Specialists are less and less willing to wait long for the company’s decision when looking for a job. A well-functioning recruiting process therefore becomes a competitive advantage in the fight for the best employees. What is astonishing here is the often observed discrepancy between the marketing effort in the search for the best candidates and the subsequent application process. According to the motto: as soon as the applicant has expressed his interest, he no longer needs to be wooed. The application disappears into a dark application nirvana and at some point you will be invited or rejected, if you get an answer at all.

Especially in view of the emerging shortage of skilled workers, the recruitment process should become a top priority in HR. Speed ​​and transparency are the most important requirements of applicants. Let’s take parcel shipping as an example: why shouldn’t you be able to check the status of your application online? The prerequisite for this, however, is a transparent process with a clear assignment of tasks and roles.

The challenge in the application process is to reconcile the many interfaces – from IT to the specialist department and HR to management. The value stream analysis derived from lean management has proven to be the best practice for this. This can be used immediately in any company, there is no need for a complex introduction of lean management and it is applied as follows:

First, all departments/OUs that have an active role in the recruitment process are named. From each department, 1 to 2 employees are selected for the value stream recording. The existing recruitment process is then recorded in a workshop with all employees. It is important that the process is recorded as it is actually lived and not as it should be. This first workshop alone can be very helpful, because colleagues often talk for the first time about how they actually do their work and what they need for it. A common understanding of the overall process develops as a basis for the development of an optimized target process. This takes place in the next steps, always according to the motto: the employees who carry out the work are the actual experts and are most likely to have ideas and the motivation for further improvements.

This approach with the value stream analysis usually leads to significantly shorter processing times (30 – 50% are quite common) and a reduced workload for the employees. The effort required for this is relatively manageable. As a rule, about 5 workshop days are sufficient, but there are also improvement tasks for the employees, and the IT may also have to be adapted. In view of the possible savings potential and the associated retention of top candidates in the company, the return on investment is achieved very quickly.