staffing firm business case design
design challenge:
Co-design a new service business case with the NIWL team, to pitch to the executive team and prototype.
my role:
Lead Designer and Strategist.
Key design skills I used: communication, project management, secondary and primary research (interviewee recruiting and interview), workshop facilitation, brainstorming, competitive audit, journey maps, synthesis and insights, presentation.
client:
National Institute of Work and Learning (NIWL), education department at FHI 360, international organization based in Washington D.C.
project outcome:
A Staffing Firm Business Case outlining why the organization was well positioned to start this new service, overall business model, required investment and timeline with potential revenue and profit.
the process:
discover, test, deliver
discover
We conducted preliminary research and expert interviews to hypothesize what kind of service the department could sell and to what type of customer.
I conducted brainstorm sessions with the team to ideate, built affinity charts and a final logic tree with possible solutions. The team ended up with top three services and prioritized “Youth Hiring Services” as seen in yellow.
To prioritize and get to the final hypothesis we developed a 2x2 and evaluated solutions based on “Feasibility” and “Impact”. “Youth Hiring Services” was the final choice because it scored higher on impact and feasibility:
With that in hand, we wrote a hypothesis and three sub-hypothesis statements for a Youth Hiring Service. The hypothesis guided next steps in research and design.
how might we generate new revenue with a service solution within the National Institute of Work and Learning?
hypothesis statement
NIWL can offer staffing services to US-based companies and fulfill their entry-level diverse talent needs, serving as a third party broker matching job-ready, diverse youth to entry-level positions.
(what needs to be true)
Desirability: There is a need for this solution in the market/it is solving a major problem.
Feasibility: NIWL is well positioned to fulfill this need/solve this problem.
Viability: The organization can generate revenue and profit with this solution.
sub hypothesis statements
test
I built a research plan to test the sub-hypothesis and led analysis for Desirability and Feasibility. Our Finance Analyst led analysis for Viability.
To test feasibility, I took a 2 steps approach:
Comprehensive internal analysis
I reviewed past project scopes & outcomes, strategic documentation, conducted interviews with 10 internal stakeholders and 5 clients.
I organized info in a “Know-Have-Do Framework” and an overall core capabilities map along people, processes and systems supporting it:
youth
We developed two journey maps for youth, one for “getting job ready” and one for “applying for a job”.
getting job ready
applying for a job
employer
recruiting and hiring
To test desirability, I also took a 2 steps approach:
External Landscape Analysis:
Conducted a comprehensive analysis to understand the staffing firm market and the trends in youth hiring and diversity & inclusion in the US.
Interviews with:
10 potential customers: decision makers in HR (managers and directors, strategy leads, diversity and inclusion leads). We interviewed executives in different organizations including Johnson & Johnson and Phillips.
7 youth advocates: we identified and interviewed youth education/employment experts, with profound knowledge about youth needs in this area.
I built journey maps for Employers and Youth to understand feelings, pain points and opportunities of our potential users.
2. Comprehensive competitive audit
To understand competitors’ value proposition & operating model, and establish what were NIWL differentiators I conducted a competitive audit identifying key competitors, their value proposition and operating model:
With steps 1 and 2 we gained strategic confidence that NIWL was well positioned to start a staffing firm focused on diverse youth in the US. We confirmed our sub-hypothesis around feasibility.
We confirmed that a staffing solution would solve a real problem for employers. Steps 1 and 2 gave us more strategic confidence, our solution was in the right direction. We confirmed our sub-hypothesis around desirability.
key research insights:
Filling up entry-level positions is a major problem for organizations and an opportunity for service providers.
Employers have difficulty finding and sourcing more diverse demographics due to inertia and systemic barriers that could be addressed by a third party.
Diverse/non-traditional talent is becoming a priority for organizations in the US since diversity has been tied to higher innovation, revenue and profit.
There is a gap in the market and a willingness to pay for specialized services for diverse/untraditional and job-ready youth.
NIWL is well positioned to act like a “broker” and fill the market gap between “employers looking for diverse talent” and “diverse youth looking for jobs”.
deliver
We delivered a Business Case with detailed research results, insights and recommendations along with suggested next steps.
I created an idea resume with key information about the case and why NIWL should build an MVP and test the solution:
We developed action recommendations with investment ask, key activities and source of funding to implement the case. We also developed detailed budget for the first three years of operations, leveraging information from our financial analysis (Viability).