Tag Archive: Talent Assessment

  1. Placing Pre-Employment Assessments Early in the Hiring Process

    Pre-Hire Assessments find the candidate that is more productive with the right skills for the job while lowering attrition

    Hiring someone who is a poor organizational job or culture fit, or lacks the right skills, causes a lot of divisiveness in a workforce, while lowering productivity and increasing attrition. When it happens enough times, or attrition rates remain stuck at higher than 30%, recruiters are usually ordered to do a better job of finding more qualified people, and hiring managers are told to do a better job of selecting people from among the job candidates that make it to final consideration.

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  2. Hiring for Skills over Degrees: Clear Path to Economic Equality

    Millions of people are never given an opportunity to land a job that their skills, aptitude for learning and problem-solving qualify them to hold

    The American labor force is transforming in multiple ways. People aged 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the labor force, while millennials are already the largest generation in the workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ projections for the change in labor force distribution based on race for the period 2016-2026 indicates the percent of Blacks will increase from 12.3% to 12.7%; Asians will increase from 6% to 7.2%; and all other groups increasing from 3.3% to 3.9%.

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  3. Hiring for job skill. Are degree-first hiring methods dead?

    Expanding Role of Pre-Hire Assessments for Skills-Based Hiring in the Labor Market

    What do Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Daniel Ek and Jack Dorsey have in common? Answer: They are just some of the people who never finished college yet founded and run some of the largest, most innovative and hugely successful tech firms in the world. Many members of the large elite group dropped out of college and first went to work after being hired based on their skills and not on their degrees. Only then did these people start companies that have changed the world.

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  4. Invest in Pre-Hire Assessments to Save Money & Improve Company Culture

    Pre-employment Assessments Save Money & Improve Company Culture

    There’s more information about job candidates available in today’s social media world than was available even a decade ago, and many recruiters make use of personal profiles to determine if a candidate is a good fit for a job. This approach isn’t exhaustive, though, and it’s essential to remember that appearances can be deceiving.

    You need better tools in the hiring process

    What if you had access to a call center test simulation or pre-hire talent assessment?

    Assessments such as these can help you determine if a given candidate is the right fit for your job. Known as candidate assessment testing, these pre-hire tests are designed to give recruiting and hiring managers a basic idea of a candidate’s personality and work disposition. Talent testing tailored to your industry can also help you determine if applicants have the knowledge and skills to excel in a given position.

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  5. To Stress or Not to Stress: Are Your Employees (Really) Managing Change

    How are your employees managing change & other job-related pressures?

    Organizational development involves numerous change initiatives, but change is difficult for many people. A person may or may not be as adaptable as needed, leading to workplace stress. Some people stress out loud by constantly complaining and falling behind in their work. They are easy to spot. But how do you identify the employees who seemed like a good fit at the time of hire, after a pre-hire assessment was conducted, but experience a consistently high level of stress, even while getting the work done? Any employer who cares about the health and well-being of employees asks this question.

    Some employees are introverts. They quietly work and meet goals, never making a fuss about anything. They have enormous potential, but do not particularly like getting anyone’s attention. There are also people who quietly work and perform well, but their quiet demeanor is enhanced due to the stress they are feeling. They do not complain because they are introverted and avoid conflict, so they endure the stress and find no joy in their work.

    One day, they unexpectedly resign. The employer is taken by surprise and laments the loss of yet another productive, problem-solving and talented employee.

    In job Eustress or workplace Distress?

    Every day, millions of people experience job stress, and it is on the rise. There are numerous organizations doing regular surveys to assess the number of people who experience stress. A Gallup study found that 23 percent of employees always or frequently feel burnout at work, and 44 percent feel burnout at times. The same study also found that people who experience frequent burnout are 2.6 times more likely to quit.

    Burnout is a symptom of too much stress, and workplace stress is due to a variety of factors. The employee may believe the organization’s culture is alienating, the workload unmanageable, the goals impossible to meet or the manager a poor decision-maker.

    stress-not-stress

    The Global Organization for Stress lists a number of stress facts, and they show that stress is a worldwide workforce issue. One statistic says that approximately 80 percent of American workers experience job stress. Stress is a particularly difficult issue to manage because there is good and bad stress.

    Good Stress vs. Bad Stress in the Workplace

    Good stress is called eustress, and in the workplace, it is the result of an event that pushes people outside their comfort zone ” an interesting new assignment, a promotion opportunity, successful interactions with customers, etc. The good physical and psychological stress reaction empowers people, according to various doctors specializing in stress. Eustress leads to people feeling inspired, motivated, resilient and able to meet daily changes.

    Bad stress is called distress. It is the opposite of eustress, so its impacts on people are also opposite. Employees experiencing distress feel overwhelmed. They are more tired than inspired and feel like they are unable to continue meeting job demands.

    Bad Stress in the Workplace usually leads to employees quitting

    In both types of stress, people may continue to be productive, though bad stress usually leads to employees quitting. However, people express stress in different ways, making it more difficult to sort people based on the kind of stress they are experiencing. Some people are always irritable with coworkers, express frustration out loud, frequently call in sick and make it known to peers they are likely to leave the organization. They are obviously experiencing distress and want everyone to know.

    Other people quietly perform their work without making a fuss of any kind. True introverts are much more difficult to discern in terms of stress. Some of them are experiencing eustress, while others are in distress. The introverts in distress are more likely to surprise their employers with a resignation letter.

    Same Work, Same Place, Different Job Stress

    Stress is caused by a number of factors. A recent Korn Ferry survey found that almost two-thirds of 2,000 professionals questioned experience more stress today than they did five years ago, and 16 percent had to quit a job because of stress.

    The causes of stress for all levels of employees include the pressure to master new skills to keep a job and the threat of losing a job due to technology.

    Change is a constant in the modern workplace, so the ability of employees – staff and leaders – to adapt is crucial.

    How well are your employees doing physically and emotionally?

    This leads right back to stress. How well are your employees really doing physically and emotionally when it comes to managing change, new job duties, coworker relationships, goal achievement and the pressures to produce work? You may think an employee is doing well because deadlines are always met, thinks creatively and gets along with others. Considered a likely candidate for promotion, you offer lots of feedback and recognition. It is a complete surprise when the person quits due to stress.

    The employee may have managed job duties well, but was constantly worried, fearful of the next inevitable change, concerned about personal health due to daily work stress and close to burnout. This employee is experiencing bad stress. The person next to him may be thriving in the same workplace environment and embraces stress feelings as motivators. This employee is experiencing eustress. Two employees doing the same work in the same place and for the same manager but experiencing different kinds of stress and no one knew.

    Do You Really Know Your Employees?

    Assessments can provide in-depth knowledge about your employees

    Conducting regular talent assessments is the best way to discern the productive people who are experiencing either type of stress. Assessments are key links between employees and successful organizational development and reduced turnover of the people you want to keep. For example, job simulations can pinpoint the people who are having difficulty adapting to change when they are based on real world scenarios of potential changes in workflow or responsibilities.

    In another example, when change initiatives are initiated, pre-and post-behavioral feedback assessments deliver change data to determine if employees are adapting. Personality tests can even help managers identify the introverts in order to identify ways to improve employee-manager communication, so there are no surprises in the future.

    Never assume you really understand what an employee is experiencing because introverts and people with exceptional self-control can hide their feelings. Assessments offer a way to get more in-depth knowledge of your employees and the different challenges they may be quietly facing each day. They may appear to be managing change well, but are they really? The answer may determine how well your organization manages change programs and processes by retaining the people who can have the greatest positive impact.

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  6. Pre-Employment Assessments Aren’t Only for Skills Testing

    Employment assessments evaluate skills and can identify candidates that have the personality traits and attributes employers want

    With a fiercely competitive job market and hiring costs on the rise, finding qualified candidates is not enough. Today’s employers want to find the “right” qualified candidate. Certainly, employers want candidates with the right skills, but they also want candidates that will “fit” well into the company culture.

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  8. Gen Z is Here and Bringing Implications for Hiring Assessments

    what are Gen Zers thinking and expecting in terms of employers and work?

    They will comprise at least 20% of the workforce by the year 2020

    Here they come ” knocking at your recruiter’s door (so to speak)! Born in 1997 or later, the first group of Gen Z college graduates will soon be ready to start their careers, and projections indicate they will comprise at least 20 percent of the workforce by the year 2020. If you have not considered what Gen Zers are thinking and expecting in terms of employers and work, then you likely have not begun adapting your talent system to recognize their differences and the changes they will bring to your operations. Every element of your talent management process ” recruiting, hiring, developing, managing, engaging, assessing ” needs to take Gen Z into consideration to successfully compete in the labor market.

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  9. Great Technical Skills but the Wrong Personality for the Job

    first assess a job candidate for technical skills, then assess their personality and behavioral characteristics

    New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin wrote the book, The Four Tendencies, and in it she presents a unique personality framework to guide people in determining the right job fit. She asks one question: How do you respond to expectations? The answer determines which of the four personality categories the person falls within.

    Four personality categories a person falls within

    1. Upholders ” people who readily meet inner and outer expectations, like work deadlines and personal goals
    2. Questioners ” people who do not like arbitrariness or inefficiency, so question all expectations
    3. Obligers ” people who are good at meeting outer expectations but have trouble meeting inner expectations, creating personal conflict
    4. Rebels ” people who resist all outer and inner expectations, doing only what they want to do, and even then, doing it on their own time and in their own way

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