When the Process Becomes the Problem

So I’m up in Seattle helping a company overcome itself. Simply put, it’s grown too large too quickly and now it’s struggling to achieve even the most routine tasks in a timely manner. One of the major issues at the moment is the time it takes to hire an applicant. Right now it takes about two months.

60 days.

And that’s the applicants they want to hire.

Part of the problem is the kind of pseudo-centralized recruitment model they’ve gotten themselves into. It gives them a bit of the old bipolar disorder.

Facility to Applicant: We do it this way.

Regional to Applicant: We do it the completely opposite way.

Obviously, this is not helpful to the applicant. So what are the overarching issues?

• Crazy stupid workload: The recruiters have over 100 requisitions (some very hard-to-fill) in addition to their duties as change agents, workforce planners, event planners, ATS trainers, marketing gurus, and custodians (okay, maybe not that last one). Can we say “prioritization” and “role clarity,” kids?
• POS ATS: One word—Kenexa. So not a fan.
• Communication Issues: Region and Facility speak totally different languages. It’s amazing. They need a translator.
• Responsibility: Recruitment is the hot potato du jour. “You figure it out.” “No, YOU figure it out.”

The solution? Set the fuse, light the match…but we can’t do that, sooooo we’ll do a pilot project and create the changes we need to see.

It’s gonna be a blast.