How to use design thinking to improve your recruitment process

One of the most common challenges founders encounter is hiring the right people. After working with startups for nearly 13 years, it’s not so difficult to understand why. Sometimes, the whole process can feel more like art than science. Here are 3 easy tips borrowed from product development that you can use to make your recruitment hassle-free.

1. Map out your hiring process

During one of our workshops, some founders mentioned that they were struggling to hire developers. Everyone on their team would have a different idea of what the whole process should look like, especially when it came to the job requirements. They’d sit in meetings arguing over and over again without reaching a consensus.

For some, the process is as straightforward as posting a job ad and having an interview with the applicants. For others, the process involves multiple stages with various steps along the way.

This is where you could apply one of the processes we use in product development all the time - drawing out a user journey map. It’s going to give everyone involved a better understanding of what your hiring process looks like and help you identify any issues that may arise as a result.

2. Identify any key problem areas

Once you’ve mapped out your process, you can start identifying any key problem areas in your recruitment. For example, if we don’t do ‘step 3’ right (see image below), then the whole thing falls apart.

That’s why it’s a good idea to spend some time writing down what you feel is the most important part of your process.

What could you improve to attract more suitable candidates? Is it eliminating certain parts of the recruitment process? Changing the proposed salary? Adding extra benefits? As you begin to map all these things out, you’ll come to an alignment with your team regarding what changes need to be made.

3. Gather feedback on your job ad

Just like with your product, you’d want to gather some user feedback prior to launch to ensure you’ve made all the right bets. Here’s where the magic happens. Now that you have a bit of an understanding of what you want to do, you can go and find a few candidates within your target audience to have a look at your ad. Ask them questions like;

1. Would you apply for this job?
2. Is there something missing from this job you’d have liked to see?
3. Is there something that put you off?

Although it’s not an exhaustive list of questions, you can use them to gain insight into how your job ad is being perceived. After, you can make some tweaks based on your users’ feedback to further refine your ad and attract exactly the type of people you are looking for.

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