HR leaders consider pre-hire assessments all the time, but the fear of implementation is what ultimately stops them dead in their tracks. In a recent global talent recruitment survey forty six percent of HR professionals said they feared hiring managers would either not use the assessment properly or not use it at all.
Even though the evidence is overwhelming that pre-hire assessments decrease the cost of recruitment, they fear misuse will lead to more problems than it is worth to implement.
“Organizations using assessments had a 75 percent year-over-year decrease in hiring costs, when compared with organizations that don’t use assessments, and a 250 percent greater year-over-year increase in profit per full-time equivalent.” (2010 study by the Aberdeen Group)
Because HR needs the buy-in of the organization to make any initiative work, these fears are not unfounded. To get buy-in with a pre-hire assessment HR Professionals should look for assessments with these key attributes:
1. Assessments should be easy to use for both the hiring manager and the applicant. Many assessments take too long for the applicant to take and too long for the hiring manager to administer. An assessment should be no longer than 10-15 minutes for the end user, otherwise promising applicants may decide the position is not worth the trouble. For the hiring manager or administrator, the assessment should be easy to set up on the back end and cloud-based for easy access without installing new systems.
2. The assessment should fit the role. One size does not fit all when it comes to pre-hire assessments. Many assessments are not flexible in their application and are only suitable for some types of positions. Good assessments should be flexible enough to adjust to measure the key competencies that are applicable to the role the hiring manager is looking to fill. They should also be able to transfer the information into the training and development of the new hire.
3. Most importantly, reports should be clear and concise. Hiring managers will not use assessments that are complicated to understand. They should not have to take extensive training or wade through piles of data to find the best applicant. Reports should be clear and concise to easily indicate which candidates are the best fit for the role.
By choosing a pre-hire assessment with these key attributes, HR managers greatly increase the chances of organizational buy-in.
