Take Control of Your Hiring Process! 7 Steps to Improve Hiring Success

I recently had the opportunity to assist a Client with hiring for a new position.  Rather than using their historical process of posting on national job sites and then slogging through piles of resumes or a cluttered inbox to find the best candidates, I suggested they try a new Hiring Process.

Let Technology Work for You

After defining the Job Description, Responsibilities and Key 24-Month Deliverables, the management team used the Prevue Assessment to create a Benchmark for the position.  The Prevue Benchmark clearly defined the range of General Abilities, Motivations/Interests and Personality that would be the best fit for the position.  Next we created a series of Job Screening Questions and defined Scoring and Disqualification criteria to filter out unqualified candidates and spotlight those that met the ideal criteria.

Using the web-based Prevue APS Applicant Tracking System, the job was automatically posted to a dozen job sites including a link to apply.  The Client was thrilled by the volume of responses and knowing that Prevue APS would automatically screen and rank the candidates from most qualified to least.  Nearly 150 candidates applied but only 40 met the qualifications.  The candidate pool was so strong that the Client struggled narrowing down from their Top 10 to three finalists.

A Look Under the Surface

People are like icebergs and when candidates go through an interview, we only see the fraction of personality they bring to the surface.  So the hiring team could have a deeper look into their suitability for the position, each of the three finalists were asked to complete an online Prevue Assessment before the in-person interviews.

The strongest personality assessments are multi-measure tests that capture cognitive ability, interests and personality.  Such assessments have been shown to be more than three times as effective in predicting job performance.  Below is a snapshot of four of the twenty Prevue scales (Benchmark ranges shaded green) which highlighted underlying differences in the candidates.

All of the finalists had incredible work histories and “Candidate A” even had significant industry experience.  However, knowing the position would require extensive work engaging with customers, the Prevue results enabled the hiring team to ask the important questions to probe further and evaluate the subtle differences between the finalists.

Summary

The selection process must be a balance between a candidate’s History, the Interview and Job Fit.  Far too many candidates get the job because of an inflated resume or the impression made during the first 30 seconds of the Interview and then disappoint with their performance over time.  Internet technology such as the Prevue APS Applicant Processing System now makes it easier to quickly source and identify top talent.  Adding a Job Fit Assessment, like the Prevue, to the hiring process increases your ability to make a good hire and reduce employee turnover.  Here is a link to the 7 Steps to Improve Hiring Success we used.

So…which candidate would you choose?