Do you remember the old saying, “great minds think alike, and small minds seldom differ?”

The suggestion is that sharing the same ideas or thinking is a two-edged sword that champions either creative and collaborative brilliance or a mindless group adherence to doing the same thing because it has “always been done that way.”

In the hiring process, I liken it to the difference between the candidate and hiring company making a mutually informed decision to work together versus a job function alignment based on keywords in a resume. For clarity, I am not suggesting we do away with resumes. I am saying that there is a better way to “map out success” for all stakeholders.

Mapping The Hiring Process

According to a January 2019 article, hiring teams that do not have a sourcing strategy in place to identify “top choice candidates” are “simply flushing (their) time and resources down the drain. Keep in mind that this assessment was before the pandemic and its subsequent impact on global supply chains.

In addition to the above referenced upheaval, projections that between 2018 and 2028, there will be 2.4 million “unfilled positions” in the procurement world means that there should be a greater sense of urgency to “find a better way” for anyone in HR or recruiting.

Unfortunately, addressing these challenges with automation has been both a blessing and a curse. When I say a blessing, I am talking about the convenience of using technology or technology platforms like LinkedIn to quickly and conveniently gather a large pool of resumes using “tricks” such as resume keyword matching.

The downside of automated convenience is that streamlining the candidate selection process often results in a quantity over quality outcome. On average, the new hire turnover rate at almost all levels of an organisation is 18-months. Think about that for a moment; with a new staff turnover of 18-months, how can you build any stability or continuity into your procurement organisation?

It is not by doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.

A successful hire begins well before you interview a shortlist of candidates. Success is determined at the selection stage, and this is where mind mapping for hiring companies comes into play.

There are many benefits of mind mapping the hiring process. At the top of my list is how it stimulates internal stakeholder collaboration and transparency by creating a clear vision of the company’s current and future hiring needs. Even better, this internal collaboration and transparency are easily extended to include external stakeholders – the candidates.

Mapping A Career Path

Mind mapping is an invaluable tool for candidates looking to find the “right fit” from a career standpoint. More than a useful “personal” exercise, mind mapping will demonstrate the ability of a prospective hire to “retain, recall, and organise information” and how these and other attributes will align with a potential employer’s strategic objectives.

Of course, it helps to make the alignment process more straightforward when the employer also has created a mind map for the position they want to fill – see the previous section.

In the meantime, check out the August 2020 Financial Post article “Five reasons why mind mapping helps with career development.” It will be an interesting read for procurement professionals who want to change the trajectory of their career path in their current position or looking to capitalise on new opportunities.

“Mapping” Power Beyond The Hiring Process

Mapping isn’t only a tool both sides of the hiring process can leverage.

Mapping is also a useful tool to help companies better understand their customers.

In his just-released book (April 11th, 2022), Robert Thacker talks about how understanding the “customer experience is key to sustainability and growth.”

To achieve this level of insight, Thacker explains how “customer journey mapping” provides organisations with a much-needed window into their customer’s “path, or journey” through their “departments, applications, and processes.”  The ultimate objective is to improve the overall customer experience.

So, are you ready to create your map?