Taking the guesswork out of recruitment: How assessments effectively identify your best talent

Research indicates that screening assessments are better at predicting job performance than solely relying on more traditional hiring criteria. For example, aptitude tests are twice as predictive of potential work performance than job interviews, three times more predictive than experience, and four times more predictive than education level.

Screening assessments are an objective, comparable measure of job-related psychological constructs (such as skills, attributes or competencies). This is difficult to objectively measure in an interview or obtain from a CV. Screening assessments can colour in a candidate’s CV, taking the guesswork out of the screening and selection process. Screening assessments allow a fair and unbiased measure of psychological constructs that are necessary for a candidate to perform well in a job. Thus, allowing you to make a more informed, fair recruitment decision.

Why does hiring the right people matter?

Successfully recruiting the right people is vital for organisational success. Selecting the right person for a position is called Person-Job fit. Edwards (1991) defined this as the compatibility between the abilities, skills, attitudes and competence of a candidate and the inherent demands of a job.

Person-Job fit is important because it is a predictor of work attitudes and is directly correlated to turnover intention and job satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2017; Farooqui et al., 2014 and Khaola et al., 2015). Employees with high job satisfaction have higher levels of work performance, engagement, organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour. This impacts organisational performance and success.

We are able to identify potential Person-Job fit with the information on a candidate’s CV and screening assessments such as personality, interest and competence assessments. Screening assessments provide insight into a candidate’s likelihood to cope with the immediate inherent job requirements and provide insight into a candidate’s work performance potential and trainability given the necessary development opportunities.

This allows candidates with talent and high work performance potential to be more easily identified, resulting in more successful appointments. Schmidt and Hunter (1998) found in their meta-analytic review that structured interviews alone contributed 51% predictive value to the success of a candidate on the job, whereas a multi-measure pre-employment assessment measuring cognitive ability, personality and interest contributed over 70% predictive value to the success of a candidate on the job.

Do screening assessments matter for entry-level jobs?

Most definitely! Screening assessments are invaluable on all organisational levels. In an interview, there are burning questions a manager would want answered in order to know if someone would be a great employee. Screening assessments can answer some of these questions. For example, a manager interviewing a candidate to be a cashier may want to know if the candidate is likely to be friendly to customers and if they will be able to handle financial transactions.

Although assessments cannot guarantee the answer to these questions, they can provide predictive insight into a candidate’s abilities, skills, attitudes and competence. For example, a candidate who fails a numeracy assessment is less likely to be able to manage financial transactions than someone who passes the numeracy assessment. Likewise, someone who scores low on the Customer Service scale is less likely to enthusiastically engage with customers or enjoy working in a customer-facing position than someone who scores moderately or above average. Someone who scores moderately or above average on the Customer Service scale is more likely than not to engage with clients in a friendly and warm manner.

How to implement screening assessments tests in your recruitment process

JOBJACK has a library of screening assessments that have specifically been developed as a screening tool for entry-level job positions. These screening assessments are administered and immediately scored on job applications on the JOBJACK platform. This reduces the admin and time store managers have to spend on the administration and scoring of assessments, while still effectively identifying the best candidates for a job position.

JOBJACK is focused on providing the best screening assessments for entry-level recruitment. Currently, JOBJACK has a General Mental Ability (Gf and Gc) assessment battery and an entry-level work performance trait assessment battery. Together with the JOBJACK screening process, JOBJACK is able to effectively identify the best talent for your company for entry-level positions.

Bibliography

Farooqui, M. S. (2014). The impact of Person organization Fit on Job Satisfaction and Performance of the Employees. Procedia Economics and Finance, 122 - 129.

Hunter, F. L. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology. American Psychological Association, 262-274.

Joy. O. Ekwoaba, U. U. (2015). The impact of Recruitment adn Selction Criteria on Organizational Performance. Global Journal of Human Resource Management, 22 - 33.

Sinek, S. (2011). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio.

T, K. P. (2015). Person-organisation fit, Organisational commitment and organisationa citizenship behaviour. Danish Journal or Management and Business Science, 67 - 74.

Zhang, M. Y. (2017). Is the effect of person-organisation fit on turnover intention mediated by job satisfaction? A survet of community health workers in China. BMJ Open.