Kent partnered with Cassandra to improve the Illinois Tollway’s hiring process that was 95% paper-based and would take over 10 months to fill a position. They were also facing a high turn-over rate, lack of technological assistance, and low applicant alignment to position needs. As it stood, the hiring process could use some help. They started out by asking themselves two questions: - What’s possible? - What approach should we use to improve the hiring process? In order to answer their first question, they needed to develop a better understanding of the current process. They chose to use DMAIC as their approach to improving the hiring process. They also thought it was important to identify the inhibitors of process change within the Illinois Tollway. Unfortunately, There were several: politics, policy, law, processes, technology, culture, and staff. With their approach determined and inhibitors in mind, they set out to map their process.

1. Reducing Hiring Time
From 10 Months to 36 Days
Presented by Cassaundra Rouse & Kent James
Illuminative Strategies

2. About Our Presenters
Cassaundra Rouse Kent James

3. Introduction
Illuminative Strategies, Inc.
We are a Management Consulting firm helping Public
Sector Organizations achieve:
ü Business Process Improvement / Excellence
ü Hiring Process Optimization
ü Optimizing technology utilization & Return on Investment
ü Organizational Change Management
3

4. Problem Statement
1. 95% paper based
2. Hiring technology systems were disabled
3. No “hard” hiring performance data
4. Hiring takes a long time
5. Low applicant KSA alignment to position specific KSA needs
6. Bias risks (Ethnicity, political, etc..)
7. High turn-over rates
8. Low process understanding & transparency
9. Change aversion
4

5. Our Lean Approach
DMAIC
5
Continuous Improvement

6. Define (DMAIC)
Inhibitors of Process Change
6
Politics Policy Law Processes Technology Culture Staff
SolutionIdea
Realization
The realization of Business Process
Improvement requires a methodical
approach and a lot of hard work

7. Define (DMAIC)
The Challenge…
Answer the questions:
1) What’s possible ?
2) What approach should be used to improve the Tollway’s Hiring processes?
7

8. Building a
Current State
Understanding
u What departments and/or
employees are involved?
u When/Where does the process
begin and end?
u How much time does a step take?
u What trigger or activities move
the process forward?
u What information is used within a
step?
u What information is transferred
between steps?
8
Define (DMAIC)
Swimlane Diagrams

9. Define (DMAIC)
Swimlane Diagrams
9

10. Define (DMAIC)
Swimlane Diagrams
10
Current State
process diagrams
were created
‘Need to hire’ through
‘hiring decision’
Lead time = 10+ months
Hundreds of
process steps
Paper documents
used throughout

11. Define (DMAIC)
Paper
11
It was common to
have 2,000+ pages
of paper involved
in a single hire
Manual work-flow
transporting
documents
Document Retention
practice required
storing ALL related
documents
Note: HRIS system was owned, but not used

12. Measure (DMAIC)
— Existing hiring related data limited
— Surveys were used to directionally understand performance:
— Grading and assessing large numbers of under-qualified
applicants
— Interviewing under-qualified candidates
— Excessive hiring lead time
— Paper intensive
— Lack of hiring process clarity & understanding
12

13. Analyze (DMAIC)
8 Wastes
13
Non-value process
steps can often be
identified as an
outcome of a Gemba
walk

14. Analyze (DMAIC)
Waste Identified
14

15. Analyze (DMAIC)
8 Wastes Identified
15
Very few process
steps provided
“Value” from a
VOC perspective.
Each process step
was evaluated
through the lens of
Lean. Color coded
indicators were used.

16. Analyze (DMAIC)
Step Completion Time Assessment
Step 1:
Evaluate
Vacancy /
Identify
Need
Step 2:
Develop
Positon
Description
Step 3:
Develop
Recruitment
Plan
Step 4:
Post Position
and
Implement
Recruitment
Plan
Step 5:
Review
Applicants
and
Develop
Short List
Step 6:
Conduct
Interviews
Step 7:
Select Hire
Step 8:
Finalize
Recruitment
Step 9:
New Hire
Processing
Step 10:
New Hire
Onboarding
Min 1 1 2 2 3 6 1 2 1 1
Max 7 7 14 300 270 120 60 7 90 14
Process Completion Time Variability in Days
16
Very High
Process
Variability

17. Analyze (DMAIC)
Hiring Process Variation
Hiring Process
Current State
High
Variability,
Low
Predictability
Medium
Variability,
Medium
Predictability
Low
Variability,
High
Predictability
Desired State:
Processes In Control, High Quality
Note: A high degree of process variance indicates a process
out of control from a Lean Quality perspective. 17

18. 18
Analyze (DMAIC)
Opportunity Matrix - 1 of 4

19. 19
Analyze (DMAIC)
Opportunity Matrix - 2 of 4

20. 20
Analyze (DMAIC)
Opportunity Matrix - 3 of 4

21. Analyze (DMAIC)
Opportunity Matrix - 4 of 4
21

22. Improve (DMAIC)
The Challenge…
Based on the Current State understanding it
was determined a significant process overhaul
would be necessary.
22

23. 23
Improve (DMAIC)
What Approach ?

24. Improve (DMAIC)
Core Tenets of Solution Development
Stakeholder
Involvement
Future
State
Hiring
Leadership
HR Dept
Internal
Audit
OEIG
LegalEEO/ADA
Hiring
Mgrs.
Applicants
Special
Master
Transparency
Hiring Quality Efficiency
24

25. Improve (DMAIC)
Future State Process Diagram
25

26. Improve (DMAIC)
The adage, “Rome was not build in one day” applies…
A continuous improvement phased approach was taken:
Phase 1 - Complete
— Enable existing HRIS technology assets
— Pilot a proof of concept to demonstrate “What’s Possible”
— Incremental change based on hypothesis tests
Phase 2 - Underway
— Measure & Analyze prior phase results
— Develop incremental solutions
— Expand to additional Agencies & Positions
Phase 3 - planned
— Repeat Process with next Phase of open positions
26

27. Control (DMAIC)
During each Phase of the Hiring Improvement Pilot:
— Continuously improve hiring related tools (Hiring Guides)
— Continuously improve draft SOPs
— Continuously improve Future State Process Diagram
— Train
— Stakeholder Check-in
27

28. Achievements
Phase 1 Results:
— Pilot demonstrated significant hiring improvement opportunities exist
— Hiring Cycle Time Reduction from 10+ months to 36 days
— A pilot process satisfaction survey was conducted across:
— Applicants
— Interviewees
— Interviewers
— Overall a 65% survey response rate
— 86% of applicants were highly satisfied with the online application
process
28

29. Achievements
Phase 1
29

30. Contact Information
Kent James
Executive Director & COO
(847) 421-7274
Kent@illum-strat.com
30
www.illum-strat.com

31. Questions?

32. Getting Started
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