How HR chased the wild boar ...

SPOILER: This article is NOT for developers, but for HR / recruiters. But I will be glad if you can share tips.



In "IT production" there are different approaches and methodologies on how to organize work, but for some reason, often, these approaches do not apply to the teams that support this work, for example, in terms of attracting new personnel.



It will be more accurate if we say that everyone has heard a lot about methodologies, but no one seeks to implement them among the administrative staff. 



As it was



Work in the IT company initially followed the previously planned processes. But there was a thin isthmus when business need turned into a key task for recruiting, i.e. we received news from business and from this we "danced". 



As the team of recruiters and managers grew, many problems arose. each mows in his own way: Misha writes feedback for a long time, it is not possible to agree on the interview time with Sergey, and Sasha takes a long time to decide whether to take it or not.



It was not possible to solve all the problems in the stream, or rather, it was possible, but it was very long and was not of a systemic nature. 



We faced several tasks:



  • problems are hushed up or, at best, are simply spoken out, but nowhere are they recorded for further solution;
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We decided to take the best of Agile and sharpen it for Russian recruiting. In a general sense, we ended up with Kanban, where we are in a constant stream of people search, but the priority can change, and new positions are added every day



We have 1 month iterations - this is humanly convenient and long enough to see the results of the work and in the form of new employee exits.



At the end of each iteration, we do retro - what is good, what is bad, what is doubtful. We discuss not only the side of the processes in the company and our successes / mistakes, but also the side of the “candidate market”.



These were originally weekly ralliesfor an hour and daily 5 minutes, tk. worked in one office, but at a remote location everything grew into an online daily for 15-30 minutes.



We have a trallo board , where you can see how many candidates are in the process, in what areas and who is responsible for them. Steps from initial contact to offer. There are "service" columns Reject and On Hold. This board has access to the general manager in charge of hiring. Updating information at least once a day.



The backlog is the same as the request from the business. In the days "before COVID" it was offline on the board, now it is a column in trello (Direction, for example, Java, project name and position features, if any, number of people).



We didn’t implement all of this at once, so it didn’t look alien to the team and there was no rejection. I was a driver, and together with the team leader I adapted and "finished" the practices for myself. 



Process



Despite the fact that we have our own database of candidates, which looks more than decent and you can build different reports on it, there is no place in it where you can look at everything in your city at once. This is how the board appeared as a tool for tracking progress. This gave an almost instant effect - it became clear how many candidates and in what direction (we need to find more, or it is already possible to slow down), it is clear at what stage the "plugging" occurs and the process is stretched (the manager thinks, the interviewer writes feedback for a long time, we agree on the salary for a long time) ... Well, the manager does not need to pull the recruiting to find out the status, because he sees everything. 



At the moment when the recruiting team grew to 3-4 people in one location, rallies appeared... It was necessary to deliver information at once and collect difficult cases, discuss and come up with solutions. It also became a place to share experiences. 



Iteration and retro came up last. Our team has grown further, specialization in the areas of personnel recruitment has appeared, we needed a platform for reflection and an impetus for solving big problems (finding employees who will help in interviews, negotiating salary with a manager, training sales managers for a company on an offer, etc.) ).



Why did it fit for us, but not for you?



It suited us because:



  • we felt a real profit from each implemented tool;
  • we did it in stages, and not "into the pool with our heads";
  • the whole team knows about Agile and is interested in trying it in work life;
  • the whole team was told what the change was, when and why;
  • no one fines, scolds, or condemns if someone forgot to do something or did not have time. “People and interaction are more important than processes and tools”, we help and remind fondly.


But you don't, because:



  • Zinaida Georgievna doesn't know about any Agile and thinks it's a shame;
  • your hiring process is not flexible, but rigidly planned and bureaucratic, like a bright future in the USSR;
  • Lidia Ivanovna sabotages all innovations, because "And it works like that, don't touch it";
  • your recruiting team is you and your shadow;
  • new tools become not helpers in the work, but new tools for control and supervision, which the team rejects.


Colleagues from HR and Recruiting, try new things in your professional life and it will sparkle with new colors.



PS we have been living in the new process for over a year and we are not going to give up any of the rituals.



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