Recruitment Operations 103 - Process Mapping & Flowcharts

In my last article, “Why are Recruiters Still Ghosting Candidates ?” One of my suggested solutions was to get better at documenting the recruitment process. In particular, using tools like flow charts to document a recruitment process in a much more sophisticated way. The reason this is a good solution for recruiters ghosting candidates is that it is easier to attach SLAs to certain steps and outline specific formats of communication that would be best for candidate experience. It can be used as a tool to keep all stakeholders, including your recruiters, informed of best practices and fully accountable.

I received a HUGE amount of positive feedback from recruiters with questions about how to go about translating their processes into a flow chart and how to use it for process improvement.?

So this article is a reply to those questions. I will cover :?

1. Documenting processes - The good and the bad.
2. What is a flow chart?
3. The basic symbols of a flow chart & ways I have adjusted the notation for recruitment.
4. An example flow chart for a software developer role.
5. Use cases.
6. Tools & Resources.

Documenting Processes - The Good and the Bad.

(Screen>Code>1st IV>Final IV>Offer>Hire) ≠ A Process

So let's start with a really basic recruitment process and think about what information this communicates :

This shows us the stages any candidate would sit in before they become an employee, and in what order the candidate will experience them. This is useful as we can roughly visualise the candidate's journey, think about ways to change the process and improve any outcomes (e.g.) candidate experience.

Now, let's make a list of everything that needs to happen for a candidate to actually get hired that isn’t documented in this process :?

• The code test needs to be sent to the candidate with good instructions.
• The candidate needs to complete the code test
• Some candidates need reminded to complete the code test
• Candidates need feedback on their code test
• Candidates need to prepare for interviews
• Candidates need time for preparation
• Interviewers need to submit feedback within an appropriate amount of time
• Recruiters need to deliver feedback at each stage.
• Recruiters need to reject candidates
• Recruiters need to reject candidates within an appropriate amount of time
• Recruiters need to reject candidates with an appropriate format of communication.
• Hiring managers need to make a decision within an appropriate amount of time.
• Recruiters & HR need to process offers in an appropriate amount of time.
• HR needs to pick up from recruiters with all the information they need to do a good job of on-boarding the new employee.

This is really simple, off the top of my head stuff all recruiters need to do outside of the ‘process’ to achieve the simple outcome of getting a candidate hired.

Now stop for a second. Does that not scare you? Because it should scare you….. All of the above and more is essential to hire for your business. And ALL of it only exists, in varying degrees of quality and completion, in the brains of your recruitment team and nowhere else.?

How can you properly gauge the quality of your team's work??

How can you go about creating consistency?

How can you go about making improvements?

You can’t. You just have to trust that your superstars will keep being superstars and your poor performers will not cause too much of a problem. In any other business function, this would be absolutely unacceptable.?

Can you imagine if all you knew about your own sales process was “talk to customers>sell them products>take their money” and all the difficult, nuanced work of sales was just sitting in the heads of your sales team? Nobody would have faith in your business to sell products consistently.?

So, it's apparent that recruiters need to learn a new language that will enable them to document the amazing work they do more accurately, to bring in all of the points above and more, in a way that the rest of the business understands. Fortunately, such a language exists. It’s probably already used in your business, and it's free.?

Flow Charts

The first formal flow charts were adopted by mechanical engineers as far back as the 1920’s and are essentially a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flow chart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of a step-by-step approach to solving a task. They are commonly used today by software developers and the standard notation by which a person can read a flow chart has developed to accommodate the communication of technical processes.

There are dozens of individual components to complex flow charts but for us handsome recruiters, we only need a few to accurately represent a recruitment process (with a little adjustment)

Glossary of Flow Chart Symbols

Terminator - the pill shape signifies the start or end of a process. For recruitment, that would be an application, an outreach, or any rejections.

Process - Also known as an “Action Symbol,” this shape represents a process, action, or function. It’s the most widely-used symbol in flowcharting. In recruitment, that could be a specific stage, like a screen or interview.

Decision - Indicates a question to be answered — usually yes/no or true/false. The flowchart path may then split off into different branches depending on the answer or consequences thereafter. In recruitment that would be the decision that proceeds a stage. So, pass/reject.

Preparation - Differentiates between steps that prepare for work and steps that actually do work. It helps introduce the setup to another step within the same process. So Candidate Prep calls etc.

Delay - Represents a segment of delay in a process. It can be helpful to indicate the exact length of delay within the shape. This is super useful in recruitment processes as it allows us to define both SLAs for feedback internally, and a recommended allowed time for a candidate to complete a piece of work or action.

Document - Represents the input or output of a document, specifically. Examples of and input are receiving a report, email, or order. This could be a specific written document needing to be completed (case study, code test, offer letter)

Note - Placed along with context, this symbol adds needed explanation or comments within the specified range. It may be connected by a dashed line to the relevant section of the flowchart as well

Swimlanes - A swimlane delineates who does what in a process.? Using the metaphor of lanes in a pool, a swimlane provides clarity and accountability by placing process steps within the horizontal or vertical “swimlanes”. It shows connections, communication and handoffs between these lanes, and it can serve to highlight waste, redundancy and inefficiency in a process.

Example Flow Chart - Software Developer Role

Ok, so we want to factor a lot more of our awesome work into a document that the wider business can understand. We now have the language with which to do that. Lets put it all together and create a flowchart for a role. Follow along step by step.

Here we can see the stages, just like our basic process, but additionally we have documented the SLAs at each stage, colour coded the responsible stakeholders, the steps each stakeholder is expected to take, the way in which they take these steps, and extra contextualising information.

Use Cases

1. Once we have this written up, we can follow it step by step in a hiring manager sync, to verify and gain commitment to the SLAs we have put in place for feedback. Making the hiring managers more accountable for consistent, fast feedback.
2. Recruiters in your team have specific directions on how to engage with candidates. So “at stage X, reject the candidate by email within 48 hours. At stage Y, reject the candidate by phone call within 24 hours”. We have clear, accountable steps making the candidate experience consistently high, and we have an evidence base to challenge poor performers.
3. We can use it as a template for similar roles. So the best practices are communicated more effectively across the recruitment function.
4. We can identify bottlenecks in a very visual and specific way, helping us iterate and improve our recruitment process.

Tools & Resources

Tools

1. Lucid Chart - a flowcharting tool. It has free or premium accounts and is commonly used by developers.
2. Google Draw - A simpler tool but free and does the job.
3. Visio - Microsoft's flowcharting tool. Not free but you may already have it as part of your Microsoft plan. Ask a techie at work. They will tell you if you have it.

Resources

1. https://www.visual-paradigm.com/tutorials/flowchart-tutorial/
2. Creating a Simple Flowchart in Diagrams.net (Draw.io) Tutorial

Conclusion

The way recruiters currently think about processes is not as sophisticated as other business functions. But, it is easy and free to get better at this and there are huge benefits to doing so. Have a play around with flowcharting. Take a role you are struggling with and challenge yourself to chart out every interaction. You will find that more and more hitherto unarticulated parts of the process pop into your head as you go. The end product will be a blueprint for consistently excellent recruitment.

Previous Articles

Recruitment Operations 101

Recruitment Operations 102 - WIP Limits

Why are Recruiters Still Ghosting Candidates?