STEPHANIE MEUSBURGER - IIT Institute of Design

Stephanie Meusburger Portfolio | page 1

RESEARCH PLANNING, FACILITATING, ANALYSIS, SYNTHESIS

Innovating in Human ResourcesPROBLEM:

The government is increasing military spending and Northrop Grumman (NG) needs thousands of new employees, but NG is struggling to find qualified candidates.

MY ROLE:

NG’s recruitment problem has become a corporate priority. I was asked to travel to the sites where recruitment was being impacted the greatest and help the company understand the recruitment process, the company’s brand and opportunities to directly appeal to our target audience. I reported to the Director who reported to the Sector Pres-ident. My role included directing the entire effort instructing teams at each location and frequent stakeholder engagement for consensus and buy-in. I planned the workshops, designed the frameworks, analyzed the data and synthesized insights. I am currently leading NG through the prototyping process. C-Suite Leaders at corporate are considering expanding this research across the enterprise.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

3 Target Audiences: Interns, New College Graduates and Experienced Employees

5 Cities: Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, San Diego, Chicago and Huntsville

3 Main Questions:

1.) Why are candidates dropping out of recruitment? 2.) How is NG perceived compared to other companies? 3.) What opportunities are available to better recruit?

WORKSHOP STRATEGY:

4 Workshop parts

1.) The Recruitment Experience 2.) Accessing Northrop Grumman’s Brand 3.) Discovering New Marketing Opportunities 4.) Reimagining the Recruitment Experience

Each part had a mixture of leveraging qualitative and quantitative research to uncover deep insights and discoveries.

Left: Workshop participants

Below: Me facilitating

Set up for each participant

Room set up for workshop

“This was the most engaged I have ever been at Northrop Grumman”

– NORTHROP GRUMMAN EMPLOYEE.



Part 1: Understanding the Recruitment Experience HOW MIGHT WE UNDERSTAND THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS?

Each participant drew out their personal recruitment journey map. Participants were given emotion and tool icons so they could describe their feelings and the technology they were using at each step in the process. In addition they used a pink post-it to highlight the highest point of their journey and a blue post-it to highlight the lowest point in their journey.

To discover patterns within the target groups and sites, I com-bined the Journey Maps of similar experiences (for instance, applying via a career fair versus applying online) into one for each site. This enabled us to compare and contrast different recruitment experiences.

Emotion Icons

High Point Pain Point

Total Recruitment Duration

Technology Icons



Recruitment Satisfaction, Patterns and DifferencesQUANTITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Applicants feel many emotions while waiting to hear back, the most common emotions were “impatience”, “anxiety”, “worry”, “disinterest” and “dispirited”.

89% of applicants start the recruitment process online. College students are unique since they have alternative opportunies, such as college fairs and scholarships.

Applying online has numerous ups and downs, but a shorter overall duration, more recruiter touch points and a high Offer Letter experience.

Applying at a career fair had a sustained waiting period, less touch points a more neutral offer letter experience. Recruiters need to be cautious to not allow too much time to pass between original interaction and follow up.

Recruitment completely outside the traditional process, which included more face-to-face interaction with NG employees and the hiring managers had by far the most positive experiences.

Strength/Positive Pain Point/Weakness

Recruitment Duration:

Sample: 4 Male | 2 Female | 0 Vets

JOURNEY MAP / EVENT APPLICANTS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. RM | College Grads | 2.2

18 WeeksImpatient Peaceful

Confusion

Confident

Curiosity

Talked to PDP manager

Waiting

Role I applied to changed

Interview

Found out about NG at the Career

Fair on campus

The role I applied for changed

during the process

Impatient

Hopeful

Satisfaction

Dispirited

Confusion

Confident

Stressed

Disinterest

Disappointed

Curiosity

Doubt

Energized

AOC Banquet, didn’t like the location, but like company

(aerospace)

got business card of a NG POC & sent

email

POC never responded

Pursued others via LinkedIn

Contacted other POC

via LinkedIn

Phone interview

In-person interview

Received Letter of Intent, but wanted an official offer!

“It actually worked!”

Career Fair/Event Applicants:• The initial touch point with NG was very positive, sparking Curiosity

in both cases, but momentum and positive energy quickly lost. How might we keep the positivity and interest going after events?

• Waiting was a low point for both applicants, causing confusion and very negative emotions

• Interviews improved both users’ experiences, how might we make the interview so exciting and engaging they are ENERGIZED, EXCITED and PUMPED to join NG??

• Meeting NG at Career Fair was the highlight of one participant’s entire experience, how could we have done better?

Emotions:Discovered NG job• Curiosity (2)

Waiting after applying• Confusion (2)• Stressed• Disappointed• Dispirited• Doubt• Impatient

Waiting after Interview• Impatient• Hopeful

Getting Offer• Satisfaction• Confident• Energized• Peaceful

Strength/Positive Pain Point/Weakness

JOURNEY MAP / ONLINE APPLICANTS ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ RM | College Grads | 2.2

Recruitment Duration:


14.5 Weeks

Online Applicants:• Applicant was waiting to hear back from NG for 5 months, GOT

ANOTHER JOB, reached out to NG, NG got an interview scheduled immediately

• BCD was a pretty terrible experience for this participant, how can we improve?

• How can we ease the pain of waiting to hear back after an interview?

• How might we better use the positive energy after an offer letter is received? Get them involved with their team or include family in the celebration

Emotions:Found Job Online• Focused (2)• Hopeful (2)• Satisfied

Notification for Interview• Surprise• Elation• Confusion• Energized• Stressed

Interview• Anxiety• Stressed• Worry

Waiting Period after Application• Anxiety• Impatient• Dispirited

Waiting Period after Interview• Stressed• Anxiety• Dispirited• Disinterest

Offer Letter• Elation (2)• Satisfaction• Surprise (2)• Energized

Given small random as-signments

Transition period was

slow, switched managers mult.

times in first couple weeks

Energized

Quick turn around from interview to

offer

Quick response for

offer letter

Concur

NG Site

Impatient

Impatient

Hopeful

Hopeful

Satisfaction

Satisfaction

Satisfaction

Anxiety

Anxiety

Peaceful

Peaceful

Dispirited

Dispirited

Frustration

Confusion

Surprise

Surprise

Disgust

Focused

Stressed

Anger

Elation

Elation

Disinterest

Disinterest

Disappointed

Sadness

0 contact for 5 months, ask for interview

next day when I already have

a job

Don’t use BCD or make

employees use them. BCD IS THE WORST

find job

Email w/recruiter

Working & waiting

Chat with recruiter

BCD travel

Interview at hiring

event

Offer letter

1st day

Found & ap-plied for HW & Systems

PDP position

Received email for interview

Went in for interview

Received offer

Start Date

appliednetworked with friend

waiting for 5 months

got another job

contacted NG

call for interview

THE NEXT DAY

call back

official offer

Curiosity

Energized

Stressed

Worry

Focused

Found job

Application complete

Interview Request

Interview

Job Offer

Impatient

Hopeful

Satisfaction

Anxiety Dispirited

Stressed

Elation

Disinterest

Didn’t know

when to hear back

Non-contract employee

job!

Surprise

Online Applicants:• Applicant was waiting to hear back from NG for 5 months, GOT

ANOTHER JOB, reached out to NG, NG got an interview scheduled immediately

• BCD was a pretty terrible experience for this participant, how can we improve?

• How can we ease the pain of waiting to hear back after an interview?

• How might we better use the positive energy after an offer letter is received? Get them involved with their team or include family in the celebration

• Indeed: 2 applicants found about about NG job on Indeed

Emotions:Found Job Online• Focused (2)• Hopeful (2)• Satisfied

Notification for Interview• Surprise• Elation• Confusion• Energized• Stressed

Interview• Anxiety• Stressed• Worry

Waiting Period after Application• Anxiety• Impatient• Dispirited

Waiting Period after Interview• Stressed• Anxiety• Dispirited• Disinterest

Offer Letter• Elation (2)• Satisfaction• Surprise (2)• Energized

Patterns in Process

Each color stroke a different participant’s experience

Emotion Trends

Chicago / College Grads who applied Online

Chicago / College Grads who applied at a College Fair

Stephanie Meusburger Portfolio | page4


Recruitment is Personal, Needs VigilanceQUALITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Biggest Painpoint – Lack of Communication

“I turned down 2 other job offers before hearing back from Northrop Grumman, it was extremely stressful not knowing if I would hear back”.

“The lack of communication throughout the pro-cess makes you feel insignificant and small. It sets the precedent for how the company will treat you as a full time employee”.

Hiring Managers make Big Impressions on Potential Employees

“The frequent check-ins from the hiring manager throughout the process made me more excited about the opportunity. It also made me want the job more”.

HR Knows Little about Military Recruits

“I am a vet and the HR department has no idea how military skills translate to the private world. They tried to hire me at a much lower skill level and at a much lower salary and it made for a very painful experience”.

“Northrop Grumman and HR need to be more cognizant of how big of a change going from the military to a private citizen is. It is an entire life-style change and going from a lifestyle of complete structure to almost a complete lack of structure – it is borderline traumatic”.

OPPORTUNITIES

Frequent communication touch points are critical and communication with the Hiring Manager ex-tremely beneficial. How might we engage recruit-ers, hiring managers and potential employees on a more frequent basis and in a meaningful way?

Recruiting within the current structure is formal, rigid and stressful. Recruitment outside the typical process is more organic and more genuine. How might we recruit potential employees in a more natural and personal way?

Military vets have unique skill sets and unique situa-tions. Human Resources and Hiring Managers need to be aware. How might we add additional commu-nication that fills the gaps when recruiting vets?

Recruits want more opportunities to experience the company before they become employees. Ideas such as Company Tours, Meet the Team, Military Tours were brought up frequently. How might Northrop Grumman be more transparent and enable inter-actions between the company and recruits?

Affinity diagrams from different workshops all

around NG’s recruit-ment experience

LEGEND

Strength

Weakness

Opportunity for Improvement



Part 2: Understanding NG’s Brand PerceptionHOW MIGHT WE GAUGE NORTHROP GRUMMAN’S BRAND APPEAL?

13 logos of companies who NG considers direct competi-tors for talent were selected for the brand matrix. Partic-ipants were asked to chart each company based on how well each company treats their employees (the x-axis) and how innovative the company is (the y-axis).

I also asked participants to judge Northrop Grumman twice, the first time to judge NG’s brand as a current employee, the second time to judge NG’s brand before becoming an employee (the red dot). This enabled us to explore any discrepancies between what the NG brand promises and what employment is actually like.

NG Brand Perception before Employment

Why Perception Changed

NG Brand Perception after Employment

Black Dots are how other companies are

perceived



Brand Patterns across Target AudiencesQUANTITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Defense Contractors are largely perceived similarly in in-novation & employee appreciation, trailing Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. This enables employee poaching with a better salary offer.

Space X is perceived as the most innovative space company, GE and Raytheon seen as the least innovative and the lowest employee perks.

College graduates have highest opinion of NG’s brand due to flextime and culture, whereas experienced employ-ees have the lowest opinion of NG’s brand due to frustra-tion with bureaucracy and lack of new ideas.

Opportunity areas all target audiences agree are desire-able are more openness to innovation and experimenta-tion as well as too tied to legacy processes and technology.

Top: Compiled College Graduates’ Brand Matrix

Left: Cleared Employees’ Brand Matrix

Right: Interns’ Brand Matrix

RECRUITMENT BRAND MATRIX ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Cleared Employees

Innovative/Progressive/Open Culture

Min

imal

Em

plo

yee

Ben

efits

Stagnant/Rigid Culture

Gen

erou

s E

mp

loye

e B

enefi

ts

Northrop Grumman (current)Northrop Grumman (before employment)GEBoeingSpaceXMicrosoftGoogleAppleRaytheonFacebookNASALockheed Martin

Aver for Female Non-Vet

Aver for Female Vet

Aver for Male Non-Vet

Aver for Male Vet

Many areas for opportunity

Improved benefits and emp care was better than expected

A little more innova-tive than expected

Good pay Working to improve

Developing new systems

Good ben-efits

Lots of interesting project pos-sibilities

Above expected design op-portunity

Above expected compensa-tion

Better opportunity than original-ly thought

Great 401K plan

Great flexible work schedule

Slightly better benefits than I expected

Very rigid culture & lots of “red tape”

Culture not as conser-vative as I thought

Lame work environment

Lack of leadership

Lack of clear strategy

Teamwork not empha-sized

Younger tech talent leaving for better opportunities

Large age gap between mid 20s and mid 50s

Too many rules stifle creation

Oppressive management heirarchy “Don’t break chain of command”

Mentality the “new guy” doesn’t know anything

Too budget centric (won’t ac-cept risk)

Benefits, matching 401K

No more pension

Unclear of direction

Trying too hard to be progressive

Pretty much what I expected

Slightly less innova-tive than expected

Product oriented

Lots of older workers leading to an aged & inflexible work force

Less hard paper for documenta-tion i.e. finan-cial forms

Worked on many up-grades to old, existing tech, less on new, exciting tech

Not using latest tools

NO INNOVA-TION OLD TECH Technology

use

Does not go after new business, sits and waits

Expected NG to be as innovative as RTN, where I came from

Knew nothing about NG be-fore starting, opinion came from other def contractors

Salary

Thought NG would at least be as innovative as other A&D, but less

More bureaucracy than A&D companies

Difficult to get promo-tions

Salary increase small

Good ben-efits

Toured James Webb Telescope

Leading edge technology

Realignment of IS-MS

Bureaucracy Busting, VPs listening to workers

Free coffee and tea Flex Time

My manager listens and acts

The focus on Eng and Staff support

Location and people

Education opportunity

Gives opportunity to younger employees

AWS Sched-ule

Health ben-efits better than some A&D

Benefits of a culture which has good mid-range with focus to dev young talent

Bigger vehicles

Retention bonus for critical positions

Streamline on boarding

Resistant to fix old problems

Benefits aren’t very comparable to other tech companies

Not as good benefits

LM has better vacation and insurance options

I’ve gotten to work on really cool stuff here

Better/more employee benefits

Value work/life balance

Retained existing products

It was a white boy company, but has changed a lot!

Culture is much more progres-sive than previously thought

Benefits were spec-tacular, but have eroded

Compnsate low for area

Outdated processes and proce-dures

I think we are not state of the art tech-nology, a little behind!

Benefits have gone down since NG bought TRW

Got rid of pension

RECRUITMENT BRAND MATRIX .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... College Grads


Min

imal

Em

plo

yee

Ben

efits


Gen

erou

s E

mp

loye

e B

enefi

ts



Aver for Female Vet


Aver for Male Vet

Promotion within pro-grams

Many job rotation op-portunities

Flexible work schedules

Spark innovation challenge op-portunities

More employee benefits

Less flexibil-ity in design/opportunities to improve processes

More rigid schedule

Better transition for new hires

Poor man-agement of people

Lack of engagement, mentorship or training

Mission resonates depper than expected

There was no packet or instructions to get acqui-anted with work env.

Not open to new ideas or change

Afraid to venture away from old culture

Overprom-ises ease of education benefits

Expected a more innova-tive culture based on interview

Wasn’t sure what to expect

Innovation and openness are starting to improve, could be better

Very old school way of doing things

Not very orig-inal rotation program, make it more connected

BureaucraticBureaucratic

The positive support to career grouth surprised and im-pressed me

Surprised how much NGC cared for employ-ees

IRAD Work

Caters to research oriented minds

Manager who address individual concerns

Surprised by tuition assistance, vac time, top-down leaders, jovial env

Expected cut throat environment, actually very supportive

Culture People

Great experi-ence so far

Work life balance

Better ben-efits

Flexible work assignment

Good team compatibility

Not as con-servative as expected

EdAssist

Cares about employees more than competitors

It was better than expect-ed based off friendliness and profes-sionalism

Service to my country brought me to NG

Adopt some of the high-tech employee benefits

Allow time for personal research into topics-en-courage innovation

Oppor-tunity for mentorship programs

More mentorship, engagement and training opportunities

Start up culture

More innovative culture than perceived

Relaxed company culture

Many oppor-tunities to get involved and expand knowledge

Treats em-ployees well Autonomy Flexible work

scheduleCareer Op-portunity

Changing technology to match other indus-tries-wide tools

Lots of new hires

Clear structure on opportunities for career growth

Conservative business strategy/relatability

Convoluted processes w/o training or under-standing

Process-es/Time Crunch and restraints

Fewer health benefits

Not as innovative as I had imagined

Employee well being

Not as creative in creating new products

Almost everything is legacy

Doesn’t value employees as much as other com-panies

Make op-portunities known

Don’t work to the end to win con-tracts

Unrealistic schedules

Great introduc-tion to new material/bus structure

Knowlege-able staff willing to share knowl-edge

More innovative work than expected

More supportive maternity leave than expected

Found out about additional benefits after being hired

Certain pro-grams have more open culture

Given many opportu-nities for involvement in different areas

More employee benefits than I expected

Flextime Flexibile schedule Fab Lab

Positive, encouraging environment

Direct man-agement and support

NGC needs to work on being ino-vative with technology

RECRUITMENT BRAND MATRIX ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Interns


Min

imal

Em

plo

yee

Ben

efits


Gen

erou

s E

mp

loye

e B

enefi

ts


Michigan State UniversityFord, FCA, GM, GE, Steelcase, Microsoft, Eli Lilly, BoschUniversity of Illinois @ Urbana/ChampaignFacebook, H&R Block, Pepsico, Google, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Yelp, Space XUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignGoogle, Qualcomm, CAT, Apple, FordHarper CollegeNorthrop GrummanVanderbilt UniversityBoeingRose-HulmanGE Appliances, Texas InstrumentsCarnegie MellonGoogle, Boeing, SpaceX, McKinsey, FordUICCNH, Navistar, Google, MicrosoftMississippi StateAutomotive Industry, Power IndustryUAHDynetics, Intergraph, SAiCAlabama A&MGoogle, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, SpaceX, Raytheon, Facebook, Northrop, NASA, LockheedUAHLockheed, NG, Raytheon, Callidas Cloud, NASA, Boeing, Abaco SystemsAlabama A&MBoeing, Lockheed, NG, AppleMITGoogle, Apple, Amazon, Lockheed, Northrop, SpaceX, Oracle, GE, Ford, DE Shaw, FacebookAuburn UniversityAlabamaPower, Southern CompanyAuburn University

Alabama Power, International Paper, GE, Lockheed, IPAlabama A & M UniversityGoogle, Lockheed Martin, Redstone Arsenas, Alabama Power, Land O’Loves, NASAUC San DiegoFacebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, QualcommUC BerkeleyGoogle, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Northrop, Boeing, OracleAlabama A&MNSA, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, SpaceX, BoeingSDSUSDGE, Cubic, BAEUCSDCisco, SPAWAR, Qualcomm, Hughes, Amazon, Yahoo, PeregrineUC RiversideDeloitte, KPMG, Google, FBSanta ClaraLockheed, Facebook, NASA, AppleUniversity of PennsylvaniaBoeing, SpaceX, Tesla, Google, a lot of consulting com-panies as wellUniversity of Southern CALockheed Martin, Microsoft, NG, Google, National Labs (Saudia, Lawerence Livermore), United TechnologiesStanford UniversityApple, Google, SpaceXSan Jose State Universitynothing listed


Aver for Female Vet


Aver for Male Vet

Low Raise Hinders innovation

Projects grouping benefits

Finding work at first took a while, slow start, dealing with IT

Lots of stuffy paperwork with empha-sis on the face it seems unnecessary

Some engi-neers stuck in old ways

Less benefits than ex-pected

Site working on imple-menting tech that has been around for a while

Developers spend more time being frustrated with not having tools then need

Career Fairs

Career Fairs

Corporate Sponsors

Research Park, R&D on campus

Lab FundingsPresenta-tions and show and tell

Funding to School, Buildings about them

Benefits

Benefits

Tech Under-ground

Less red tape

My impres-sion has increased. Didn’t expect such an open culture.

Great opp to learn about field and tow work on meaninful products

TEAM WORK

Close environment, many oppor-tunities

Employees treated very well

Interaction with employ-ees

Better un-derstanding of products

Pay is great, progressive culture, good people

Opportuni-ties to move around within com-pany/try new things

More pro-grassive and open culture

Culture

Learning opportunities

Grad School

Advanced Technologies

Career Fair Industry Tours

Job Fairs

Job FairsJob Fairs Workshops

Info Sessions

Career FairsSponsor new building or facility

Recruitment info sessions through career fairs

Strong presence at job fair

Alumni employed there

Faculty members who have worked there

Events with free stuff

NG campus information sessions

School job postings

Host information sessions, career fair booths

Senior De-sign Projects

Tech Talks

SAID-active recruitment Inter-graph-pro-fessor support

Research Oportunities Career Fairs Co-Op/In-

ternshipsApple has better ben-efits

Dynetics-pos-itive inter-views that demonstraet collaboration culture

People here are very helpful

More employee benefits than I’d expected & everyone is nice & helpful

KInder people than I expected

KInder people than I expected

Great employee Benefits

Openness & Inclusion of women

Employee Engagement

Rapid grow-ing tech-nology and continuous innovation

Lots of struc-ture that sometimes makes it hard to be innovative

Archaic methods of doing things

Not em-ploying the most recent technological advantages

No benefits for interns

Without project re-quirements

Judge by my school

NG needs to have more recruiters to come to campus

Settling for sub-par software because of management stuff

Other com-panies offer

Lots of internships & at org fairs

Big recruit-ers, always at the job fairs

Events outside Career Fairs On campus

interviews

Displays outside the student center

Free things & raffles at info sessions with food

Scholarships

Tutoring Programs for underrep-resented groups

GE additive program, plant tours

Alabama Power-pro-fessional dev. company visits

IP-visits, donation

Lock-heed-SWE

Resume Building Workshops

Interviews Swag

Career Fairs Career Fairs

FlyersOpen interviews on campus

Job Fairs

More flexibility and benefits than I expected

More op-portunity to move around and switch projects

Being able to recieve a project and treated fair

NG is a great company to work for because of the pay

People are nicer and more laid back than I expected

NG’s brand strengths

NG Brand ideas

NG brand weaknesses

College Interns Attend

Brand Opportunity Area

NG brand opinion before employment

NG brand opinion after employmentOther Defense

Contractors



NG Brand: Amazing Products + Employee AppreciationQUALITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Knowledge around what Information can be shared hinders word-of-mouth

“I hate that I cannot talk about what I do outside of Northrop Grumman. I want to brag to my friends about the cool stuff we work on, but I’m not sure what I can and cannot share”.

NG does not Promote Products or Technology Locally or Nationally

“No one knows about the amazing products we are working on, even if they live in the area. We are building the James Webb Telescope [in LA] and no one even knows we have an office here! Everyone only thinks of Boeing and Lockheed”.

“Everyone knows about Google, Apple and Face-book because they are in the news all the time. Northrop Grumman never publicizes anything and the only time we are in the news the media is smearing us”.

Founder’s Reputation Reflect on their Companies

“Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg are highly public figures and their actions reflect on their brands. No one knows who Wes Bush [the NG CEO] is unless you are a NG employee”.

OPPORTUNITIES

Employees prefer not to talk about their job for fear of leaking classified information. How might we provide other communication tools to enable NG employees to talk about their work?

Working on high-tech projects is one of the biggest draws and biggest retention factors for NG employ-ees. How might we better broadcast the awesome technology NG employees get to work on?

NG avoids media attention because of the backlash against the perception of feeding the “war machine”. How might NG tell the story of their products and employees more effectively without media interference, or how might NG better prepare for media backlash?

BUD: A Growth or Improvement Opportunity for NGROSE: A Strength for NG

THORN: Weakness or Pain Point for NG

RECRUITMENT BRAND MATRIX: NG Brand and Mission, NG Brand vs. Others

AFFINITY DIAGRAMS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Sunnyvale | College Grad | 3.2

LEGEND

Strength

Weakness


Affinity Diagrams from the conversa-

tions on NG’s brand awareness compared to other defense and

non-defense companies



Part 3: An Individual’s Tech & Community Engagement in a Day, Week & Month HOW MIGHT NORTHROP GRUMMAN TARGET SPECIALIZED TALENT IN SPECIFIC AREAS?

Northrop Grumman needs employees with very specific skill sets, knowledge and strengths. It can be hard to target this group with mass communication mediums because they are a niche market. How can we better understand their daily, weekly and monthly technology habits so NG can appeal to them directly?

To elicit patterns and communication opportunities, radar maps were compiled by target audience group and site as shown on the following page.

Monthly Basis

Daily Basis

Media / App / News / Entertainment

Technology Touch points

Personalized Details

Weekly Basis



Technology Use Varies with GeographyQUANTITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Technology consumption (devices, activities, frequency and duration) differs based on location. Midwest employees engage with tech in a more traditional, siloed way. East coast employees use a wide range of tech and consuming media more frequently.

YouTube, Instagram, Netflix, podcasts and community involvement are the huge opportunity areas across sites and target audiences.

LinkedIn is the strongest current communication medium across sites and target audience groups.

Top: The recruitment experience of someone who applied online

Left: The recruitment experience of someone who applied during a Career Fair.

Right: A completed Journey Map

INDIVIDUAL RADAR MAP: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... R M | C o l l e g e G r a d s | 2 . 2

i nt e r a c t w i t h o n a d a i l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m

e s a da y

i n t e r a c t w i t h o n a w e e k l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m e s a w e e k

i n t e r a c t w i t h o n a m o n t h l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m e s a m o n t h

podcast

banking

workcomputer

homecomputer

local community

& events

local community

& events

online community

mail/print subscriptions


wearable

game system

tablet

tablet

student orgs

Sample: 4 Male | 3 Female | 0 Vet

Opportunities for EngagementProfessional AssociationsStudent OrgsCampus locationsTV Commercials (like Boeing)Innovation Video Series on YouTubeLocal SWE events (like Nokia and Exelon did)Attend SWE meetingsCommercials to parents watching news, encourage kids to applyMore Snapchat engagementOnline military donations

Facebook messagingInstant messaging

Amazon

RedditStrava

Runner’s WorldSnapchat

Connect via Snapchat

Strava

professional associations

SWE

Weekend trips out of town to enjoy nature

SWE

INDIVIDUAL RADAR MAP: ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... S a n D i e g o | C o l l e g e G r a d s | 4

i nt e r a c t w i t h o n a d a i l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m

e s a da y

i n t e r a c t w i t h o n a w e e k l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m e s a w e e k

i n t e r a c t w i t h o n a m o n t h l y b a s i s , 1 o r m o r e t i m e s a m o n t h

talk showpodcast

blog

banking

workcomputer

homecomputer

local community

& events

local community

& events

online community



wearable

game system

tablet

tablet

student orgs

student orgs

campus locations


Opportunities for EngagementLA Fitness, CSUSM outreach, SDSU outreach, UCED outreach, magazine presence, Popular Mechanics, Find better way to make impression. Show off what cool innovations we are working on. Be in the news for something good. Most people my age find ads irritat-ing, especially if they’re for stuff we’re not shopping for (like planes). Involvement with students through class material, sponsorships in local community, highlight products in news, Day in the Life of Employer in Snapchat, Facebook ads , television ads, Crossfit Games and Advertising. Product placement on video games, videos on YouTube, advertising on Facebook, pictures of products on Snapchat, Fantasy Football/sports advertising, advertising on Twitter, live video

streaming and the radio, Hulu commericial, outreach talks with students, Codeathon, Pandora commer-cial, commercial on ABC, NBC or HBO. Washington University, Pepperdine University. History/ESPN/ABC/NBC/CNN/TIME commercials, Game of Thrones. Hulu commercial good since only shown in the show, put in SciFi shows like Battlestar Galactica, Stargate. Ad-vertise for jobs in mail or print subscriptions, connect with ASME student orgs, connect with Locsl Comm with CERT activities. Create development groups on LinkedIn and LinkedIn pages for interns and new hires. Netflix series. Marvel movies. ABC/NBC commercial, FB group for college students and get involved with elementary schools. More at work events.



campus locations

Crossfit

Veteran’s Group

Veteran’s Facebook Group

Crossfit

Sirius XM

Photography & anything arts

Gaming with friends, part of Local Com-

munity

Playstation, Call of Duty

AmazonAmazon

Best Buy, Amazon,

Mall

Dr. Laura

SiriusSirius

Same as cell but less

instant message, FB messenger

Google maps

Yahoo News Google news

I Heart Radio Pandora

“The Show” 105.3

Threadcast

ASME

Reddit, “War is Boring” FB group, Foreign Policy

Airsoft

Facebook

Game of Thrones

Nightly News

House of Cards

CSpan

Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Defense News, Lockheed Mar-tin, Arobic Challenge, Quad amp, STEM outreach

Wells Fargo

Text

Optical Society

Video Chat

Sigma Pi Sigma (Society of physics students), STEM

outreach programs (Hack-athon), SDSU

Farmer’s Market

La Jolla’ss Famer’s Market

APPN, Innovation projects, PDP CoP, SPARK,

ERGs, ASME, Tau Beta Pi, Power Scuba, NAA

Toastmasters

CSpan

Encinitas/Oceanside, Farmers Market, library baby story time

92.1, 93.3, 94.8, 96.5, 98.1, 105.7

94.1, 93.3,

Stream goo-gle play app

at work

Fitness wearable

I sometimes buy magazines

country music

Facebook ASME, IEEE

NG talks through APPN

lettersletters

94.1, 97.393.3

Google maps/ Apple maps

Daily Vloggers, Phillip DeFranco

I see advertisements

I follow a lot of dog pages

WUSTL Alumni Pepperdine Uni-

versity alumni, Dr. Gerard Fasel

watch daily at Fit Athletic Club

HGTVAmazon Prime

Amazon PrimeBeach Body workouts

Amazon Prime

Game of Thrones

shopping mags

Meetup Girl Develop It, San Diego

Go ask your mother, Together

SF Engineering

OK Cupid, FB, LinkedIn

Snapchat, LinkedIn, & FB Reddit

Facebook

Pinterest

Facebook

get news on Facebook

APPN, LDP, PDP, EA CoIEEE, LinkedIn

UCSD SASE (alums still get to-gether for fun or do outreach)

movies, fair, APPN volunteering

Farmer’s markets

Marvel movies movies

Camp Pendelton, VTA Sat, North San Diego County Comic Con, Yelp events

Soc. of Women Eng on Linked In

Cal State Long Beach

SWE Conf

SWE, LDP, WiNGs

STEM programs

Pandora

weekly grocery shopping

online shopping

PS4, XBOX

Saw ads at the aiport!

Amazon mostly

Amazon

Left: Compiled Radar Map of

College Grads in Chicago

Right: Compiled Radar Map from College Grads in

San Diego

LEGEND

One User’s Typical Interactions

One User’s Opinion of where

NG should Advertise

One User already sees

NG’s Advertising

Market Opportunity: Over half

of Participants Interacting Here

Market Opportunity: Where

Users think NG should be

NG is Currently Successfully

Advertising Here

Results from College Graduates, San Diego

Results from College Graduates, Chicago



Huge Opportunity to Engage in Person & via TechnologyQUALITATIVE INSIGHTS & TRENDS

Leverage NG Employees to Assist with Recruiting

“Northrop Grumman should let current employees know who we are hiring for, we could help pro-mote the job openings to our friends”.

“Military vets have very tight relationships and networks. [Northrop Grumman] should reach out to us and ask for help”.

Invest in Community or Employee Clubs

“Other companies have clubs or employee groups that reach out to schools or professional clubs. Its a comfortable, more natural way to engage with people. Why doesn’t Northrop Grumman do that?”

Swag is a Big Deal to College Students

“Swag! College students are all about promoting our internship opportunities and other compa-nies have swag all over the place ... Swag generate conversations at the gym, in the library because other students want to know what the company is like, but I don’t have that opportunity because Northrop Grumman doesn’t give anything away!”

Sponsor Large Events in Nearby Cities

“Chicago has the country’s largest air show and Northrop Grumman is no where to be found. Why is Boeing sponsoring events all over the city and we’re not?”

OPPORTUNITIES

Northrop Grumman’s employee network is a great way to reach individuals in a more organic way. How might NG provide employees with stron-ger digital tools to refer friends?

Northrop Grumman has sites in highly visible areas, such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, how might NG take advantage of the events happening in those cities to then advertise job openings?

Many companies are engaging with potential em-ployees at young ages and in differing ways. What makes sense for NG and how might NG start grooming future recruits?

LEGEND

Strength

Weakness


Affinity Diagrams around how NG ‘s online and community presence. This topic has more yellow post-its than any other color, meaning lots of opportunities.



Part 4: Imagining the Ideal Recruitment Experience HOW MIGHT NORTHROP GRUMMAN BETTER ENGAGE WITH POTENTIAL RECRUITS AND THE COMMUNITY?

Participants were divided into teams and given 10 minutes to ideate around a Creative Matrix. Using green and red stickers, they would identify their top ideas and they made a Concept Poster to communicate their idea. Next, each team presented to the entire room. Finally, participants voted again on the best overall ideas and features using red and green stickers. These stickers indicate the most popular ideas and features for consideration in the future.

Top Left: Play-doh model of the LITENING Virtual Reality Roller coaster car

Top Right: Concept poster for a NG, transportable

roller coaster ride featuring NG’s LITENING technology

Bottom Left: Concept Poster for a Drone challenge

Bottom Middle: Creative Ma-trix to generate ideas. Teams

would then vote with red and green stickers on best ideas. Red

was for game changing ideas, green for good ideas

Bottom Right: Concept Poster for NG to sponsor Comic Con.

Wild Card chosen by teams

Visualize the Vote Stickers

Concept Poster of best idea



Results??? Coming Soon ...

I am guiding Northrop Grumman through the prototyping process while I am getting my Masters from the Institute of Design’s Masters of Design Methods program.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION ON RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE

Before reinventing the recruitment experi-ence, I need to know what is happening internally with Talent Acquisition Recruit-ers and Hiring Managers. This will enable us to find a solution that satisfies the needs of all stakeholders.

PROTOTYPING A NEW BRANDMESSAGE: Quality Company Values that Appreciates Employees with Generous Benefits

In order for NG to pivot it’s brand to a more employee-oriented company, meaningful internal changes need to happen. Addi-tional benefits are being discussed, but they recently added 10 weeks paid leave for new parents as well as an annual bonus.

Externally, Northrop Grumman needs to create tailored messages that articulate how employee friendly they are. A videographer and branding company has been hired to create several short videos interviewing NG employees with various messages. We will be conducting Market Research on the vid-eos to find out if our message is resonating.

PROTOTYPING MESSAGES ACROSS DIGITAL MEDIUMS

Top strategies for how to appeal to each target audience at each site have been iden-tified. The Digital Communication team and the Talent Acquisition department are partnering up to compare metrics and see if more from qualified applicants are applying.

Once the most successful brand videos are selected, we will deploy them across digital mediums and continue to track metrics to see if our messaging is making a difference.

FUTURE ALTERNATIVES FOR RECRUITMENT

Part 4 of the workshops focused on reframing the recruitment experience. Interestingly, most of the ideas focused on more normal, everyday interactions, completely removed from the recruitment experience we have now. Visual the Vote stickers elicited the ideas and features our target audience members found most com-pelling. In the future, we may experiment with new recruitment engagements and this data will be vital to guide on what experi-ences we will prototype.

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LET’S START A CONVERSATIONemail: [email protected] | web site: www.StephanieMeusburger.com

STEPHANIE MEUSBURGER - IIT Institute of Design

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