Assessment Strategy
Context is Everything
“Who we are hiring” vs. “What we are hiring” - Getting the Focus Right -
It’s been said that context is everything, so consider the following insights and suggestions in your search of employment screening solutions. First ask if the assessment was designed for job related use and certified to meet legal standards and EEOC requirements. Next ask for documentation that the instrument has been critically reviewed, validated, and certified by an independent third party. Be sure that it does what it was intended to do. Finally, ask for business performance metrics. While an assessment may pass legal review and meet, often narrow, validation criteria, does it demonstrate the ability give you a return on your investment. If it can’t demonstrate proven ROI...find something that will.
While legal risks stymied early employment profiling techniques, specialized employment pre-selection assessments offering to predict employee suitability and performance have evolved. Assessment companies have grown in their popularity and scope with estimates suggesting there are over 4000 on the market purporting to help employers make better hiring and placement decisions. Also, assessments range from simple to complex. More complex products generally require more support, which can drive up costs and impact usability. One final but important point about usability is that assessments are frequently abused by ill informed personnel who all too often don’t understand the limits of instruments they are using. It’s essential to advise job candidates and employees about the specific purpose and limitations of any assessments, and how they fit into the hiring and talent alignment puzzle of the enterprise.
Bottom line, every assessment should be evaluated on the basis of results that provide meaning and value in their purpose, legality, reliability, and results that can produce better business outcomes with a return on the investment.
