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Recruitment Dashboard Discovery – Discovery Overview

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Executive Summary

The Discovery was carried out by Perfectly Simple IT Solutions (PSIT), from (START DATE) to (END DATE).

The Discovery focused on the problems within the recruitment industry and how to improve the service for IT Recruitment Marketplace and other recruiters. It focused on identifying the problems, and understanding user needs, as well as any additional issues that may be faced, such as technology constraints or accessibility.

The research and activities were conducted in line with the Government Digital Service (GDS) definition and guidance of the digital service Discovery Phase.

The Discovery concluded with a validated and prioritised user story backlog and a set of proposals/recommendations for the IT Recruitment Marketplace team to consider if progressing the service to Alpha.

Summary of proposals/recommendations:

  • Overarching recommendations (a, b, c, d)
  • User experience recommendations (a, b, c, d, e)
  • Technology recommendations (a, b)
  • Data recommendations (a, b, c)
  • Governance recommendations (a, b, c, d, e, f, g)

Discovery Phase Goals

At the start of the Discovery, we decided the following goals with the IT Recruitment Marketplace team. They align with the GDS definition and guidance of the Discovery process and also have some additional goals:

  • Understand the issues, context, behaviour and needs of user roles current in the recruitment industry.
  • Explore what the team at IT Recruitment Marketplace and the wider stakeholders want to achieve in the Discovery, and how to achieve this.
  • Research and identify the problems within the recruitment industry, such as high administration costs, lengthy processes and lack of transparency.
  • Carry out user research with surveys, workshops and interviews to identify any other problems in the recruitment industry.
  • Explore any constraints that might cause problems in the Discovery e.g. technology, digitisation and accessibility.
  • Develop an ordered backlog of user stories identified and supported with evidence from user research methods such as surveys, interviews and workshops. 
  • Create user experience concepts to communicate with stakeholders for transparency and regular feedback.
  • Make clear and objective recommendations/proposals of how to move onto the Alpha phase in accordance with the GDS definition and guidance. 

The Scope of the Discovery

The following were included in the scope of the Discovery:

  • Background and contextual research to the problem in question
  • User research utilising surveys, interviews and workshops
  • Identifying any potential constraints in the Discovery
  • Developing a prioritised user story backlog including, user journeys and to be journeys
  • Creating user concepts for communication and feedback
  • Creating proposals/recommendations for Alpha

Project Team

Perfectly Simple IT Solutions:

  • Terry Beavis (Subject Matter Expert/Agile Delivery Manager) 
  • Phil James (User Research) 
  • Ben Schlaepfer (User Research) 
  • Sam Hardy (User Research/Agile Delivery Manager) 

IT Recruitment Marketplace:

  • Client 1 
  • Client 2 
  • Client 3 

Discovery Phase Activities

The Discovery was conducted from (START DATE) to (END DATE)

The following activities were carried out in this time period and allowed us to create the final recommendations and proposals if progressing the service to Alpha:

  • Kick-off workshop with key stakeholders at IT Recruitment Marketplace (DATE)
  • Review on online and documented sources (DATE)
  • Stakeholder interviews (DATE)
  • One-to-one interviews (DATE)
  • User needs workshop (DATE)
  • User needs survey (DATE)
  • User feedback survey (DATE)
  • Created journey service map (DATE)
  • Created backlog (DATE)
  • Conducted 'show and tell' project (DATE)
  • Technology review (DATE)
  • Landscape analysis (DATE)
  • Assisted Digital Impact Assessment (ADI) (DATE)
  • Developed concept prototypes (DATE)

Key Associated Documents

  • Persona profiles  
  • User story backlog (link to user story backlog) 
  • Interview questions 
  • Workshop resources  

Background to Discovery

The Discovery for this project was carried out due to occurring problems in the recruitment industry. The IT Recruitment Marketplace team were concerned about the disadvantages of the current methods and decided to research trends and statistics in current recruitment. 

A review of online and documented sources found that:

  • Over 72% of employers had difficulty finding skilled candidates for open job opportunities; (www.criterion.co.uk) 
  • The number of recruiters operating in the UK grew by almost 10% over one year, from March 2017 to March 2018; (www.criterion.co.uk) 
  • 78% of employers utilising an ATS said that recruitment technology makes finding great talent easier than ever. (www.criterion.co.uk)
  • On average, each corporate job offer attracts 250 resumes/CVs; (www.hrcloud.com) 
  • The average cost-per-hire in the UK is about £3000, with the average length of the job interview process standing at about 27.5 days; (www.cmdrecruitment.com) 
  • 45% of employers say they can’t find the workers with the skills they need. (www.smallbizgenius.net) 
  • Artificial Intelligence is inevitably going to have a major impact on the future of the recruitment industry. (www.digitalmediastream.co.uk)
  • "Resumes are out, algorithms are in" To diversify its candidate pool, companies rely on software to sort applicants (www.digitalmediastream.co.uk)

 

This research is conclusive that there are problems which need to be addressed in the recruitment industry which led the team at IT Recruitment Marketplace to look for solutions to these problems.

After the review of online sources, more user research was carried out using stakeholder surveys, interviews and workshops in order to gain more knowledge of how to best solve these problems. The recommendations and proposals should be considered if progressing the service to Alpha.