[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLKd02TYPzE&w=560&h=349]

In a former life, Dwane Lay (@dwanelay) was an IT guy. The regimented nature of IT led him to an obsession with understanding the process behind things. Now, as the Head of HR Process Design at Dovetail Software, he’s fascinated by the HR process he experiences at work and writes about it on his blog, Lean HR. Lay has noticed that in the HR blogosphere, there is lots of discussion about issues people have with the HR process, but not a lot of great solutions. He has a solve that he calls The Process Equation: Y = f(x) His equation simply means that in order to change an outcome, you have to adjust what you put in. It's not just working harder, it's making fundamental changes that leads to better outcomes, metrics, ROI, or whatever. "Hope is not a strategy," Lay says. Example: Changing the candidate experience Lay points out that we always focus on the candidate him or herself, but that we often forget to consider the candidate’s family. Spouses and families are highly influential in the decision-making process when it comes to changing jobs. To improve a candidate's experience, sell his or her spouse on the job and on your company. If you don’t, it's that much more difficult to land the candidate and keep him or her happy.