prototype & test john
TRANSCRIPT
Interview Subject “John” John is a man in his mid-‐for=es; he has two degrees, Business and Economics, but has been out of work in the field of Customer Service and Sales for over two years. He returned to school to get IT cer=fica=ons, with the hope that his prior experience will help him find a posi=on in his new career path in IT maintenance and management.
Problem Statement Older students who return to school, either to enhance skills or to shiN career path or profession, are oNen excluded as viable job candidates by poten=al employers because their skills and experience do not fit neatly into current assessment standards u=lized by employers to iden=fy those they would deem to have the appropriate skills necessary to fill their open posi=ons.
Idea Selection 1. Standardiza+on of Terms and Descrip+ons—Standard Skills Taxonomies
Rather than try to implement a Na=onal (or Global) database for employment, it might be more effec=ve to establish and delegate (possibly legislate?) specific terminology for use in both Employment Pos=ngs and Job Descrip=ons. This will help both employers and job seekers speak a common language and eradicate some of the opaqueness inherent in Key Word Search algorithms and other screening methods being u=lized today to screen candidates.
2. Employer Sponsorship of Long-‐Term Unemployed for Career Change Educa=on to fill needed posi=ons requiring similar skills and experience Employers with specific needs could pre-‐employ and sponsor job candidates with similar skills and experience and allow them =me and scholarship opportuni=es to train for the posi=ons most needing to be filled by the employer. Students already in school could also take advantage of the pre-‐employment scheme by applying for posi=ons which would be wai=ng for them when they graduate.
3. Disrupt the “Perfect Candidate” Scenario Employers have become obsessed with finding the perfect candidate for every posi=on. They want someone who has done the exact job before, and generally want to pay less and extract more =me and effort from the worker. This has become more and more difficult and is especially challenging for older students making a career change and devo=ng =me and money to educa=on and skills training in their area of interest. These students may be entry level in their new chosen field, but bring great experience and skill, oNen in highly compa=ble ways. Finding ways to reposi=on these students as having great poten&al for being a perfect match would be a game changer.
Idea I Disrupt the “Perfect Candidate” Scenario
Employers have become obsessed with finding the perfect candidate for every posi=on. They want someone who has done the exact job before, and generally want to pay less and extract more =me and effort from the worker. This has become more and more difficult and is especially challenging for older students making a career change and devo=ng =me and money to educa=on and skills training in their area of interest. These students may be entry level in their new chosen field, but bring great experience and skill, oNen in highly compa=ble ways. Finding ways to reposi=on these students as having great poten&al for being a perfect match would be a game changer
“…poten+al is the capability of employing the skill set, as well as the ability to adapt to situa=ons that call on more than just experience.” hbp://info.fpcna=onal.com/talentmabers/bid/165679/Poten=al-‐Find-‐the-‐Best-‐Job-‐Candidate-‐Not-‐the-‐Most-‐Experienced
As hiring becomes less open and employers rely on increasingly exclusionary and limi=ng processes in hiring, candidates must find ways to open doors in ways that may be disrup=ve to that process and to the employers themselves. In many ways, this may be the best way for candidates to demonstrate their poten=al… by breaking the system and rebuilding the job search process from the ground up.
Prototype I: Design Fiction Design Fic+on as Resume & Applica+on • As employers become more exclusionary, job seekers and candidates must find
ways to disrupt the system in their favor. • Employers will not be open to changing their “tried and true” decision-‐making
processes even if they have proven to be flawed or faulty • Most hiring decisions are made based on proof of experience and arbitrary
educa=onal and skills tes=ng that is oNen counter indica=ve of genuine fitness for a posi=on
• Candidates must find ways to exhibit their value and poten+al to prospec=ve employers
• Design Fic+on could be a posi=ve maneuver for candidates with non-‐tradi=onal educa=on and experience
• Design Fic=on offers candidates an opportunity to express their interest and capabili=es in a disrup=ve way
• It is important that candidates do not take on provisional or “trial” work for a specific poten=al employer, but rather he or she produces a fic=onal work product that will demonstrate their capabili=es for all poten=al employers.
• This is not school work or assignments, but rather, a product or idea that best represents the candidate and his or her most valuable assets, skills, experience and poten=al, a produc=zed resume so to speak
1. Candidate chooses a framework and job descrip=on that describes his or her best case scenario posi=on. This could be a specific project, or a more overall day-‐to-‐day work situa=on.
2. Candidates should be precise and clear, but their descrip=on and method of depic=on should be complimentary to their profession, e.g. a prospec=ve IT manager might describe implemen=ng a company-‐wide hardware and soNware package upgrade, and include cost comparison spreadsheets, Project Plan document, rollout calendar, employee no=fica=ons and messaging strategy, mee=ng agendas and PowerPoint presenta=ons, budge=ng, etc.
3. This should be packaged and presented as beau=fully and completely as possible in whatever format best suits the project presenta=on and industry standards
4. Candidate can submit this Design Fic=on project as proof of poten=al and fitness as a compe==ve candidate for posi=ons in which he or she is interested.
Test I: Design Fiction
Idea II Standardiza+on of Terms and Descrip+ons—Standard Skills Taxonomies
Rather than try to implement a Na=onal (or Global) database for employment, it might be more effec=ve to establish and delegate (possibly legislate?) specific terminology for use in both Employment Pos=ngs and Job Descrip=ons. This will help both employers and job seekers speak a common language and eradicate some of the opaqueness inherent in Key Word Search algorithms and other screening methods being u=lized today to screen candidates.
Taxonomy is defined as (1) Division into ordered groups or categories and (2) The classifica=on, or categoriza=on, of things.
hbp://www.innomet.ee/innomet/Reports/Report_WP1.pdf
Many educa=onal systems have abempted to categorize and establish equivalences in educa=on and skills learning, par=cularly for technical and trades educa=on. This process should be brought forward into the employment arena so that applicants can be assessed on an even set of criteria and creden=als, even though length of educa=on, curriculum and course credit vary from school to school, state to state and country to country. It will also be important to give adequate credit for on-‐the-‐job training, con=nuing educa=on and licensure as well as past work experience and general intelligence, which may not be cer=fied, but is nonetheless valuable and documentable.
Prototype II: Taxonomy Skills & Experience Taxonomy Test for Applicants 1. Candidates are given a skill or process and are asked to create a list of words or
phrases that describe that skill/process, or the abili=es necessary to do them. There may be only one descriptor for the job, or there could be several of these ques=ons, depending on the complexity and level of the posi=on. They could be broad, or very specific.
2. Candidates may describe the skill/process as their experience informs them are the necessary components, or they may use their educa=on, intui=ve skills or imagina=on as to how best that skill/process would be performed. This could be further assessed as to whether the answers address the work adequately, or excep=onally.
3. Employers will compare their list (which is blind to the candidate) to see how well the candidate understands the skill/process and if it is compa=ble with how the employer expects the candidate to understand and perform the work.
4. Candidates can be given addi=onal points for intui=ve or innova=ve answers, or for thinking beyond the scope of the skill/process as required by the employer.
5. Candidates could then be assessed on their ability to understand and adequately (or excep=onally) do the work necessary for the posi=on, even though they may not have the exact educa=on, experience, training or cer=fica=on the employer would normally expect a preferred candidate to have.
Test II: Taxonomy System
s Adm
inistrator • Skill
• Experience • Skill • Experience • Skill • Skill • Skill • Process • Method • Response Pr
oject M
anagem
ent • Skill
• Experience • Skill • Experience • Skill • Skill • Skill • Process • Method • Response
Client Service
• Skill • Experience • Skill • Experience • Skill • Skill • Skill • Process • Method • Response
Re@lection & Next Steps • Overall response to both Prototypes was posi=ve • The “squishiness” of the Design Fic=on prototype was less meaningful to the interview subject but he could see the poten=al value in exploring the op=on further
• I think it would be fairly easy to push the Taxonomy prototype to a next step with further development, poten=ally a simple app or online form add-‐on, easily adaptable to many industries
• There is an overall =midity with candidates who don’t want to rock the boat, but strong feeling that employment opportuni=es in the current economy will con=nue to be fraught with difficulty and roadblocks
• Interviewees assume they will be the ones to make changes to accommodate employers needs, never the other way around, and they are not convinced that employers will ever admit that their methods may be crea=ng more problems than they solve.