Most people conduct a pretty thorough evaluation process before entering into important agreements (joining the Marines), costly arrangements (purchasing a new house or car), or partnerships that are not easily voided (marriage). The examples offered were important to me; I am sure you have your own list, as well as your own process for conducting an evaluation of some type.

At work, too, we often conduct rigorous cost-benefit analyses before buying a new piece of equipment or software. We may even ask external consultants or experts to assist in the evaluation process. Most organizations do a fine job when the issue involves capital. However, those same organizations often do a poor job when the issue is human capital. This is particularly true in the hiring phase. It is a good thing that managers are not expert at hiring; that implies that employee turnover has not grown out of control, and managers can still focus on operations. But, the need remains to recruit and hire the best people possible. Using the right tools makes this part of the job less of a gamble and more of a scientifically-based sure thing.

Research shows that all organizations conduct interviews, with 96% also conducting reference checks. Ninety-three per cent use a weighted application, and 70% use job-specific ability tests. About 35% use some type of personality test or other assessment.

Here is “the rest of the story” on those stats. Unstructured interviews are only 31% effective in the hiring process. That means that 69% of interviews do not give the information that the person in charge of hiring really needs to make the decision. Case studies and ability tests are more valid at 55% accuracy. Assessments come in at 38%.
From these numbers, it is clear that no one method is the silver bullet in hiring. However, a structured interview, supported by reference checks and assessments yields the most favorable result. These three facets of the hiring process are worthy of study. I assume though the majority of readers can do an interview and make phone calls. Our experience at 9G Enterprises shows the majority of people are still hiring by gut feel and are not using assessments to help with the decision-making process. A warning before proceeding – assessments are one component of a three-pronged hiring strategy. We do not recommend accepting or rejecting any candidate based on any one of the prongs.

The internet has made the assessment process so very easy, and inexpensive. Even better, the newest assessments online not only tell you about the person, but also about how to work with, coach, motivate, train and discipline that individual. Would you ever buy a car without doing any research? Would you merge your business with another, without conducting due diligence? Of course not. So, why do most organizations hire people without any type of assessment? One reason may be simply that those in positions to hire aren't aware of how good the tools have become and how easy they are to use. Another reason may be that assessments were always in the domain of psychologists, and only for people who had something “wrong” with them.

Conventional thought says that it takes three to five times base salary to hire someone: hard costs (such as advertising the position and interview time) at the beginning, and indirect costs (such as lost productivity) as the new hire gets up to speed. But then your shining new $50,000 employee just doesn’t "fit." All this ends up costing the company $150,000. There is a better way.

You must have a very clear picture of what you are looking for. This may mean that you conduct some type of baseline assessment of current and successful employees. Or you simply may have a good sense of what the ideal candidate looks like. Either way, we can then administer assessments to the candidate to see if he or she fits the bill. Positive results indicate a good prognosis for the candidate's future in your company. Negative results, however, do not signal a need for immediate disqualification. Rather, they present an opportunity to ask very pointed behavioral questions about how the candidate would handle certain situations. This will give you insight as to whether a potential employee knows his or her weaknesses and has developed strategies for coping--information that is invaluable in today's market.

In closing, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you my two favorites assessments. I am a fan of the DiSC and the Craft Personality Questionnaire. The DiSC can be administered and reviewed in under one hour. The CPQ takes a bit longer, but the level of detail you can analyze is unprecedented in assessments as we knew them. It enables you to search for data and job-fit by job description, and then gives you coaching advice for that individual in that potential role. For a lot less money than that newspaper ad you ran, both of these give you a great amount of usable information that will help you make a more-informed hiring decision--and help you to manage/coach your new hire more effectively. The assessment gives you a common language to use with your new hire to engage in a positive discussion about the way things are done at your place. This discussion also enables you to develop a mutual understanding on which to build a high-performance relationship.

 

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