Sandra Hess — October 11, 2018 — October 11, 2018
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One of the biggest challenges facing employers today is hiring high-quality employees. Thanks to the surge of online job boards that make applying for a job quick and easy, employers aren’t necessarily having a hard to time obtaining a large number of applicants. It’s the quality of those applicants that have employers concerned – or even more accurately having the ability to identify the top candidates in a large pool of applicants.
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What the Resume and Interview Won’t Tell You
For decades, employers have relied heavily on resumes and interviews to evaluate talent. While these assessment tools are ideal for evaluating experience and education, they provide little to no value in assessing other vital skills, such as soft skills like dependability and motivation. Whether during an interview or on a resume, candidates typically self-evaluate these essential skills. Depending solely on these self-assessments can lead to poor, and costly, hiring decisions.
Another problem is that studies show that 85 percent of candidates lie on their resumes.
It can be nearly impossible for employers to determine if the candidate truly has the skills needed for the position or if the applicant merely is trying to make a good impression by stretching the truth.
Value of Pre-Hire Screenings
Pre-hire assessments help to take the uncertainty out of the hiring process by providing data-based evaluations. Rather than relying on the candidate to assess their abilities, pre-hire employment tests can assess these traits for you. It’s important, however, to develop an assessment process that provides you with the specific and accurate data you need to make sound hiring decisions.
Here are some tips for creating an effective candidate assessment process.
• Use the Right Assessment
Not all assessment tests are alike, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to candidate assessment. You must start by identifying the specific skills you want to assess. Take a critical look at the position you are hiring for and determine what skills, both hard and soft skills, an ideal candidate should possess. This needs assessment will enable you to select which pre-hire tests will provide you with the data-driven results you need.
• Understand Results
Administering the assessment tests is just the first step, you also must know how to evaluate the results and how to implement them in the hiring decision process. When working with a professional assessment company, you should receive easy-to-read reports that provide accurate insights. Either way, makes sure you understand how to read and analyze the results correctly.
• Train Stakeholders
Everyone involved in the hiring process should receive training in the administration and evaluation of pre-hire assessment testing. Everyone from the HR team to the hiring managers should understand how to read the results and how to use these results to make hiring decisions. Proper training will ensure hiring consistency throughout the company.
• Enhance the Candidate Experience
Studies are starting to show signs of candidate fatigue. Candidates are starting to drop out of long, tedious application processes before completing. You can avoid the risk of losing high-quality candidates by keeping your employment test simple, short, and meaningful.
This point makes it vital that you carefully select assessments that provide value to the hiring process and only test for your desired skills. When possible, use mobile-friendly assessments that make it more convenient for the candidate and limit them to 15 minutes or less to avoid losing the candidate’s interest. When done correctly, employment tests can enhance, rather than deter, the candidate experience.
Pre-hire employee tests are valuable tools that can help you identify candidates who have the soft skills, such as adaptability and decision making, as well as the hard skills, such as multi-tasking, computer abilities, and data entry accuracy your company needs. The most important factors are to make sure that you are using the right assessment tests and that you know how to evaluate the results properly.
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