Recruit IT Talent
Improve candidate experience to hire top IT talent.
- Changing workforce dynamics and increased transparency have shifted the power from employers to job seekers, stiffening the competition for talent.
- Candidate expectations match high consumer expectations and affect the employer brand, the consumer brand, and overall organizational reputation. Delivering a positive candidate experience (CX2) is no longer optional.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Think about your candidates as consumers. Truly understanding their needs will attract great talent and build positive brand perceptions.
- The CX2 starts sooner than you think. It encompasses all candidate interactions with an organization and begins before the formal application process.
- Don’t try to emulate competitors. By differentiating your CX2, you build a competitive advantage.
Impact and Result
- Design a candidate-centric talent acquisition process that addresses candidate feedback from both unsuccessful and successful candidates.
- Use design-thinking principles to focus your redesign on moments that matter to candidates to reduce unnecessary work or ad-hoc initiatives that don’t matter to candidates.
Recruit IT Talent Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should redesign your CX2, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Establish your current process and set redesign goals
Map the organization’s current state for CX2 and set high-level objectives and metrics.
2. Use design thinking to assess the candidate experience
Strengthen the candidate lifecycle by improving upon pain points through design thinking methods and assessing the competitive landscape.
3. Redesign the candidate experience
Create action, communications, and training plans to establish the redesigned CX2 with hiring process stakeholders.
4. Appendix
Leverage data collection and workshop activities.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
10.0/10
Overall Impact
$12,399
Average $ Saved
9
Average Days Saved
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Academic Partnerships
Guided Implementation
10/10
$12,399
9
Cascades, Centre des Technologies
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
N/A
Aipso
Guided Implementation
10/10
N/A
N/A
City Of Bakersfield
Guided Implementation
10/10
$7,439
9
City Of Bakersfield
Guided Implementation
10/10
$6,199
14
Onsite Workshop: Recruit IT Talent
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Establish Your Current Process and Set Redesign Goals
The Purpose
- Assess the organization’s current state for CX2.
- Set baseline metrics for comparison with new initiatives.
- Establish goals to strengthen the CX2.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Gained understanding of where the organization is currently.
- Established where the organization would like to be and goals to achieve the new state.
Activities
Outputs
Review process map of current candidate lifecycle.
- Process map
Analyze qualitative and quantitative data gathered.
- CX2 data analyzed
Set organizational objectives and project goals.
Set metrics to measure progress on high-level goals.
- Candidate Experience Project Charter
Module 2: Use Design Thinking to Assess the Candidate Experience
The Purpose
- Apply design thinking methods to identify pain points in your candidate lifecycle.
- Assess the competition and analyze results.
- Empathize with candidates and their journey.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Segments with pain points have been identified.
- Competitor offering and differentiation has been analyzed.
- Candidate thoughts and feelings have been synthesized.
Activities
Outputs
Identify extreme users.
- Extreme users identified
Conduct an immersive empathy session or go through the process as if you were a target candidate.
Identify talent competitors.
Analyze competitive landscape.
- Known and unknown talent competitor’s CX2 analyzed
Synthesize research findings and create empathy map.
- Empathy map created
Journey map the CX2.
- Journey map created
Module 3: Redesign the Candidate Experience
The Purpose
- Create a communications and action plan and set metrics to measure success.
- Set expectations with hiring managers and talent acquisition specialists through a service level agreement.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Action plan created.
- Metrics set to track progress and assess improvement.
- Service level agreement completed and expectations collaboratively set.
Activities
Outputs
Assess each stage of the lifecycle.
- CX2 lifecycle stages prioritized
Set success metrics for priority lifecycle stages.
- Metrics to measure progress set
Select actions from the Candidate Experience Best Practices Action Guide.
- CX2 best practices selected
Brainstorm other potential (organization-specific) solutions.
- Candidate Experience Assessment Tool
Set action timeline and assign accountabilities.
- Candidate Experience Action and Communication Plan
Customize service level agreement guidelines.
- Service level agreement guidelines.
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 3-phase advisory process. You'll receive 8 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation #1 - Establish your current process and set redesign goals
- Call #1 - Develop strategy to select project team and high-level goals of redesign.
- Call #2 - Review current process map and select data collection methods.
- Call #3 - Review data collected and set high-level goals and metrics for redesign process.
Guided Implementation #2 - Use design thinking to assess the candidate experience
- Call #1 - Develop a strategy to launch the design thinking phase and introduce best practices.
- Call #2 - Analyze data collected and prepare for journey mapping activity.
- Call #3 - Evaluate results of design thinking and identified moments that matter.
Guided Implementation #3 - Redesign the candidate experience
- Call #1 - Evaluate and prioritize areas of CX2 to redesign and introduce best practices and select solutions.
- Call #2 - Review action and communication plan and prepare to customize service level agreement (SLA).
Contributors
- Adam Cooper, HR Director, Aon
- Amar Grewal, Global Practice Leader, Talent Acquisition, Hatch
- Alexandra Norris, Talent Specialist, HubDoc
- Camille Shrouder-Henry, Talent Acquisition & Candidate Experience Manager, Fleet Complete
- Dorothy Wolentarski, Strategic Talent Acquisition Projects Leader, Intact Insurance
- Elyse Mayer, Director of Marketing, SmashFly Technologies
- Lisa Chartier, Global Head of Employer Brand & Marketing, Philips
- Maura Dyer, Director, Employer Branding & Talent Acquisition, Rogers Communications
- Maureen Carroll, Senior Manager, Talent Attraction, Finastra
- Peter Cappelli, Professor of Management, University of Pennsylvania & Director of Center for Human Resources, The Wharton School
- Sara Cooper, Talent Director, Portfolio Companies, OMERS Ventures
- Sarah Mortimer, AVP HR, SuccessFactors Lead, Great-West Life
- Sondra Dryer, Global Head of Employer Brand & Experience, Alexander Mann Solutions
- Tiffanie Witherspoon, Learning & Development Associate, The George Washington University
- Tim Sackett, Chief Storyteller, Fistful of Talent HR Blog & President, HRU Technical Resources
- Tracey Wells, Talent Acquisition Manager, HubDoc
- William Maurer, Global Talent Sourcing Manager, General Motors
Recruit IT Talent
Recruit and Retain More Women in IT
Acquire the Right Hires with Effective Interviewing
Start Making Data-Driven People Decisions
Adapt Your Onboarding Process to a Virtual Environment
Recruit and Retain People of Color in IT