Landing a job is getting harder nowadays. Good grades and decent degree is no longer enough for jobseekers to secure a job offer. Given the recent economic slowdown, hiring managers have to make sure that they do not invest their resources in the wrong hires. No wonder, the bar for recruitment has been raised. More than required knowledge and skills, employers need to identify candidates, who possess the characteristics and behaviours needed to be successful in the job.
Hiring a candidate is a big decision. To guarantee that hired candidates are the best fit for the job role, HR leaders need to make sure that their personalities are aligned with the positions they will soon take charge. They have to demonstrate consistent behavioural traits and stable emotional intelligence. To serve this purpose, personality assessments and behavioral analysis are among the most popular methods used by employers. By utilising these approaches, employers can expect higher success rate from their new hires.
Personality assessments and behavioural analysis will change the face of recruitment in the future. According to a poll conducted by Society for Human Resource Management, the majority of HR professionals (71 percent) believe that personality tests can be useful in predicting job-related behaviour or organisational fit.
The survey finds further that nearly 20 percent organisations use personality tests in the hiring or employee promotion process. Of the organisations that indicate conducting personality tests, the majority use these tests when recruiting for mid-level managers (56 percent), followed by executives (45 percent) and entry-level exempt jobs (43 percent).
There are various motives why employers use these tests. One major reason is to evaluate whether the candidates possess both hard and soft skills to deliver good performance and meet company’s expectation. By asking behavioural interview questions, employers can gauge the talent’s suitability for a certain job role. Learning from how the candidates behaved in the past, you can predict how they will perform in the future.
If you plan to include personality assessments and behavioural interviews as part of your hiring strategy, take a look at the following tips to conduct effective and successful tests:
See: Tips for Telephonic Interviews: What Employers Want You to Know?
It is duly noted that every job role requires different kind of characteristics. When an applicant is applying for a certain job, a hiring manager should also look at if the candidates demonstrate particular behaviours that will help them do their job well. For example, if someone applies for a sales and marketing position, they should showcase great communication and negotiation skills, as well as an agile persona.
There are legal concerns involved when you use personality assessment as a part of pre-employment tests. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure that you choose the right and valid methods which have proven credibility. If you plan to purchase and use tests from external agencies, you have to conduct research about its reliability and effectiveness.
It is important to stay consistent when hiring a candidate. Before the day of the interview, you should be prepared with list of questions for particular job roles. Choose your questions strategically and focus on the behavioural-related inquiries.
While you might want to gain as much information as possible, you should stay away from sensitive and overly personal questions. Not only offensive, you might also be considered as trespassing their privacy.
While personality and behavioural tests are great way to screen out the best talents, you should not rely solely on these assessments in itself to decide on the perfect hire. There are multiple aspects that you should take into account, before offering the job contract to candidates.
Besides the tests, you should consider their resume, application letter, interview performance, as well as background check and verification. Only when you find the candidates display clear track record, you can confidently invite them to join the team.
Read also: 5 Ways to Assess Passionate Candidates During A Job Interview
