On Talent Cloud our job advertisement builder does more than create a document we can publish. The process of creating the job advertisement itself is used to help managers put together their thoughts about the job, and once drafted, the advertisement serves as an important tool to start a conversation with HR.
Managers have expressed to us the challenges of putting together a job advertisement that properly translates their needs into something that also appeals to applicants and addresses the many requirements of Government HR. The job application builder tool is our attempt at making this process easy enough for anyone to finish, while ensuring HR advisors aren’t shouldering a large part of the workload in drafting content.
This tool combines our research on optimizing the talent-to-team fit and reducing time to staff, helping managers produce optimized job advertisements that will lead to swift processes and strong hiring results, without managers even having to think about the behind-the-scenes research.
Current Status
The job application builder is currently available for managers to use and for HR advisors to review. The tool has been used for dozens of job processes since its release, and continues to be upgraded as new findings emerge.
Results
Managers using the job advertisement builder are able to put together job advertisements within a day or two (1-2 hours of active drafting time). These drafts are generally approved by their HR advisor with minimal changes, (although any back and forth on editorial changes can take time.) In our early workshops, managers reflected that this would normally take weeks or even months of back-and-forth, so we see this as a big improvement.
The tool has also helped ensure that managers are made aware of, and encouraged to apply (through nudges and choice architecture), best practices that lead to better hiring outcomes and faster staffing processes. This includes steps to optimize the volume of applications (such as the number of selection criteria) and details on the team culture, operational requirements and work environment.
Applicants generally expressed a high level of satisfaction with the job advertisements generated with our tool and have highlighted the work environment and team culture sections as being particularly valuable.
Insights
Early versions of the job advertisement builder worked well in some areas, but also failed in a few unexpected ways.
One early blocker in 2018-19 was the sections for describing team culture and work environment. Some managers didn’t know where to start and found a blank text box daunting. It led to procrastination and some told their HR advisors it was too much work. To resolve this, Talent Cloud moved to providing tools that pre-populated default text, based on a checklist, which managers could then edit, making the task much easier. Managers spend a lot of time editing as part of their regular duties, so we redesigned the process to play to this strength. This behavioural redesign resolved the issue, and led to broader insights about procrastination behaviours on the part of managers and steps Talent Cloud could take to help address this.
Another challenge we observed in 2018-19 was that managers on their own tended to add too many essential requirements to a job advertisement. In the course of a year, a human on the job uses a lot of different skills, and managers were prone to try to list as many as they could imagine on a job advertisement. To help managers arrive at an optimal number of selection criteria - one that would attract the right number of applicants and not be too long to process - Talent Cloud built nudges into the tool to help managers realize the detrimental impact of too many (or too few) selection criteria.
Key Components of the Tool
Basic Data Entry
Drop down menus to help managers rapidly confirm the details of the job, such as classification, level, language, security.
Multiple choice selection for work flexibilities including: Remote work, Telework, Flexible hours, Travel, Overtime (with nudges to promote best practices)
Default education requirement text that allows for equivalencies but can be narrowed by managers as needed (with text written to promote inclusion and diversity by clarifying the value and acceptance of education equivalencies)
Easily understandable text for applicants based on the manager’s selection and government policy.
Work Environment & Culture
Checkbox list to describe Amenities, Access to technology, and Physical Environment
Multiple choice questions on work culture to prepopulate a statement that can be further edited by the manager
Work environment choice selection also informs the skills suggestions for managers when setting the essential and asset requirements of the position, helping ensure a soft skills fit between the applicant and the team
Simple tools that generate default text (that can be edited afterwards)
Impact Statement
Helps managers craft a strong and concise impact statement that will appeal to applicants.
Three sections: department impact, team impact and impact of the applicant in the job.
Departmental mandate is prepopulated, based on the manager’s profile setting
Key Tasks
This is designed to help managers follow the logic flow that begins with the Impact Statement. In order to deliver the impact articulated, managers are asked to identify a list of specific tasks the person hired will be doing.
Key tasks are open text fields, but the number is limited to 6, which proved to be the optimal number in user testing (workshops and live testing). This was chosen to strike a balance: on one hand, we wanted to help managers provide key information applicants wanted to see; on the other hand, we didn’t want managers to overwhelm applicants with a huge list of tasks (which generated negative behavioural associations with micromanagement practices during early user testing).
Managers, when crafting key tasks, can draft as many as they like. They can then move them up and down the list, prioritizing and ordering their top six key tasks using a sorting system. This also lets managers hold onto draft content, in the event that HR advisors recommend different key tasks.
Feature to support managers in reaching the optimal number of key tasks with the flexibility to brainstorm
Skills (Essential and Asset Criteria)
This is designed to follow the logic flow from impact to tasks to skills required to perform those tasks (and ultimately deliver the impact on Canadians for which the job is being filled).
A curated list of occupational skills is available to choose from based on job classification, and a list of transferable skills is available for all classifications. This helps ensure consistent descriptions and translations across different jobs (paving the way towards interoperable talent pools for those who pass requirements). This also makes it easier for applicants to apply by allowing them to re-use work done in previous applications that had the same skills listed.
Skills are grouped into logical categories for ease of browsing.
Managers can add a personalised description to each skill if they feel a need to add further information or they can use this space to let applicants know the specific context in which the skill is applied on their team.
Managers can also request new skills if none of the ones provided meet their needs. (This information is gathered through the tool, vetted through HR and added to the master database for skills.)
Based on answers provided by the manager in the Work Environment and Team Culture sections, skills are suggested to the manager. (For example Resilience is often suggested when the manager indicates the work environment is high paced or relatively high stress; Collaboration is recommended when managers indicate that their team works with other teams regularly.)
When the manager selects a skill, they are shown the skill description and prompted for the level of proficiency that is required.
Managers are strongly encouraged (through various nudges) to keep the number of skills on their job advertisement within an optimised range. (See Optimizing the Number of Selection Criteria in this report.)
General Components
Step by step process designed to help managers keep focused, with lots of “win moments” built in to encourage managers to feel like they’re making progress and to complete the task at hand.
Progress is shown to managers after each step is completed, also giving them a chance to see what an applicant will see when the job advertisement goes live.
Step by step process for managersHelpful guidance at every step, tailored for the Government of Canada
Once drafted, managers can share the job advertisement with their HR advisors for comment and approval.
