Assessments are no exception. The first thing you should consider is the type of assessment you’re using.
Rose Keith
Screening assessments (used to screen candidates out) are
best used towards the beginning of your process, ideally right after the
initial application. By doing this, you’re only assessing candidates who have
met the minimum qualifications of the job and you’re not wasting time and money
by assessing everyone. These types of assessment typically help to weed out
people who may be a safety, turnover, dependability, or quality risk to your
organization. They aren’t necessarily helpful in selecting the potential top
performers, but they will narrow your candidate pool by deselecting those who
may be risky.
In-depth assessments should come later, either right after
the screening assessment or after an initial phone screening. These are tests
that probe deeper into a candidate’s characteristics and are typically
customized to a specific type of job. Examples include assessments for leaders,
healthcare workers, sales professionals, etc. The role of this kind of test is
to give the hiring team a better idea of how good of a fit a candidate is for
the job in question. By the time you have an applicant go through an in-depth
assessment, you have (ideally) already determined that they’re not a risky
candidate. Still, it’s best to wait until after the in-depth assessment to have
an interview. Before you’re ready to interview a candidate you want to have as
much information on them as possible – and an in-depth assessment can help
here.
Don’t forget about the interview either. An interview,
by definition, is an assessment of the potential employee. While you may be
using a basic phone screen interview early on in the hiring process, an
in-depth, behavioral interview should be used later in the hiring process. A
behavioral interview will give the hiring manager a level playing field to
assess candidates on. You want to be sure that each candidate you interview is
being screened in a consistent, structured manner. This type of interview will
also allow you to better determine the motivational fit of each
candidate, and avoid common pitfalls when interviewing.
Through your whole process, consistency is the most
important factor to keep in mind. Once you’ve outlined a hiring process flow,
stick to it. Making exceptions or switching steps means that each candidate is
not having the same experience. It also means opening your organization up to
risk if an audit of any kind were to occur. For example, if resume reviews
aren’t set to happen until after two assessments and a phone screen, don’t
change steps around by taking a look at a resume earlier in the process. Resume
reviews, in particular, are subjective, and making decisions based on a resume
can affect fairness.
To sum up:
1. Determine the types of employee assessments you want to use in
your hiring process.
2. Define a process that makes sense in terms of candidate volume,
the position, and hiring team resources.
3. Stick to that process.
