Just the other day, I heard an interview with a hiring manager from McDonald's. Now McDonald's has about 850,000 employees. I think it's about 7000 stores strong, and is one place where people get their first job. McDonald's is a place where people enter the workforce. Now, this means that it's a place that also has to be ready to recruit and hire some of the youngest employees. So they have to be forward looking, especially with regard to what they need to do for their prospective candidates.

Now, a lot of the concerns I hear out there as a leader or when I'm teaching other classes or speaking organizations, is how do we deal with millennials? What do we do with this younger generation? Again, this younger generation are still programmed just like every other human being their social, but we need to look forward To how these young social animals are engaging with society. For instance, McDonald's looked at their application process. They know people want something easy. They want to remove friction.

One of the things I've been told is, hey, look, any new app on a phone, five clicks, anything over five clicks, and people probably won't think anything good about the app or may not even use it. When you start thinking like that, McDonald's knew people wanted something easy for the application process. Now we can all agree, application processes are never going to be fun, right? There's nothing fun about application processes, whether it's online or on a piece of paper. However, we can still manage the application experience to the best of our ability. So what did we Donald's do?

How do they deal with the application process and that experience, McDonald's ended up reducing the application completion time Time from about 40 minutes, down to less than 10 minutes. And the person I heard giving the interview said that their recruitment efforts, the number of candidates were applying for jobs at McDonald's skyrocketed. So the easier we make the initial entry into our process, the better. Again, that's a key point you should remember and write down, the easier we make the initial entry into the process, the better remove friction from the process. Now everyone seems to be moving faster with technology. So we should account for this need to expedite processes.

We not only need to think about their needs in the job description, and the initial submission of their application. But let's think about the entire process. people crave information and when do you feel frustrated, more than likely you feel frustrated when you become unsure. of what's happening around you. And that's true in most parts of life, recruitment and hiring, no different. So the next step is is let's reduce confusion.

And how can we do that? We can do it through checklists. I mean, I use checklists all the time. It's a requirement of fly. It's what pilots do to make sure we stay safe to make sure we do processes right to make sure we don't damage equipment. So give recruits a checklist, give your candidate a step by step checklist.

This way, time is not wasted chasing down information. And again, we're talking about how people input information for things like infographic infographics, they can make things easier and they can reduce stress on people. Why does it do that? Well look at the some of some of the examples we have some things we can look at include one that even shows car purchasing. But what does the infographic actually do? It applies a process visually in somebody's mind.

It reduces complexity, because they see it in front of them. So maybe the process doesn't even change. Maybe the organization is so big, so bureaucratic that the process of hiring somebody can't change much. And it can't change fast, or maybe very difficult. We probably all have worked in organizations like that. And there's a lot of momentum that's already built up.

But what does information do? What does information like a checklist or an infographic do? Well, it allows us to control perception of complexity. And hopefully that makes sense. So we may not be able to change that process. But we can change the perception of that process.

By doing something like an infographic, something that makes people understand the process in a visual manner. It actually impacts their mindset. And it reduces stress because it's changing perception. And it also reduces frustration. And guess what? reducing stress and frustration, their first thought their first inkling of what your organization is going to be like, is that the organization is transparent, that the organization gives information that the organization is concerned about reducing stress and reducing frustration.

You don't want the process to be so frustrating, because they're going to take that into the organization with them. If the hiring process is confusing, if it frustrates them, they're going to think everything in that company is confusing. So we don't really have to change the process to change the perception. Because we're not trying to surprise anyone. So the more we reduce questions people have, the better off we're all going to be. The more we reduce questions, the better off you are because it makes your job easier.

So how do we go ahead and provide communication in a way that reduces those questions? We do that through visual means. We can do it through infographics, or through videos, or through our personal communication we have with people answer their questions before they have them. You probably done it long enough, you know what they're going to ask. And this way they don't think anything negative about the process that will keep them engaged. And finally, if there are ways you can show them that they are valuable, and their time is valuable, this will lead them to your company.

That's what we talked about reducing to the questions. We talked about doing things that are faster. We talked about engaging with candidates in a way that they are used to, because they're used to communicating a certain way. Now, this shows people that they're valuable because you're considering their thoughts and their feelings. It shows people their time is valuable, and that makes them start to believe and it starts getting ingrained in their head. What your company beliefs are all about.

So knowing the time is valuable, let's look at our timelines. How quickly can we respond to people? How quickly can we process their applications? And while all that is going on, how good are we at communicating with them about where they are in the process? So we talked about the fact that people are getting used to getting information fast. They're used to being in constant communication.

We should realize this and use it to our advantage. In addition to our timelines, we should also look at the timelines that we give to people. Not only do we want to look internal, how quickly we can get things done, we want to look extra. How much time do we give people to provide us with information, we want to look at the timelines we give to people to complete the application process or get more information to us. For example, if we are able to to revamp our application process to make it shorter, reduce the submission times, because that reduces the time that you're out of communication with somebody that will all help. What I found is if I give somebody say 30 days to turn something in, they're going to turn it in on the 27th 28th 29th day.

If you give them 15 days, they'll turn down on the 12th 13th 14th day. So think about how much time you're giving people to return forms and get you information, and how this can add delays to the entire process. Reduce the time and you reduce delays. So we thought they reduced from 40 minutes to 10 minutes for their application process. It made a positive difference in how many applicants they were getting. We can do the same thing.

Reduce the time to get people to submit the applications, or to submit any paperwork you need from them. They'll get it done. Just make sure it's reasonable. addition to timelines, think about the fact that people are not certain of each hiring process in every company because every company is different. For instance, there are tons of ways to give people options for scheduling interviews. So consider how you're scheduling those interviews.

And a lot of companies with older ways of thinking, we basically say, hey, look, here's your interview time, show up at this time. And here's some information for you. But now, there's technology out there that not only makes your job easier, it makes the candidates feel more engaged, because they can select the date and time where there's an opening. You can use technology to do that. Now if you allow and select an open time that works for them, that also reduces stress and reduces confusion. It actually reduces the workload on you.

Why is that? It's because how many times have you tried to get somebody scheduled for an interview, you've set up an interview time, you've had to reschedule it. If they can go online and just select it, that frees you up to do other more important things, things are more valuable to use your time for. So we need to think about how we can engage with people so that you're not waiting too long, and you're not waiting too long. This reduces stress on everybody. And it tells people that you value them as human beings and that you understand they have busy lives.

So as we move from hiring practices into recruitment strategies, I just want to end by asking you to be creative. When you look at your hiring processes. Think about how to engage candidates. Think about how to remove barriers to the hiring process. Try to remove friction from that process. And think about how to use others in the organization to expedite the hiring process.

Use human behavior and relationships to your advantage. So up until now, we've talked about the hiring process and what people expect in today's information and technology driven world. So we're going to change gears just a little bit. And we're going to talk about how people make decisions as social animals, and how we can use that to our advantage to improve recruitment and hiring.