Getting It Right
Finding the 'right' people is what recruitment is all about, and yet many organisations seem to have a surprisingly unstructured approach to the recruitment of their key staff. Would it be an exaggeration to say that sometimes critical hiring decisions are made over a chat and a cup of tea? Can you be certain that your hiring decisions are truly objective?
There is plenty of research that suggests that organisations can achieve greater efficiency (and profitability) when their people are doing jobs that closely match their abilities, personal style, interests and motivations.
The traditional interview is by no means the best way of assessing a candidate's suitability for a particular job. Of course it can be used to check education, previous employment and perhaps technical knowledge but when used alone it has been shown that the traditional interview is a very poor indicator of likely success in a job.
The inclusion of objective assessment procedures into the selection process can dramatically improve the odds and may have a number of advantages:
- It enables you to make better hiring decisions
- It ensures that all candidates are treated equally and fairly
- It enables an organisation to build a happy work force (people doing jobs for which they are best suited)
- It can lead to increased efficiency and profitability
The decision to use objective assessment needs careful planning. You will need qualified staff (see details below) to conduct and interpret the tests. You will need to decide which tests to use and where they will fit into your recruitment process. There are a wide range of tests and exercises available including:
Competency questionnaires
Typically a questionnaire that the candidate completes at the time of application. These questionnaires can help to identify those candidates with the right attributes early in the selection process.
Ability Tests
These are typically timed, multiple choice tests which assess current ability and future potential to interpret or reason with various types of information. Examples would include numerical and verbal reasoning tests.
Personality questionnaires
These questionnaires (not tests) provide a profile of the individual candidate's perception of their behaviour at work.
In-tray exercises
Candidates work with a file of papers to identify key issues that need to be addressed. These exercises assess a candidate's ability to prioritise and make decisions.
Group exercises
Candidates work together to solve a problem, make a decision or complete a task.
Role play exercises
Candidates act out, either with an assessor or with other candidates, a role which will be relevant to their future employment.
No matter how you recruit or find a job, people are at the heart of any organisation. Make sure you get it right.
Article by:
Jeremy I’anson
Consultant
Hudson IT
Tel: +44 01483 881 000