisition Manager in a growing firm specialized in the  Finance industry. The core business is to hire, train, develop and fill temporary positions for our main  customer in the banking business. This is a new role and therefore, I am a change agent within this small  firm.

Our goal is to grow the business and position ourselves against larger firms. We do this by hiring 50%  more resources (staff) to fill temp positions. We are currently unable to supply these roles as we don’t  have a pipeline of candidates ready to join or be hired. This business is sensitive for two major factors:  time and money.  With scares financial and internal staff resources, I quickly realized that a first  assessment was required to evaluate what we currently have available and design thinking would come  in handy to be creative in our approach in this context.

To name a few, here is our context : Meeting our customers need in a fast pace environment, competing  against larger firms, scarce financial and internal human resources, limited technology applications,  reduced available candidates to hire, cost of lost opportunity and growth issues.

In order to proceed with my assessment, I have selected the Value chain analysis tool.  I have decided to  use this tool in order to see the journey mapping through the eyes of the customer, of partnering  services and competitors. Before implementing changes, this tool will be valuable in the exploration  phase in the search for profitable growth opportunities and knowing what makes a new business model  attractive to our firm and which part is worth protecting.

Application

The first step is to draw the value chain of our core business. I decided to use the graph.1 (page 3)  working backwards from the end point to the value proposition delivered to customers.

Step 2, is the analysis of the competitive environment. The idea is to identify the key players and their  relative market share. By doing so, I quickly realized that our strength lies in the employee development  program. We do it well and we do it much faster than our main competitor.  However, our main  competitor is our client. Therefore, we are more or less partners in business.

Step 3, identifying the core strategic capabilities. This is the easy part! We need technical training  knowledge, technical finance knowledge, recruiting & hiring, negotiating and a strong customer service  team. The value chain allows me to pinpoint quickly in one direction. Our strength lies in the training

Maud Dias, Talent Acquisition Manager, Financial services

program and process. The program allows us to offer higher standards in terms of employability for our  candidates and quicker than our main competitor.

However, we need to hire more candidates to respond to our client’s demands. These demands are not  fulfilled in a timely manner and most of the time is not filled at all. In order to recruit, we require tools to  quickly identify potential candidates and a sufficient pipeline of resources to join the temporary  employees in various areas.  We also require IT systems that are efficient and knowledge to use them.  It  becomes quite evident at this stage the issues that are absent or not adequate:

  IT system is not appropriate : competitors are using ATS systems which is absent in our firm;

  Loss of opportunities when sourcing new candidates : potential hires are not contacted promptly  and evaluated which leads to next issue;

  Insufficient potential hires or pipeline is scarse therefore, it is not possible to fill our customer’s  needs in a timely manner;

  Insufficient staff in initial sourcing & recruiting stage.

Step 4, evaluate the bargaining power and influence of each player. This part brings valuable questions.  It allows me to evaluate each team member’s contribution. Everyone is replaceable however, there are  key roles that influences performance. The first key member is the recruiter. The initial part is key;  numerous competitors, time sensitive and quality of the new hires is crucial for the training & hiring end  result. The other key member is the trainer. This person is the last one of the value chain and drives  quality, retention and motivation for the final step in our control in the value chain.  Once the temp  employee is working at our customer’s location, we have little control of the outcome.

Step 5, determine the possibilities for improving the power and profitability in the chain.  As mentioned  earlier, strengthening and improving power in the initial hiring stage will generate more profit for the  firm.  The key areas are to ;

   Increase productivity in the initial phase 1 stage: increase the number of interviews and phone  calls.

  Add new resources : Implement an ATS system to sustain the needs and create an efficient  database of potential hires and hire an additional recruiter to the team;

  Review current sourcing & recruiting process to stream line the activities and respond quickly to  the growing demand.

Step 6, assess our vulnerabilities in order to play offense and not only defense. Where are we vulnerable  to others who might change their ways? Our competitors? This is quite easy as we only have one client  who we sustain with temporary employees.

Final step is to identify themes to bargaining powers, capabilities, partners and defensibility.  I see  potential for gaining new clients and reproducing the same value chain proposition for a different type of  business. As we recruit new hires, train them and develop these resources, we can repeat the same  winning formula and gain a new market share.

Maud Dias, Talent Acquisition Manager, Financial services

Insight & Approach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise is that while the graphic – value chain analysis  graphic– is important for reinforcing my understanding of the problem we are working to solve. The  more valuable aspect of the activity is that I have shared the graphic and my insights.

The graphic gives a focal point for discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop  insights into potential root causes of their problems.  While we could draw the value chain on a white  board, using this graphic and starting with a design starts the conversation with them. They can quickly  identify where they are in the graphic – or what is missing – and can more quickly gain new insights  about relationships between key entities instead of taking time to identify them.  They can also identify  variables in the problem space – that is, it helps them to identify what they don’t know, in what areas  they need to obtain information or data to provide the values for the variables.

Since I have discovered the value chain analysis, next time and come into a problem, I will review the  steps one step at a time and the questions associated with each step. It’s a helpful tool to review all  aspects, think strategically and align our priorities with the business goals.

It’s also a good reminder of what we do well and what we can do to improve ourselves. Opportunity  finder and weakness enlighten tool.

Maud Dias, Talent Acquisition Manager, Financial services

Step 1

Step 2

Phases   Competitors

Recruiting & Hiring new temp

employees

MCMR – Hunt – Our client – Other

banquing institutions – Garda

Initial Training   MCMR – Hunt – Our client – Other

banquing institutions – Garda

Development of potential   Our client - ?? other

Promoting   Our client - ?? other

Hired by our client   Internal employees – Our client

Recruiting & hiring

new temp  employees

• Sourcing & interviewing  • Negociation & Contractual agreement  • Unboarding & employee experience

Initial Training

• Training program :  concepts and best practices   • Practical training   • Transitionning in new role

Development of

potential

• Coaching / supporting   • Developping training program   • Evaluation into the job

Promoting

• Upgrading training with a personal development program   • Practical training & coaching

Hired by our client

• Temporary employee is hired for a permanent role   • Termination of contract

