One of the key aspects of being JIT within the TPS in a recruiting model for a corporate environment is that the leadership of the company must be committed to TPS or it will not be effective. Grass-roots is great, but TPS requires a top-down approach due to its requirement for testing of hypotheses, instant corrective action and disciplined execution.

Second, TPS is a system and adopting parts of it will start you on the road to stabilization, but TPS practiced correctly will dictate what your recruiting organization will look like as well as what technology you will use. So don’t put the CRM before the A3! Usually corporate recruiting departments don’t have much say so in what technology they use…I’ve never seen a company ask recruiters what they like or dislike about their ATS.

Third, Corporate recruiting departments need to report to the US Government as to the applicants and their qualifications for each opening. This is why there has to be some sort of dividing line between a “prospect” and a “candidate.” It also dictates that we would have to have two systems (a CRM and an ATS) in order to fulfill this need. These EEO and AAP requirements area often ignored on the ERE when process is discussed, but they are the reality of a corporate recruiter and the simple reason that companies drive people to apply online. Thank you Uncle Sam.

Lastly, TPS requires that everyone works within the customer’s (hiring manager’s) lead time. As a corporate recruiter for almost 9 years I see the process mapped out time and time again with the HR department’s requirements as the driver.

It’s a tough, cultural shift that challenges most of the older companies with less centralized functions.

Cheers,

Tom

I feel that the focus of recruiting and staffing solutions for so many years has been on “applicant tracking” and “customer/candidate relationship management” at the expense of perhaps the most critical part of the Human Capital Supply Chain – Talent Identification and Acquisition. You can’t develop a relationship with or hire someone you haven’t found/identified in the first place.

Most recruting and staffing technologies today are not designed to specifically enable sourcers and recruiters with the ability to achieve JIT Talent Identification and Acquisition. However, I have found that sourcers and recruiters who are especially adept at leveraging resume databases (internal and the job boards) and the Internet via precise manipulation of Boolean search strings can effectively acheive JIT candidate sourcing and recruiting.

I could not agree more that the recruiting and staffing industry needs to evolve and look to applying state-of-the-art supply chain management best practices to Talent Identification and Acquisition processes.

I have been applying and adapting several Lean/TPS principles, including Pull, Flow, Perfection, Value, and waste/inventory reduction with success, and I have recently created a website dedicated to the concept: http://www.talent-intelligence.com

I look forward to the evolution of the industry and the solutions that support it!