How to write a recruitment brief

A People for Research webinar with:
Jess Lewes
Business Development
Director at PFR
@JesseLewReviews
Emma Howell
Research Director at
cxpartners
@oohmawolfie

Jess Lewes
Business
Development
Director at PFR
Emma Howell
Head of User
Research at
cxpartners
●  The purpose of a brief for user recruitment
●  How to write a good brief
●  What timeframes are important to consider
●  GDPR considerations on recruitment
WHAT WILL WE COVER TODAY?
@oohmawolfie | @JesseLewReviews | @people4research

A People for Research webinar with:
Jess Lewes
Business
Development
Director at PFR
Emma Howell
Head of User
Research at
cxpartners

Gives clear guidance about what type of people to recruit
Acts as a reference point throughout the recruitment process
A tool to facilitate communication with the client
Provides essential logistic information (e.g. when and where)
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A BRIEF?
The recruiter’s point of view.

OVERVIEW
Who are you looking
for? Focus on your
user's needs and iron
out anything open to
interpretation.
Where is the session?
Decide
this soon, as it could
have an impact on
whether participants
can attend.
Why are you testing?
This helps to give
context to
the project and to
understand the goal of
each session.
What are you testing?
Website testing or
interview? This is
relevant for both the
recruiter and
participants.
When is the session
taking place? Set your
date. Or, even better,
be prepared to work
around the participant.
How are you testing?
Users need to know if
they will be testing from
home or face-to-face,
using a phone, etc.

Gives background to your research
You have to decide on your objectives
Forces you to segment your audience
A shared place of understanding about the recruitment
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A BRIEF?
Tells the recruiter who you want to speak to.

●  Context is really important
●  Gives shared foundation to the research/
recruitment
●  Helps recruiter build understanding
●  Ultimately means they're more confident
making decisions
GIVES BACKGROUND TO YOUR RESEARCH

●  What's the point of your research?
You should be able to briefly explain why you are doing this research and
what you are hoping to find out or test.
●  What are your assumptions?
Think through your assumptions and hypotheses. Think about how you
can recruit to really test and challenge these.
●  What do you need to deliver at the end of
your project?
This will help you plan your research and so shape who you need to help you do your research.
●  Is it feasible?
This will influence the type of research you can do and the people that you can recruit.
YOU HAVE TO DECIDE ON YOUR OBJECTIVES

●  Who is important for you to speak to?
●  Who can you leave out for now?
●  How will you define your segments?
●  Gives you a deeper understanding of behaviours
and attitudes that you’re interested in
FORCES YOU TO SEGMENT YOUR AUDIENCE

●  Agreement about who you are looking for
The final brief is where both you and your recruiter have agreed on who you need
for your research.
●  Point of reference for your recruiter
Throughout recruitment, your brief is what your recruiter will refer to when they're
screening participants or if they have questions.
A SHARED PLACE TO COMMUNICATE

Recruitment Research
Send brief
and call
TIMELINE
3 weeks before testing
Call
recruiter
Nail the details
2 weeks before testing
Write
brief
Lead up to testing

CALL THE RECRUITER
As soon as you know you need research, call
the recruiter.
●  Let them know that the research is happening
This gives them time to prepare.
●  It's a great time to ask for advice and to ask questions
Lean on your recruiter for their experience and expertise.

NAIL THE DETAILS
As soon as you know you need research, nail
the details.

VALIDITY VS ACHIEVABILITY
●  Validity: who is a good reflection of the customers/users and what they do?
You need to be confident that your small sample is reflective of the larger customer group.
●  Achievability : How realistic is it that you can find who you need?
You need to be confident that the group of individuals that you are you looking for are findable and recruitable.
You will need to strike a balance between the two.

DEFINE THE SAMPLE
Desk research Stakeholder
interviews
Workshop

DEFINE THE SAMPLE
Expertise
Experience in
the last 6
months
Accessibility
Device
ownership
Parent
Age
Used vs
not used
Location

DEFINE THE SAMPLE
User type
Device
ownership
Location
Age
Used vs
not used
Family
Max. 2
Essential
(primary
variables)
Important
(secondary
variables)
Max. 7
Nice to
have
Everything else

DEFINE THE SAMPLE

WHAT SHOULD I CONSIDER?
●  Specific activities, behaviours, equipment that you want your participants to
have or use
●  How frequent do these behaviours need to be?
●  How expert do they need to be?
●  How will you make sure your research is inclusive?
●  Is context of their interaction with 'the thing' relevant?
●  Avoid professional research participants @oohmawolfie | @JesseLewReviews | @people4research

WRITE YOUR BRIEF
Three weeks before testing,
write your brief.

WRITE YOUR
BRIEF

SEND BRIEF & CALL
Two weeks before testing, send the brief
and arrange a call.
●  Ask for input
Anything they would recommend changing
●  Finalise
Final confirmation and understanding of recruit
●  How often do you want updates?
How much contact do you want? For more tricky recruits, you will probably want to be in touch a little more

“It’s worth seeing the recruitment brief as somewhat fluid
– you may find that certain bits will need tweaking as you
learn more from the recruiter about the people you are
trying to find.”

Most things happen at least two week before testing
●  Call as soon as you know about research
●  Draft brief and send to the recruiter
●  Call and finalise brief
OVERVIEW OF TIMINGS

Before sending the brief
●  Call with recruiter with heads up
●  Ask for help and advice
When sending the brief
●  Kick-off call with recruiter
●  Step through brief
●  Answer questions
●  Clarify
In the run up to testing
●  Checking participants
●  Confirming participants
OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION

Don’t.
But if you have to...
●  Write a brief
●  Write a screener
●  Consider how and where to recruit
●  Make sure you have plenty of time for reaching out to people, replying to questions,
booking them in and confirming
DOING RECRUITMENT YOURSELF

RESEARCHING UX

●  Mitigate risk where possible
●  Put the participants needs first
●  Consider if you require special category data
GDPR

Includes:
●  Sexual identity
●  Ethnicity
●  Religion
●  Health
Go to the Information Commissioner’s Office website for the full list.
GDPR: SPECIAL CATEGORY DATA

●  Anonymisation
●  Reduce who has access
●  Reduce the data you store – do you really need surnames?
GDPR: HOW TO MITIGATE RISK

●  Purpose of a brief
●  What should be included in a brief
●  Communication with your recruiter (if using one)
●  Timeframe
●  GDPR
SUMMARY

●  Emma’s book: https://www.cxpartners.co.uk/our-thinking/researching-ux-user-research-book-out-now
●  Link to co-blog ‘Researchers are from Venus, recruiters are from Mars’:
https://www.peopleforresearch.co.uk/blog/2017/11/ux-research-recruitment-brief/
●  Link to PFR blog with guide to writing brief/infographic: https://www.peopleforresearch.co.uk/blog/
2017/01/ux-usability-user-recruitment-brief/
●  GDPR ICO: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/
USEFUL LINKS

How to write a recruitment brief

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