Take an evidence-based and predictive approach to hiring.

Hiring the right talent has always been, to say the least, challenging. It has become more so today as the Covid-19 crisis has reinforced the importance of competencies and traits essential to business survival and growth in an uncertain environment.

Employers have become more discerning as a result.

Not only do employees have to be capable of performing well in a dynamic and competitive business environment, they also have to adapt to new ways of working in remote workplaces.

In this context, there is undoubtedly an increasing demand for soft skills such as problem-solving and resilience. In fact, the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Future of Jobs Report revealed that there’s an ever-growing number of abilities and traits that employees need to develop today. These include cognitive abilities like critical thinking, ideation, creativity, and innovation to interpersonal skills like emotional intelligence.

To accurately identify individuals with such qualities, resumes and behavioural and/or situational job interview questions can help, but only in a limited fashion. Let’s face it, human interviewers can be very subjective.

Some of our clients have begun asking candidates to work on proposals for a particular business challenge as a test of their abilities. Such methods can help too.

However, evidence-based pre-employment psychometric tests are becoming more widely used by virtue of the fact that they can test everything from a job seeker’s emotional intelligence to creativity.

Companies can use a wide range of pre-employment assessments. For instance, we help our clients administer Harrison assessments.

Unlike resumes or job interviews, these tools go beyond information candidates choose to reveal. Instead, they predict how individuals are likely to perform. They also allow managers to calibrate their motivation and retention strategies for each individual.

TRADITIONAL METHODS ARE STILL VALID

However, there is a caveat. While pre-employment assessments are useful, they are not perfect and should merely complement traditional hiring methods.

There have been instances where even HR tech has failed. For instance, AI-powered hiring tools with faulty algorithms could have intrinsic biases against certain types of candidates based on gender or race.

To make such assessments work for you, employers must verify they are reliable and transparent.

Most of all, traditional methods such as structured interviews in which all candidates are asked the same set of questions, should not be discarded.

A holistic approach which entails assessing candidates across different metrics and variables must also involve companies deciding which metrics and variables are most relevant to the job role.

To ensure a level playing field, hiring managers should ensure the tools selected are applied across the board – to all candidates.

Building capabilities for an uncertain business environment has become even more crucial today. Being able to accurately identify those who possess such capabilities is just as crucial.

Contact us for more information on pre-employment tests.