Case study: Federal government
Building an enterprise recruitment program office at a large federal agency for a streamlined hiring process
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) set an ambitious goal of being highly ranked as a “Best Place to Work in the Federal Government”—a highly coveted recognition for federal organizations. The agency knew they had to double down on their recruitment practices to attract top talent and build a competitive workforce. HHS engaged Eagle Hill to design an Enterprise Recruitment Program Office (ERPO) to streamline the hiring process, lay the foundation for recruiting and retaining top talent, and help them become the best place to work in the federal government.
Goal
Design and provide actionable recommendations for implementing a new ERPO that enhances recruitment and promotes the organization as a premier place to work.
The challenge: Streamlining the recruitment process
The agency had several driving factors for building an ERPO, including a rapidly aging workforce and a growing need for employees with technology skills. Moreover, the agency’s hiring was currently operating under more than two dozen staff and operating divisions—each with its own unique needs and approaches. They wanted to provide resources and best practices to support the ongoing recruitment efforts of the various HHS entities, but needed to do it in a very tight timeframe (3.5 months) and with limited funding.
The ERPO represented one of the organization’s first efforts to establish an enterprise recruitment approach. While individual divisions had their own processes, Eagle Hill repeatedly heard a desire to align efforts along an agency approach and to develop a positive enterprise-wide employer brand for prospective new hires. Leveraging our expertise in talent management consulting, we helped the agency create a strategy to attract and retain top talent while respecting the unique needs of its divisions.
Our challenge was to help build a department-wide recruitment office that promoted streamlined recruiting efforts, organizational cohesion, and meet the needs of the Agency, while simultaneously respecting the needs and successful existing processes of the individual divisions across the department. We aimed to address gaps in the hiring life cycle, ensuring a consistent recruiting strategy.
The roadmap to successfully improving the recruiting process
When Eagle Hill came on board, we:
Guided our client to clearly identify focus areas and establish the foundation for an ERPO that could be operational within 3.5 months. Despite different maturity levels across divisions, Eagle Hill noted they all shared similar pressures and pain points, as well as a desire for an ERPO and cross-collaboration. By categorizing our findings into five main themes and recommending quick wins for each, the agency was able to prioritize changes to spur fast results.ought out low-code, quick win solutions to make an immediate impact and stay within budget.
Engaged leaders and stakeholders across the organization to fully understand pain points, needs, and priorities. We knew that to build a successful ERPO, we would first need to have a foundational understanding of needs across the organization. We conducted interviews with HR leadership, practitioners, and external agencies to discuss recruitment approaches, needs, and pain points. To understand how to support agency HR leaders and practices in their existing recruitment efforts, we invited over 100 stakeholders to participate in an in-depth survey. Both the survey and interviews contributed to our solid understanding of the current state and informed our recommendations for the path forward.
Conducted a recruitment benchmarking best practices analysis with external federal organizations and top places to work in the private sector to leverage within our client’s new ERPO. With the agency’s goal to become recognized as a Best Place to Work in the Federal Government, we saw the value in teasing out best practices across a multitude of organizations for input into our recommendations. We strategically included top workplaces in the private sector, as our client competes with them for qualified candidates.
Delivered a best-fit ERPO design that quickly moved into implementation. We analyzed numerous ERPO design models with our client’s specific challenges in mind to determine the design best suited for the agency. We proposed a design centered on function (e.g. marketing, technology, etc.), as opposed to alternative designs (e.g. customer-centered) upon determining that a function-centered design would provide much-needed clarity and scalability. Moreover, it would be the most helpful to ERPO’s users looking to shore up specific recruitment weaknesses. The client took our overall design and role recommendations and moved them into implementation.
Speed and agility were key in this engagement. For Eagle Hill to meet the ambitious delivery deadline, we had to hit the ground running and maintain a fast pace. That’s where our ability to build trusted connections came into play. In just one month, we conducted 31 in-depth interviews with organizational leadership and external parties to discuss approaches, pain points, and best practices. Simultaneously, we launched a survey to on-the-ground practitioners that added detail to the current state of operations. Our “people-first” approach enabled us to quickly establish an environment where people would be willing to participate in our data gathering processes and collaborate to pave the path forward.
After delivery, our client said about Eagle Hill:
“You can have time, quality, or cost—I’ve heard that before, but to me, as impressive as the end document is, the timeliness of this—that this came in within the timeframe, given everything we had going on, is herculean.”
– Eagle Hill Client Feedback
Unconventional consulting—and breakthrough results
Divisions whose individual needs had to be addressed within the design
Leading federal and private-sector organizations included in a recruitment benchmark study
Office design activities recommended with guidance for scaling as the ERPO grows
Months from kickoff to delivery of our analysis and recommendations
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