One of the funniest jokes we heard at this year’s Edinburgh Festival was this from Alun Cochrane: “The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves.”
Back of the net, Alun!
Unfortunately, when it comes to the serious business of recruitment, organisations large and small have a more difficult task recognising the keepers. In fact, many are looking to the ever-expanding market of talent assessment tools to help them more easily identify candidates who are best for their jobs.
Among Scotland’s HR Managers and Recruitment Advisers, the growing belief is that, without such systems to measure a candidate’s attributes against the job’s requirements, wrong decisions might be made.
A person’s engaging conversation, easygoing manner and open body language – not to mention your own gut feelings, even about their hair-do or shoes – can reveal much about the person being interviewed. But, as anyone who’s ever watched the movie Single White Female will know, first impressions can also be dangerously misleading.
There exists a similar danger when a HR Manager is faced with choosing which of their staff should be put forward for advanced training, who is worthy of promotion . . . and sometimes – heaven forefend! – whom to bid adieu.
In all of these decisions, whether new recruitment or staff progression, there is an element of risk, mostly from the perspective of how the wrong choice could affect the performance of the company, but also in terms of strict adherence to Scottish and European employment law.
So this means many Chief Executives and Managing Directors expect their Team Leaders, HR Managers and Recruitment Advisers to rely not only on their own experience and personal opinions but also to maximise any knowledge that can be gleaned in data from staffing assessments systems.
So what are these systems and how do they work?
Well, the first thing to mention is they are not instruments of the black arts, but voluntary and entirely logical questions that aim to accurately measure suitability for a role.
The second thing to mention is there are more talent assessment tools out there than there are people with or without talent.
Moreover, their creators all want you to sign up to their particular method; they are all vying for your attention, while promising to make your life in HR and recruitment so much easier.
And so as not to have to qualify this article by saying “there are other talent tool brands available”, we’re going to stick to describing types rather than brands.
These types range from simple pre-screening questions asking about eligibility and salary expectations to more complex quizzing scenarios that enable an interviewer to assess personal motives and skills.
Primary questionnaires can determine if candidates possess the necessary qualifications and specific skill sets.
Structured interviews, meanwhile, allow hiring managers, recruiters or trained assessors to evaluate candidates on the basis of their responses to pre-defined questions based on that unique vacancy.
Similar in nature is the so-called Cultural Fit technique of interviewing where, as well as having necessary skills and qualifications, the candidate must demonstrate they have the character traits to work effectively within the existing culture of the business. Basically this ensures the perfect fit not just to the role but also to management and the people who will become new colleagues.
Integrity tests, meanwhile, are written quizzes the aim of which is to predict whether an applicant will behave themselves. There’s no point in hiring someone with the abilities and strength of a superhero if they stuff stolen stationery into their costume.
Some companies prefer to use the rather more sinister sounding, yet perfectly legitimate, Background Investigations to gather intel on wannabes.
This includes securing references, employment verification and criminal-record checks.
For roles of a particularly sensitive nature – perhaps working within an airline or on an offshore oil rig – this level of scrutineering might also involve Drug Testing.
There are many more of these tools available but they all have two things in common. First, they are designed specifically to assist you in making the right choice.
Second, to be effective. They rely on having key goals, predetermined to suit the role offered, and this means they are only ever as good as the person using them.
In other words, while tools are a massive assistance, it is you who will always be the most valuable measure of talent for your company.
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