What is Agile Talent Acquisition Scrum for Trello Board

The Agile Talent Acquisition Scrum for Trello Board (published on June 24, 2020, on Trello) outlines the recruitment workflow that recruiters, recruitment or talent acquisition specialists, and HR professionals can use in their respective organizations.

The core intent of the board is to help recruiters and talent acquisition professionals keep track of the resumes being sent to the hiring managers or clients, have meaningful and constructive conversations with key stakeholders, visualize the “big picture” as a team and collectively work toward talent fulfillment within the stipulated sprint cycle. 

What is Trello Scrum Board? 

The Agile PeopleOps Framework™ (APF™) advocates the fusion of Scrum and Kanban to achieve better results.

Scrum is an agile framework with prescribed roles and sprint ceremonies that helps teams to work productively and deliver products of value to customers.

Initially, Scrum was used by software development teams and is now widely used by teams in marketing, human resources, operations, and other departments.

To execute projects the Scrum way, teams work in time-boxed iterations (or short work cycles) called sprints and a sprint can range from one week to four weeks.

The teams participate in sprint ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, standups or huddles, sprint demo or reviews, and retrospectives) and the Scrum Master facilitates the ceremonies/cadences.

Kanban is a lean methodology, which, unlike Scrum, doesn’t have prescribed roles and scrum ceremonies. It helps teams to visualize workflow, track the status of work, limit work-in-progress, and optimize the flow to maximize efficiency.

At first, Kanban was used in the manufacturing and IT sectors, but now it has gained prominence in HR, marketing, and other departments.

Teams use either physical boards (whiteboards, markers) or digital/online boards to visualize workflows. One of the most prominent and user-friendly digital Kanban tools is Trello. Other Kanban tools include ClickUp, Asana, JIRA, Kanbanize, Monday, etc.

Trello Scrum Template 

The Agile Talent Acquisition board is a Scrum for Trello board example. Let us help you understand the board so that you can start using it effectively.

Visit https://trello.com/templates/operations-hr/agile-talent-acquisition-f5R1dPEp. Click on View Template. You will be directed to the Trello Scrum template.

If you already have a Trello account, log in. Else, sign up for free.

After signing in, you can click on Use Template and create an Agile Talent Acquisition board.

Now, you have access to the Trello board. Change visibility of the board to Private, Team, or Organization. Invite your team to collaborate with you on the Agile Talent Acquisition board.

Recruitment Workflow

Each list on the Trello board represents a workflow stage in a recruitment process:
Trello Cards
You got introduced to the recruitment workflow on the Trello board. Now, you will be introduced to the cards in the following workflow stages:
Positions Backlog
You can create cards; each card describes a requisition to be fulfilled. title must be provided to the card. You can name the requisition card in the given format “Position | Client/Business Unit | Location | Requisition No.” like “Data Architect | Global Tech Unit | New York | 10111”.
In the Description section of the card, you can mention the job description. The attachment feature can be used to upload the job description file. Now, team members and manager have a common access to the job description.
Source
When you source a resume for a requisition, you can create a card with the title format “Name | Position | Req#” like “Oluwoe Ariyibi | Data Architect | 10111”.
You can attach the candidate resume using Attachment feature. In the Description section, mention the source (for example, LinkedIn, Monster, Employee Referral) for the resume.

Provide a very high-level overview of the candidate’s overall experience (limit to 4-5 lines or bullet points), skill sets, education, communication skills, expected salary, and/or relevant details important to shortlist the candidate.
You can use the Activity to provide a quick update or ask questions to your team member.
Features of Trello Card
Trello card has a set of in-built features. You can use them for better clarity and transparency.
Labels

You can use the labels feature in different ways. You can see it on the right-hand side when you open a card.

When you click on the label, a set of colors appears. You can name them using the edit icon.

For example, if a requisition in the Positions Backlog is a high priority, you can choose a color, and use the edit icon to name the label as high priority.

Let’s say you have screened and shortlisted a resume for hiring manager review. You can create a label as shortlisted and add it to the resume card.

Similarly, if you have scheduled the first interview and/or second interview with prospective candidates, you can create the labels, add them to the resumes cards and move them to the Assess stage.

In case, a candidate is rejected, the label rejected can be added to the card, and moved to the Dropped/Rejected/Close column.

Due dates



Using this feature will enable you to apply a deadline to your task card. For example, if the deadline to fill a requisition Robotics Engineer is 45 days from the date it was handed over to the recruitment team, the due date can be applied to the requisition card. This will notify you.

 

Members

Members
You can assign team members as owners to a task card. When you open the card, you will see the Member feature on the right. You can search for your team member by keying their name. Click on the name and the member will get added to the card. You can add more than one member to the card and change them during any stage.
Checklists
The checklist is one of the most important features of the Trello card. It is used for breaking down a task into smaller work items. For example, a checklist named Status Updates can be created for a resume card. Let’s say, you screened the resume on August 21, 2020. You can update the work item as Resume screened on 21/08/2020. You can check the box and mark it complete. This will be helpful for the team to understand the status of the work items.

Power-ups

This feature can be used to integrate a card with other tools & extensions to create robust functionality. For instance, Custom Fields, Google Drive, Slack, Calendar, Planning Poker, and many other power-ups can be used.

Managing Recruitment using Scrum and Trello

You have a talent acquisition workflow board. Now, it’s time to manage your recruitment process using Scrum and Trello. Based on the company norms and hiring policies, the recruiting sprint cycle is defined. For instance, the sprint cycle can be six weeks/45 days. The definition of done (DoD) for requisitions (or user stories) is defined. The requisition is said to be done when the prospective candidate onboards. The Human Capital Curator (aka Client Manager or Accounts Manager), one of the APF personas, works with the business leaders, hiring managers, and/or key stakeholders to understand open requisitions and backfills. S/he is responsible for prioritizing the requisitions in the Positions Backlog, based on the business needs.

Sprint Planning and Huddles

During the sprint planning, the Human Capital Curator, Talent Scrum Master (aka Recruitment Manager), and the Talent Champions (aka a cross-functional team of recruiters and operations) estimate the complexity and effort involved in working on the priority requisitions. The result of the sprint planning is sprint goals, sprint backlog (the priority requisitions that the team will work on during the recruiting sprint cycle), and working agreement. The Talent Champions start sourcing and screening the resumes. The details of the resumes along with the conversations with candidates are captured on the Trello board along with the status updates. The Talent Advisors (aka hiring managers and the panel) can be invited to the board to review the shortlisted candidates, interview them, and provide their feedback. Additionally, they can keep a track of the requisition’s status. The huddles (or stand-ups) are facilitated by the Talent Scrum Master. During these huddles, each Talent Champion provides a progress update by answering three questions – what requisitions I worked on yesterday, which requisitions will I work on today, and blockers (if any). The huddles can be conducted daily or once in two days. The daily huddle playbook outlines the objective, pre-requisites, and facilitation steps. Based on the working agreement, the Talent Champions team and Talent Advisors work collaboratively to ensure interviews are scheduled and conducted as per the stipulated time. The Champions collect the feedback from the Advisors and update it to the resume card for compliance and records purposes.

Demos and Retrospectives

At the end of the recruiting sprint cycle, the Champions provide a demo of their work to the Curator, Scrum Master, and Advisors (optional). This is followed by the retrospective session. The Talent Scrum Master, Champions, and Human Capital Curator (optional) participate in the retrospective, and the Talent Scrum Master facilitates the session. The Champions reflect and share what went well, what can be improved, and the action steps for the next sprint to continue their improvement journey. The retrospective playbook outlines the objective, pre-requisites, and facilitation process.

Benefits of Scrum Trello Board

Fusing Scrum and Trello fosters recruitment workflow visualization. It helps the teams and relevant stakeholders to keep a transparent track of the resumes and have constructive conversations around delays to optimize the recruitment process flow, thus enabling hiring agility.
Conclusion
The Agile Talent Acquisition Trello template is a Scrumban board that the People Operations/Talent Acquisition team can use for recruitment workflow visualization. During the Scrumban cadences, the team can use the board to address blockers in the workflow stages and mitigate challenges. Overall, the Scrum for Trello board improves team performance which in turn leads to effectiveness in the talent acquisition process.

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