Get the Right Mix - The Palette of Assessment Tools
The cost of a bad hire can be considerable. Some experts estimate that a bad hire can result is losses of 1.5 to 3.5 times the incumbent's salary. Because assessments have the potential of helping organizations do a better job of predicting which applicant will be the most successful in any given job, they have become a very popular tool in the employee selection process. In a recent survey of 180 businesses, 58 percent of the respondents indicated that they were currently using assessments and another 17 percent were anticipating using assessments as part of their employee search process. These usage results were supported in a white paper, Getting the Right Mix: The Palette of Assessments, created by the Human Capital Institute in conjunction with PreVisor.
Types of assessments that are commonly used range from interviews to more complex simulation exercises done in formal assessment centers. The types of assessments used should be selected carefully to ensure that they create the best opportunity to select the right employees. In addition, the implementation of informal and formal assessments should be planned in such a way that they support the overall business objectives of the organization or department and so that they are legally defensible.
Selecting the appropriate assessment tool can be confusing or complicated by the fact that there are many types of tools available. The decision to select a specific assessment is also complicated by the fact that many assessments are available in both a proctored testing format and in an unproctored internet testing (UIT) setting. The psychometric tools available to organizations help to determine both hard skills such as verbal and mathematical ability and soft skills such as behavior and motivation. The key to making the best assessment selection is balancing the relationship between the effectiveness of the test with the efficiency of the test.
Candidate assessments can make a dramatic impact on the profitability of an organization by lowering attrition and by increasing an employee's ability to become proficient in their job more rapidly. EMBARQ, a new telecom organization with 20,000 employees in 18 states has experienced savings in the millions since its implementation of a focused and targeted assessment program for customer service representatives and other customer facing positions within the organization. When assessments are constructed and selected to ensure that they accurately measure the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for a position, other organizations can experience similar results.