How Good is Your Assessment Process?

There is a lot of talk about the appraisal processes and how companies are doing their best to develop the fastest and most accurate process. Yet they all seem to use similar techniques to assess their applicants. In addition, the fluctuation rate and the number of incorrect appointments have never been as high as they are today.

So what exactly are companies doing wrong when it comes to finding a suitable valuation method?

I'll let you in on a little secret: the truth is that the most accurate scoring method is only 50% correct. You heard it right. Despite all your efforts, you still have a 50-50% chance of hiring the right person for the job.

So how can you do things differently and give your candidates the experience they're looking for while hiring only the best talent for your company?

Don’t let bias influence your hiring decisions

Let's start the article with an interesting example of an institution that was confident that it was doing an impeccable job assessing applicants.

Until the 1970s, orchestras around the world took pride in their recruitment process for new members. All applicants were asked to play the same piece of music with their instruments. The best wins! However, after a while, women complained that men were being hired more often than they were and suggested a blind test. So everything would stay the same, except that the jury wouldn't be able to see the performance and, they said, wouldn't be able to know whether it was a woman or a man performing.

Now, they taught, everything is perfect. But again women began to complain that the ratio of men and women in the orchestra was not realistic. The new solution they suggested was to put a carpet in the room so the jury wouldn't hear shoe voices as the contestant approached - implying that the women's heels could influence the decision. Finally, the orchestra used the right method to evaluate its candidates and increased the diversity of its staff.

Thanks to its willingness to rethink the state of hiring practices at the time, the orchestra found a way to assess essential skills while making the process as unbiased as possible. This shows the importance of assessing candidates' knowledge of the task they will be performing at the end of the day.

Let's go back to the office environment for a moment and imagine what a hiring process looks like for a standard office job. Employers usually carry out a "typical" process by checking applicants' previous experience and reading their initial motivation for the job. This is usually followed by an interview, possibly a personality test and a practical task. And as burdensome as the process may sound, companies are still facing the highest turnover rates in history - with an average of 57.3%, with voluntary turnover expected to be 29% in 2021. And what's even more interesting in this case: The average fluctuation rate among top performers this year was around 3%. This suggests that finding a great candidate for the job will give you a top performer and dramatically reduce turnover rates if assessed correctly.

Where does it go wrong?

So what goes wrong in the hiring process that causes companies to hire so many talents who then don't stay?

If we think about the example of the orchestra, we see that the most important thing is to assess what is essential for the position - in this case the level of musical-technical skills. In addition to pure technical skills, you should do your best to exclude all other factors when deciding on an applicant's skills. On the other hand, let's imagine what an interview for a regular office job looks like. There the conversation usually starts with a general question: "Tell me a little about yourself..." - or, in other words, we don't judge from the start what is essential for the job.

Here are some more examples of how hiring managers make mistakes when assessing applicants:

1. An applicant goes through several interview phases
2. Applicant's words over actions
3. You are not aware of what your review is aimed at

A candidate goes through several interview phases

The length of the hiring process becomes more and more problematic over time. Companies currently take around 50 days to hire a new employee, especially larger companies that tend to have more than one interview. Additionally, since larger companies involve multiple stakeholders in the decision, it is common for a human resources manager, a team leader, and sometimes even another manager or team member to speak to the person being hired for the job.

Not only does this not add to the accuracy of your hiring process, it also compromises it and leaves more room for bias. Interviews are less about testing skills and more about finding a good fit with the company culture, which cannot be accurately assessed through an end-of-day conversation.

Conducting so many interviews can backfire on you and your company as the candidate becomes frustrated and less satisfied by the length of the process, while at the same time failing to provide you with valuable additional information.

Candidates - words instead of actions

In addition to the previous section, a common mistake that companies make is looking for the perfect company culture, which they assess in interviews, while completely neglecting the practical skills of the candidates. Companies often believe that by highlighting certain characteristics such as teamwork, goal orientation and problem-solving skills in applicants' cover letters or in the interview, they can determine whether the applicant is a good fit for the company. Which basically makes no sense.

Let's take a very practical example. Let's say you're hiring a mid-level product designer for your software company. In fact, this person needs to be a team player who works with developers, marketing, and other designers to move the project forward. This person must also be goal-oriented and have problem-solving skills to ensure your project is completed on time and in full. If the person in question has mentioned these qualities in their cover letter or if you ask the blunt question during an interview: "Do you consider yourself a team player?", then we assure you that everyone will answer this question the same way. And you will get a 100% yes from all applicants. But does that mean that every product designer is also a good team player? Clearly no.

Instead of asking, try to create situations and scenarios for candidates to test their actual ability to work in a team. For example, conduct a group interview, ask them to collaborate on a short project, and then ask them about their thought process. Examine their behavior and determine who is goal-oriented, a team player with problem-solving skills! This way you can assess their skills and suitability for the company culture at the same time! These keywords aren't just your shiny toys that make your company modern and hip - if you want to be taken seriously by applicants, you should try to put them into action.

Not knowing what your assessment assesses

During job interviews, employers often ask applicants a series of similar questions to examine their background, motivation for the job, knowledge of the company, and to analyze their personality. Unfortunately, during these conversations, they don't realize that they are relying too much on their gut feeling and leaving too much room for personal biases.

An experienced recruiter once gave us at IceHrm the good advice to look for clues and not necessarily the exact answers. For example, when the applicant comes to the interview, a simple question about whether he would like something to drink can say a lot about his character. If you want to hire a person who is uncompromising and not easily intimidated and who will not hesitate to give an honest answer when asked what kind of coffee he would like to drink, you may have already found a sales manager. This is just an example and not the only thing you might look for.

Ultimately, it comes down to considering what you want to evaluate in your candidates and finding ways to assess this, always being clear about your criteria and the essential skills and attributes you are looking for.

So what makes a good example?

Anyone who works as a recruiter or HR manager knows that it takes much more than just reading an article to hire top candidates who will stay and perform well. That's because there are so many aspects that make your employees great people, and it's much easier to disprove yourself than to find the perfect candidate for the job. Perhaps this is why even the best interviewers can say that they are only sure about the quality of the applicants 5 times out of 10.

However, if you set up structured interview processes and use standardized assessments for specific skills, you will significantly increase your chances of hiring the best talent. Your goal should always be to know what you are evaluating and try to eliminate all distractions, possible biases and subjective viewpoints.

Not sure if your company is following best practices? Learn more about IceHrm Recruitment System.