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Lean practices in engineering talent acquisitionfor a skilled technical workforce

Engineers are familiar with Lean, a process improvement methodology that evolved from the Toyota® production system. The main goal of Lean is simple: to improve value by eliminating waste, which is defined as any activity that consumes resources without adding value. The net result is improved effectiveness—with reduced system costs—for enhanced satisfaction.

But did you know there are many parallels to be drawn between talent acquisition practices and Lean methodology?

Of the seven types of waste, known as muda in Lean terminology, the opportunity for process improvements in engineering talent acquisition tends to focus on five key areas:

• Defects/Rework: submittal or proposal of unqualified candidates who do not meet job specifications; selection and hire of unqualified candidates

• Over production: sourcing and developing excessive numbers of qualified candidates for a job opportunity; “crowd sourcing” from numerous recruiters and agencies

• Waiting: from two primary causes: the sourcing and qualifying of candidates, and decisions made by the engineering manager to interview and hire

• Over processing: qualification steps that do not contribute to yes/no hiring decisions; excessive interviews; or testing that’s not predictive of success on the job

• Inventory: skilled candidates do not remain available to hire for long, so some recruiters will flood hiring managers with unsolicited résumés to “push their inventory”

All these instances of muda can result in excess work, cost, and

dissatisfaction throughout the system. Ultimately, some issues can

also lead to the loss of good candidates to other employers.

Muda in engineering talent acquisition

Applying a Lean approach to talent acquisitionThere are numerous ways to utilize Lean methodologies in sourcing and hiring engineering talent. First, you should recognize the defects in your talent acquisition system. Do you get an excessive number of non-solicited résumés, or an insufficient volume of candidate résumés? How about a generally poor quality of candidates, poor on-the-job success of your selected candidates, or too many “false start” candidates? These signs are likely indicators of waste in your system.

Start with a good descriptionImprovements in your recruiting process should begin with an accurate description of the work that needs to be done, plus the skills and experience that are required to perform the work.

Communication with the technical recruiter is also critical, as feedback is an essential Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) step in the process. Quickly responding to résumé submissions and candidate

interviews will reduce your cycle time, and help to ensure availability of the best candidates.

To save even more time, manage the process like a technical project. Be sure to get the internal approvals you need before releasing a job order to the recruiter, and plan to block time for candidate interviews. Arrange for a trusted colleague or peer to interview if you will be unavailable. Review your interview and selection process to ensure that only the most essential steps are scheduled.

CTQ loop inputThe CTQ loop, shown below, illustrates the key steps for hiring managers (HM) and recruiters (R) in the sourcing and recruiting process of engineering talent.

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CTQ LOOP: ENGINEERING STAFFING PROCESS

2 UNDERSTAND REQUIREMENTS (R)

1 DEFINE REQUIREMENTS (HM)

4 PRE-QUALIFICATION PROCESS (R)

3 SOURCING STRATEGY/TACTICS (R)

6HIRING MANAGER

REVIEW (HM) 5CANDIDADE PROPOSAL/

SUBMITTAL (R)7FEEDBACK TO

RECRUITER (HM)