Choosing The Right Assessment

In today's world of flexible, fast-changing jobs it is often difficult to select the right assessment for a particular position. Always remember that assessments are useful for one thing when it comes to hiring: Predicting Employee Success.

To get a sense of our range of assessments, please see our Hiring Products Overview.

Key Considerations In Choosing An Assessment Strategy

1. Understand the Job - Rule #1 in any selection process is to understand the job you need filled. The key question to ask here is "what aspects of this job cannot be easily trained and have the greatest impact on job performance." For example, for a customer service representative, it may be the ability to listen, follow procedures, speak clearly and succinctly, and empathize.
2. Understand the Issues - Are there so many candidates that you are overwhelmed? Are the people you are hiring leaving too fast? Are your hiring managers interviewing effectively? Are the people you are hiring succeeding in the job? Are the hiring managers complaining that their new hires or applicants lack certain key skills?
3. Define the purpose of the assessments you will choose - Here are some examples:
• Reduce voluntary turnover by 50% within one year by screening for past work behaviors and attitudes that indicate high likelihood to leave after training.
• Reduce training time for new hires by 40% by screening for C++ and Database skills before the interview.
• Increase sales per representative by 10% or more by screening for key selling and listening skills, and sales-oriented personality factors.
4. Define other requirements - Where in the application process will the assessments be used? For example, when trying to deal with large application volume, it's often appropriate to assess early in the process to screen out candidates who are clearly unqualified before spending precious time on them.

Next, will the assessments need to be administered online? Will they be administered in a proctored setting, or can they be taken at home? Who will authorize each assessment and who will review the results? Will cutoff scores be established, or will the results be viewed qualitatively along with other parts of the application?

1. Select the Assessments - Once you're defined the purpose of your assessments, you're ready to make your choices. Start here. When evaluating an assessment, the first question to ask is whether it will meet your goal. Second, does the assessment meet the criteria for delivery and reporting that you specified in step 4? Finally, does the company offering the assessment meet your standards of quality?
2. Still Need Help? - We know that choosing the right assessment can be a daunting task. That's why our staff is available to help you at any time. Please feel free to contact us if we can assist you!