DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION ASSIGNMENT

EASING TALENT ACQUISITION THROUGH DESIGN THINKING

Challenge & Selection:

I have come across many interesting business problems while doing an internship with a  leading Design Thinking & Business Innovation Consulting Firm. But, this particular solution  born out of design thinking has amazed the clients with the results! The problem brought by  our client was “How can we ease the process of recruiting talent which would be beneficial  for both the Hiring Manager and the candidate?”

After referring a few primary and secondary data, we studied that ‘80% of entrepreneurs  agree talent acquisition is crucial and 61% of them experienced difficulties fetching talents.  Globalization and privatization created more and more open roles for organizations to fill, yet  finding a well-suited individual was a chore.’ The problem was very thought-provoking and  our team of designers jumped in with their design thinking hats on.

For deriving the solution we had to put ourselves in candidates and hiring managers shoes.  The team chose ‘storytelling’ as the design tool and was scheduled to work on building  empathy with the hiring manager, recruiter, and candidate to fulfill their needs. Importantly,  the emotional experience of each individual was to be prioritized.

Application:

The first step to design any meaningful solution is to get to know your audience. In this case,  the audience was the hiring manager, recruiter, and candidates, who have experienced an  interview process. Specifically, we wanted to find out what they were saying, asking, thinking,  feeling, and doing as the interview progresses. By letting them lead the conversation, we  acquired the insights that we needed to focus on problem-solving. Once we collected a good  number of user stories, we saw patterns in their responses and the next step was to  synthesize the data.

We were back to our most favorite part! Taking the problems and queries from the previous  stage, we started envisioning as many solutions and ideas, as we could. This stage is pure  brainstorming and all you have to do is to generate, generate, generate ideas!

Later, we chose the best solutions among all and prototyped it using a low fidelity one. We  also tested the prototype, wherein we took a few people from our target audience and showed  them our prototype. We listened to their views and thoughts and then the prototype was more  customized and altered according to their needs and requirements.

At last, the team derived the perfect solution to the problem and came up with a mobile and  desktop-friendly  application  that  simplified  the  entrepreneur-candidate  journey!

Characteristics of the application include: (a) User Friendly (b) Inbuilt pre-scheduled video  calling service (c) Day to day duties of the open position listed systematically (d) Candidates  can rate themselves according to the skillset required for the job role, listed by the Talent  Acquisition Manager (e) Chatroom with AI-augmented chatbot which helps the candidate with  their queries (f) Open positions list (g) Reference box, wherein candidates can refer their  friends and family (e) Interview feedback for candidates.

Insight & Approach:

Through the storytelling tool of radically empathizing with candidates and talent acquisition  manager, the team identified several areas the company wanted to focus on and improve,  including how to simplify candidate’s interview, set expectations about the designated job role,  and celebrate the company’s culture and branding through communication and the online  experience. It also helped the candidate by solving their queries and has a very human-centered  interface. The inclusion of this user-friendly application, not only brought ‘best of the minds’ to  the company but also simplified the whole interview process for the end-user.

I believe that listening with empathy is the first step towards explaining these unexplained  transformations. Stories generate questions and questions expand the breadth and depth of  stories, leading to lots of innovative thoughts and ideas. While I highly recommend that one  must acquire the skills to incorporate the storytelling tool into your problem-solving toolkit, I  can’t stress enough that they should also invest the time to do it correctly. It takes efforts,  but the results are surely yielding!

From my experience, the ‘storytelling tool’ of design thinking can be easily adapted to  recruitment efforts by both recruiters and talent acquisition managers.


DESIGN THINKING FOR INNOVATION ASSIGNMENT EASING TALENT ACQUISITION THROUGH DESIGN THINKING Challenge & Selection : I have come across many interesting business problems while doing an internship with a leading Design Thinking & Business Innovation Consulting Firm . But , this particular solution born out of design thinking has amazed the clients with the results ! The problem brought by our client was “ How can we ease the process of recruiting talent which would be beneficial for both the Hiring Manager and the candidate ? ” After referring a few primary and secondary data , we studied that ‘ 80 % of entrepreneurs agree talent acquisition is crucial and 61 % of them experienced difficulties fetching talents . Globalization and privatization created more and more open roles for organizations to fill , yet finding a well - suited individual was a chore . ’ The problem was very thought - provoking and our team of designers jumped in with their design thinking hats on . For deriving the solution we had to put ourselves in candidates and hiring managers shoes . The team chose ‘ storytelling ’ as the design tool and was scheduled to work on building empathy with the hiring manager , recruiter , and candidate to fulfill their needs . Importantly , the emotional experience of each individual was to be prioritized . Application : The first step to design any meaningful solution is to get to know your audience . In this case , the audience was the hiring manager , recruiter , and candidates , who have experienced an interview process . Specifically , we wanted to find out what they were saying , asking , thinking , feeling , and doing as the interview progresses . By letting them lead the conversation , we acquired the insights that we needed to focus on problem - solving . Once we collected a good number of user stories , we saw patterns in their responses and the next step was to synthesize the data . We were back to our most favorite part ! Taking the problems and queries from the previous stage , we started envisioning as many solutions and ideas , as we could . This stage is pure brainstorming and all you have to do is to generate , generate , generate ideas ! Later , we chose the best solutions among all and prototyped it using a low fidelity one . We also tested the prototype , wherein we took a few people from our target audience and showed them our prototype . We listened to their views and thoughts and then the prototype was more customized and altered according to their needs and requirements . At last , the team derived the perfect solution to the problem and came up with a mobile and desktop - friendly application that simplified the entrepreneur - candidate journey ! Characteristics of the application include : ( a ) User Friendly ( b ) Inbuilt pre - scheduled video calling service ( c ) Day to day duties of the open position listed systematically ( d ) Candidates can rate themselves according to the skillset required for the job role , listed by the Talent Acquisition Manager ( e ) Chatroom with AI - augmented chatbot which helps the candidate with their queries ( f ) Open positions list ( g ) Reference box , wherein candidates can refer their friends and family ( e ) Interview feedback for candidates . Insight & Approach : Through the storytelling tool of radically empathizing with candidates and talent acquisition manager , the team identified several areas the company wanted to focus on and improve , including how to simplify candidate ’s interview , set expectations about the designated job role , and celebrate the company ’s culture and branding through communication and the online experience . It also helped the candidate by solving their queries and has a very human - centered interface . The inclusion of this user - friendly application , not only brought ‘ best of the minds ’ to the company but also simplified the whole interview process for the end - user . I believe that listening with empathy is the first step towards explaining these unexplained transformations . Stories generate questions and questions expand the breadth and depth of stories , leading to lots of innovative thoughts and ideas . While I highly recommend that one must acquire the skills to incorporate the storytelling tool into your problem - solving toolkit , I ca n’t stress enough that they should also invest the time to do it correctly . It takes efforts , but the results are surely yielding ! From my experience , the ‘ storytelling tool ’ of design thinking can be easily adapted to recruitment efforts by both recruiters and talent acquisition managers .