Pentagonplus Employee Talent Assessment
5 Talent Assessment Methods to Use for Recruiting
Let's say you've got two good candidates in front of you: both with strong resumes and successful phone screens. They're both fully qualified. But, who's the best between them? Does a red flag exist about their ability to do the job that you haven't seen yet? And what if it wasn't just two candidates, but 10 or 20?
That's where a talent assessment would come in handy.
Talent assessment is the process that helps companies evaluate candidates' skills and knowledge to determine whether they're a good fit for an open position.
A talent assessment removes some of the guesswork and tells you, for example, whether candidates score low or high on traits like teamwork, multi-tasking, sociability, work intensity and other benchmarks for more accurate job and culture fit.
But it doesn't stop there. Once you have your quality hires in the door, you can leverage the post-hire benefits of assessments for your employees: What are their strengths? What are their gaps? Who are your high potentials? What's the best next step in an employee's career path? Leveraging these assessments post-hire can improve team dynamics, employee development, succession planning, and more.
- Skills tests
Skills tests allow you to evaluate each candidate's strengths objectively while not spending hours on each application. You can administer a few skills tests within the same assessment based on the specific position and its requirements. That way, you get insight into the candidates' skills and you make your process much more efficient.
- Work samples
The work sample is a piece of actual work that a candidate will complete. Usually, it'll be closely related to the job they applied to. These talent assessment tools have been shown to be the most effective in predicting job performance. And that makes sense; work samples gauge ability to do a specific work first-hand.
These talent assessment tools have been shown to be the most effective in predicting job performance. And that makes sense; work samples gauge ability to do a specific work first-hand.
Of course, work samples shouldn't be so much work that candidates feel they're working for free (this may impact candidate experience and, consequently, your employer brand). Clarity here is essential; communicate clearly to the candidate the purpose of this work sample and that it will not be used for business purposes. In some cases, you may even compensate them for the time invested in producing the sample.
- Job Trials
A job simulation can be done during the interview or via online hiring assessment tools. For example, you can send assessments to candidates that ask them to handle a disgruntled customer over chat, do a presentation, or sell something a bit more complex than a pen.
Similar to job simulation tests are situational interview questions. These questions ask the candidate to explain their reaction to a hypothetical scenario at work. Each candidate's answers shed light on their way of thinking and how they'd approach a tricky situation.
- Structured interviews
Structured interviews are interviews in which you ask all candidates the same questions in a similar order. This allows you to concentrate on each candidate's skills and helps bring hiring bias to a minimum by eliminating small talk or unstructured questions.
It's important to be well-prepared for each interview and take detailed notes during and after it. You can even evaluate candidates on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of their competencies or their answers to each question
- Video interviews
Asynchronous interviews have started becoming more and more popular: this type of interview lets candidates record answers to questions and allows interviewers to evaluate the answers at their own time. Apart from the convenience of these interviews, AI technology has also turned them into talent assessment tools.
For example, face-scanning algorithms can be used to assess candidates' tone, word choice, and other factors to determine the best person for the job. Companies like HireVue have developed this kind of technology.
Of course, there are concerns involved. Built-in biases are an issue in most artificial intelligence applications, and there are also doubts about the scientific basis of analyzing expressions to predict job performance. So, this may not be the type of talent assessment to jump into haphazardly, but it's definitely one to watch.
It provide an indication about whether candidates can do the job you're hiring for, and also if they fit well in your company culture and team. By using pre-employment assessment tools, you'll be able to reduce the number of candidates to a small, super-qualified group. That way, you get insight into the candidates' skills and you make your process much more efficient.
Talent assessment tools and strategies are a key component of a successful hiring strategy. Malaysia job consultancy can use a wide array of assessments to evaluate their candidates and combine a few of them, such as a set of skills assessment tests and a structured interview with their best applicants or a work sample plus a skills assessment test.