Many companies are planning to design Future-Oriented Flexible Job Architectures in 2021.  The wish list is very big (provide value over time, give an edge over the peers, making sure emerging skills are considered, and so on). There are several key aspects in doing this successfully.  We have assisted several clients in this journey, and here is a summary of components that we think you should consider/Pitfalls one should avoid

1. Building a Robust taxonomy by Functions:  In some ways, technology roles are converging (for example, QA Automation Engineer is operating as a Software Engineer due to the complexity of automation testing).  Financial analysts are becoming more like Data Engineers.  Systems skills in HR has grown significantly.  Analyzing with very well defined peers will not work.  You have to scan a broad range of peers and innovation in each function to arrive at this taxonomy

2. The taxonomy needs to be categorized by Digital Capabilities, Technical Skills, Functional Skills, and Soft Competencies.  Many times, these differences are not well understood

Digital Capabilities:  Very specific product and process automation capabilities that are identified.  Example platforms such as Hadoop, RPA tools such as Automation Anywhere.  These are very specific digital products and processes associated with a particular job

Technical Skills:  These are the foundation skills that give us the ability to perform.  (Craftsmanship skills)  Full Stack Programming, Object-Oriented Programming, for example, are technical skills.  Similarly, Inventory Supply chain analysis is a technical skill in the procurement area that is gaining momentum

Functional Skills:  These are essential skills that largely define how one work within the enterprise.  Ability to explain complex ideas, seeking consensus in a product discussion, and other similar traits

Soft Competencies:  At Draup, we are guilty of not modeling enough Soft Competencies before, but now we have a huge library – thanks to our AI team.  A principal engineer will have to have more of a growth mindset, and a Software Development Engineer should have more of an Ownership mindset, for example.  These differ by role even though on the surface, they look the same

3. Not bringing in the right levels of experience:  The Optimal experience levels is extremely important.  Many of the jobs in the enterprises have inflated experience requirements.  For many of the new skills, companies are setting very limited experience thresholds and willing to compromise.  Both will prove harmful in the long run.  Experience is often an output of what your taxonomy is telling.  The emergence and re-emergence of Agile also gives organizations some flexibility to build and leverage a range of experience within an agile project

4.  Do not get carried away by Moonshot titles:  Many jobs created by Moonshot initiatives get the hype short-run but die down over time.  Last week Uber decided they are no longer in the Autonomous car driving business. After years of trying to establish itself as a player in the race to develop self-driving cars, Uber is taking the exit ramp. The company agreed to sell its autonomous vehicle unit to Aurora Innovation, a startup active in the space, in a complex transaction that will result in Uber owning a 26% stake in Aurora at a reported valuation of $10 billion. Uber also walked back another prior moonshot bet this week, agreeing to offload its air taxi unit to Joby Aviation.

While HR may not have the power of controlling which moon shot initiatives are taken forward, HR can ensure the commonality across existing roles and responsibilities and not deviate too much across the enterprise-wide framework

5. Mapping where the Industry is headed:  This should be at the top of the mapping exercise.  From contactless models of service delivery to omnichannel presence, the jobs are completely transforming.  Knowing the industry level trends is very crucial

6. Not defining the new jobs of disrupted/transforming roles:  Let us look at the story of Martin – A restocking associate

Story of Martin – Restocking Associate- The Coca Cola Company-(Martin is an imaginary name)
-Every week, Martin covers 100s of businesses in his geographical boundaries to go to each store and assess inventory levels. Based on his audit, Martin would then estimate when and how to restock. Martin customers felt that he is super focused but lacks a bit on the people side (Martin simply did not have the time)
-Then something interesting happened. The Coca Cola company launched Einstein – an image recognition AI. (in early 2018 post-tests). Customers would send a series of images through their smartphones, and Einstein would analyze the inventory levels. Einstein is trained to recognize, and count the varieties and quantities of Coca-Cola bottles, simply by analyzing a photo taken with a phone. There’s no longer any need to count the contents manually.

-But the challenge shifted to the people side. Martin is expected to engage in conversations with the Business owners around variables impacting sales etc. Martin is now expected to be a true Business Intelligence associate!  But no one trained Martin for this journey.  Martin just leaves the company and becomes a Uber driver.  This is an imaginary story, but it is happening every day across enterprises

7. Refresh Cycles are Important:  The landscape is changing very soon.  So any job framework needs to be refreshed (major refresh) once a year, and ongoing adjustments

8. Leaving out essential functions as Contingent labor functions:  A broad understanding of Contingent labor trends is very important.  Several interesting trends are emerging in this area.  Many companies are leveraging contract labor for Digital Marketing, but companies should ideally create this in-house and leverage contingent labor within that.  The pandemic has shown that Digital Marketing is a lifeline for many companies and cannot be contracted out across the full stack of roles

9. Modeling every job as a Continuum:  Not every job is a progression from a previous job.  For example, take the case of a Principal Engineer.  This job brings in a product mindset from the get-go, and not all Software Engineers will qualify to become a Principal Engineer even though they may have the necessary time in the job.  Startup experience, having scaled a solution to significant users are key differentiating skills for a principal engineer.  So it is quite likely a very senior software engineer may never become a principal engineer.  The job framework must model all these possibilities

10. Integration is the easiest problem:  We have seen many HR executives worried about integration with SAP SuccessFactors or Oracle HRM systems. While this is a valid concern, integration is actually an easier problem in this microservices world.  Focusing more on what to integrate will yield a better outcome for this project

A large consulting company was trying to onboard a partner.  To help in this project, we adapted a lenses approach.  This is something that can be very useful.  In this approach, the recruiter will decide the various lenses through which you will look into the leads.

Objective:  To hire a senior partner who will work with Insurance clients (for example)

Lens1 (Traditional): Look for similar consulting company partners working in the same insurance area

Lens2(Alternate1): Look for senior leaders in Insurance Companies who have the potential to operate as a partner

Lens3(Alternate2): As most insurance companies are going through Digital Transformation, look for leaders who have taken very tough processes to Digital (in Insurance or Financial Services or in Banks)

Lens4(Alternate3): Look for the most complex process within the Industry and look for leaders in that space.  For example, in Insurance, Actuarial calcs are very complex.  If you find leaders dominating in that space, then you have some interesting candidates

Lens5(Alternate):  What are the new startups emerging in this space and how can we get a few leaders evaluated.  For example, leaders from Insurance tech who are not founders (as it may be difficult to hire Founders unless the company is failing)

Here is a simple example cheat sheet.  This approach may be useful for you.  Let us know if we can help you build this lens approach in Recruitment