Recruiters have always focused on hiring excellent talent, but defining the ‘right’ hire for a specific business is becoming more strategic as available jobs continue to outweigh job seekers in the current labour market. It is now more difficult to determine which candidates from highly competitive talent pools are going to positively impact a business, with the risk of one wrong decision leading to problems that quickly cascade through the organisation and leave a long-term impact.
A report from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) found that although more than a third of companies believe hiring mistakes cost their business nothing, a poor hire at mid-manager level with a salary of £42,000 can cost a business more than £132,000 due to the accumulation of costs relating to training, lost productivity and more. To avoid hiring decisions that cause turnover that leads to unplanned vacancies, employers must be able to accurately measure each candidate against the key factors that are prioritised within the organisation.
Make Every Hiring Decision Strategic with the help of psychometric assessments
Psychometric assessments offer a different approach to evaluating candidates against expectations set by hiring managers and leaders within an organisation. By taking the additional insights they provide into consideration, employers can make more informed, more objective and more confident hiring decisions for their business.
So which type of assessment would be best suited to your hiring goals? Take a minute to evaluate if your current hiring process can effectively answer the following questions.
1. Is there confidence that this candidate will excel in our work environment?
An individual that has all the experience desired by a hiring manager is certainly intriguing, but it’s important to continue looking holistically at how each candidate would behave in the workplace and become aware of any risk for disciplinary challenges. Behavioural assessments can help an organisation find out more about their candidates’ communication styles, ability to interact with others or any triggers of stress that can determine how they will add value to the team.
2. Does this person’s personality mesh with our company culture?
Culture has become a large driver of attracting top candidate and maintaining a productive environment that employees enjoy working in. Assessments that evaluate a candidate’s personality help to clarify who would contribute to employee culture, and who may not be a fit, especially when hiring for management-level positions. 95% of organisations say that a poor hiring decision impacts the morale of their team, and 60 percent have had a bad hire not get along with co-workers.
3. Is emotional intelligence required to succeed?
Emotional intelligence is focused on in many large organisations to ensure employees understand the people they are working with and enhance their team-building skills. Get ahead of this by ensuring candidates are measured from the start with emotional intelligence assessments that evaluate how they would perform in a complex business environment for roles that may require potentially difficult situations, high-impact decision making and relationships with many personality types.
4. Will this candidate succeed with the training we offer?
From the time a new hire is welcomed into the business, many resources are required to prepare them for success, and a general intelligence assessment can predict the amount of time it will take an individual to get up to speed. This not only avoids bringing on a new employee that may end up leaving due to frustration or challenges, but can also maintain a level of safety and brand reputation for the business. 51% of businesses report product errors caused by hiring the wrong person, and 24% experience a loss of customers.
How to Integrate Assessments into Your Overall Hiring Strategy
Hiring mistakes cost UK businesses billions each year, so it’s crucial that businesses are able to find the people they need quickly and in such a way that the chance of making a mistake is dramatically reduced. Organisations that recognise the value of strategically hiring the right people are increasingly turning to integrating assessments into their standard recruitment processes and therefore improving the chances of getting candidate selection right first time.
The use of assessments can help to streamline and optimise the candidate selection process. With a more holistic view into hiring processes, businesses can maximise their ROI through more informed and objective recruitment process combined with a positive candidate experience to secure the right talent.
Based on an original article by iCIMS from May 2018
