Reflection - Mind Mapping

Challenge & Selection

I was interning at a company in the Human Resource department. One of the challenge was to
streamline the recruiting process of the BPM division. The scope of the project was to
understand the current end-to-end recruitment process, locate the gaps in the procedure,
decipher the business problems of the employees, take a holistic view which is inclusive of the
employees, top management and the candidates. The idea was to reduce cost and improve
the employer branding through the process. To explore the intricacies of each function in the
process I used mind mapping tool to list down the themes in the challenges and problems
faced by the organization. The study involved conducting interviews, doing primary and
secondary research which meant being bombarded with the information. Mind Mapping helped
in sorting out the relevant information from the pool of data.

Application

I started this process by listing out broad topics of discussions for the interviews. After which I
observed the process from the day an indent is created to the day of induction. This involved
shadowing the employees in different departments as well as the candidates. In the first few
days I studied the current system and learned the nitty-gritty of the process. I drew flow charts,
collected data from different sources and sat down to categorize broad areas that can be
worked upon. Next, I interviewed people who were involved in the process directly and
indirectly. The candidates were also consulted, expressing their thoughts on the current
process and what can be improved. At the same time I realized that the whole process was
fragmented into different sections and the people involved in the system are not in sync with
each other. This prompted me to get them in a room and discuss about their roles and the
loopholes that they felt were present. While doing this there were different aspects that came to
light and i wrote it down on a sticky note and kept pasting on the white board for everyone to
see. This gave everyone an opportunity to understand the perspectives of all the stakeholders
and acknowledge the role of every member, even the candidate.

Insight & Approach

By using mind mapping tool we were able to conceptualize better and learn about the
intricacies of the system as a whole. There were many insights that came out after the
brainstorming. It was observed that the recruitment channels were not aligned with each other,
the candidates felt the need for a more structured process and streamlined communication.
But the core of the solution lied in the initial screening process was taking up more time than it
should. Because the channels were not aligned with each other, the influx was always
unpredictable and hence the management struggled in managing the process. The candidates
also felt that there were lack of communication before they joined the company. Since these
were mostly millennial and Gen Z who were being recruited, they had a lot of queries regarding
the profile. After discussion with the stakeholders it was observed that the current ATS system
was not fully utilize. It not only had the ability to automate the basic work but also had inbuilt
analytical tools to interpret the results more accurately.

It was observed that there was a need to amalgamate the three channels and route them
through the ATS system to automate the process. Also, an AI enabled HR chatbot will be
installed for candidate queries to smoothen the communication flow. This would not only save
time for the HR but also help in improving employer branding. The initial screening process
were also quiet basic and can be taken through a video call instead of calling the candidates to
the offices. This would entirely remove the waiting time period that was unavoidable in the
initial screening and give the candidates an enhanced experience.

These were small changes that were incorporated in the process and since there was no major
change in the system, we could also see the improvement in the results. Candidates showed
greater satisfaction with the process than previously. Employees were happy that the manual
tasks that took up their time was eliminated entirely. Mind mapping stood out in the whole
project and gave us better understanding of the problem and gave us holistic solution that
addressed all the facets of the project.