Hiring the wrong person for the job can be very costly to the employer and in some cases can result in expensive litigation not to mention the costs in term of time and wasted resources. Have you ever hired an individual who turned out to be the opposite of what you had expected? Perhaps you’ve encountered some of these typical issues:
There are many other undesirable issues that plague many businesses today but the good news is that you can make a few changes to your process that will drastically improve your ability to hire the best candidate for your business.
Pre- employment screening assessments are a good place to start. Good pre-screening assessments will cost you some money at the outset but they have the potential to save time, resources, headaches, and money down the road. Personality and character assessments are scientifically designed, standardized and typically measure the following traits: work ethic, personal integrity and reliability. They are also good indicators of the potential hires ability to be a conscientious employee, one who is prompt, loyal, and dependable. These assessments are available as a general assessment or they can be specific such as for customer service and sales professionals.
For example, if your company is recruiting for sales staff, which has a very high turnover, you’ll want to determine if the potential hires have a natural inclination for a sales position as well as the drive and confidence to succeed. Sales-oriented tests commonly assess the following areas:
As well as other traits and skills that successful salespeople need, such as the ability to cope with rejection and the ability to adapt to change. A good test will measure these attributes giving you, the hiring manager confidence that you have engaged the best candidate for the position and the company. There are also skills-driven and cognitive assessments available for many industries. These assessments measure specific skill sets that are common for particular industries. For instance, if you are looking to hire an office administrator you want to know they can type at a reasonable pace, have excellent command of grammar, that they are very organized, have a pleasant telephone manner and are proficient in the software that your company uses. A good test will give you tremendous insight in the candidate’s abilities to perform in that position. These assessments may also be referred to as job-knowledge tests. There are many tests available that assess the whole person, their ability to think and reason, behavioural traits and their occupational interests. These are called Total Person Assessments (TPA). These assessments can be very revealing and helpful both to the company and to the individual being tested. A candidate may be interested in one position within your company when in fact they are better suited for another position. When a potential hires interests, abilities and skills are aligned they will be happier more productive employees who are also more likely to be loyal and reliable. Pre-hire assessments may be a good solution for your company especially if you are finding that you are experiencing high turnover, low morale and post-hiring headaches.
