Recruiting Assessment Tools - Which Flavor is Right for You?
Posted by Nancy Saperstone on Fri, Sep 18, 2009 @ 11:21 AM
Who's the top external candidate for an open Sales job? Who has great management potential and should be fast-tracked for the C-Suite? Who's the best project leader for a major new product initiative the company is launching? Recruiting assessment tools can reduce the guesswork and increase the chances of choosing the right person. If you're not using one or more of these tools, think again.
The Myers Briggs Type Inventory, DISC, Emotional Competence Inventory ( ECI ), Predictive Index ( PI ), and 360 Degree Feedback instruments are well-validated and have been used for years to gauge " the best fit ". Today, managers can use literally hundreds of other evaluation methods to test everything from personality to mechanical/technical abilities and aptitudes to organizational culture alignment, to name a few. Best of all, many of these tests can be taken online, in a secure environment, that eases the process for candidates and employees and streamlines the procedure for employers. Cost-to-administer is also dramatically less, too.
Now that you're excited at the prospect of more objective decisions, start at the beginning. First, be sure to enlist top management's support before you invest too much effort - without it, your venture is sure to fail.
Then determine precisely what questions you expect an assessment tool to answer and what role the results will play - how much weight they will be given. Next, consider the universe of possible instruments and how to determine which one best suits your need. Check the one you selected to be sure it's been validated for the purpose you have in mind; using an un-validated test is worse than not using one at all. Finally, communicate to all stakeholders the decision to use an evaluation test in the recruiting process, and put in place procedures for its use.
With a plan in hand, you can now take the next step towards less subjective and more data-driven recruiting decisions. Everyone will benefit, and HR's credibility as a business discipline will be enhanced.