Written by John Field, Vice President, Product Management
When it comes to hiring for new or backfilled positions, it can seem daunting to find that right candidate you’re looking for. You’ve done your job analysis, assembled a job description, and have a great picture of what a successful employee will look like in the role. Once you’ve reached that milestone, you want everything else to fall into place quickly so that you can get the position posted and filled. The last thing you want is a cumbersome assessment design and implementation process holding you back from hiring your dream employee.
To achieve that goal and get a qualified employee in that seat ASAP, having the correct hiring technology in place will make a big difference. Here are four tips to ensure that the use of technology in your hiring process will have a positive impact:
1. Keep the candidate experience king
I’m sure that candidate experience is already a priority to you if you’re reading this, but given the current tight labor conditions, it’s an essential piece of the hiring puzzle worth highlighting. The screening process is a two-way street: the organisation is being evaluated by the candidate just as much as the organisation is measuring their qualifications. Use this opportunity to present the business as authentically and ‘on brand’ as possible.
Your hiring assessment platform should represent your brand to candidates in the way you want to be perceived. It is as important as how your hiring team members conduct themselves during interviews. Is your brand simple and understated or bold and colourful? Your online assessment experience will leave an impression on the candidate. Be sure that it’s the one you’d like them to have.
2. Focus on the essentials (and only you know what they are)
There are several types of assessments available for use. Some are short tests that only assess a few competencies and can be taken in 10 minutes. Others assess a candidate across 20+ competencies and can take more than an hour to complete. As you’re designing your hiring assessments, our recommendation would be to focus on the essentials that you need to know as part of the hiring decision.
If your talent management partner has a configurable approach to assessments, this is an easy implementation. They will take those competencies and use them to build a scientifically valid assessment configured from highly focused modules. Since you’ve narrowed your assessment down to exactly what you want to measure, this creates a shorter assessment that is engaging and effective.
That’s not to say that longer, more in-depth assessments don’t have their place – these can be incredibly useful, especially for employee development. The important piece is to have the right technology in place to focus on the job that needs to be done (or in this case, filled), whether it be in the selection or development lifecycle.
3. Leverage validated psychometrics
Our assessments at Talogy have decades’ worth of historical data – including millions of data points – that means you’re using a legally defensible means of measurement. You gain a better picture of your candidate’s fit while identifying areas where you’d like to learn more and can explore in greater depth during an interview.
Of course, this is true with our off-the-shelf assessments, but not always for truly customised assessments. Our modular assessments have also been built with validity and defensibility as a requirement. Even with the added benefit of an assessment being unique to your specific competency needs, the science behind it remains of the highest importance and intact with psychometrics. It’s the best of both worlds.
4. Present the data correctly
With modular assessments come configurable reports. After the assessment is complete, you’re left with a wealth of information about what the candidate will bring to the role. When using modular assessments, scores from each component are combined instantaneously – with the backing of expert knowledge and data – to provide a holistic view of the candidate as it pertains to the competencies that you’ve determined are relevant to success in the role.
An added benefit is that the customisation of these reports allows you to incorporate language that your hiring manager and HR team are accustomed to and understand. This minimises the probability of any issues correctly interpreting the data presented. As a result of these configurable reports, you can feel confident in your hiring decisions and ultimately, the future of the company.
To recap, here are some of the key tips to most effectively use technology in your hiring process:
- Implement a compelling, on brand candidate experience delivered in the shortest amount of assessment time necessary
- Utilise insights that are backed by validated data
- Employ customised digital reporting that helps your hiring team make decisions using language that resonates with your organisation
For many hiring situations, we recommend modular assessments as an effective use of technology in hiring. They will streamline the talent management process and make it an efficient and effective experience for internal stakeholders and candidates alike.
