The Recruitment Series – Week 4
We at AHR take recruitment seriously. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been discussing different aspects of recruiting through a series of posts. We continue this week with a discussion about why using best practice during the selection process is so important.
We are now at the point where we’ve interviewed our candidates in an initial round of meetings. We’ve narrowed our field down to a stand-out group to choose from to fill our role. It’s likely that these applicants are relatively similar in former experience and how well they are perceived to fit into your working culture.
How do we make our selection from these outstanding applicants, I hear you ask. There are several avenues that we could pursue here, depending on what the needs of your company are. If you haven’t identified a front-runner a second interview process could be an avenue you wish to pursue.
A second interview need not be the same as the first interview process. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Running the same test generally brings the same results. A next step that many companies have participated in involves testing of the applicants to assemble more data about them.
The following options will help you look past a stellar interview and ascertain deeper insights about your interviewees.
Psychometric Testing
This testing method measures personal qualities such as intelligence, aptitude and personality as well as cognitive abilities including verbal, numerical and logical reasoning. This is handy when you need to identify differences between interviewees who are similar in experience and formal qualifications.
Examples of tests that can be deployed here are Numerical, Verbal, Mechanical, Spatial and Abstract Reasoning Tests. Cognitive Ability Tests can also cover multiple of the above examples in one test.
Personality Testing
Personality testing reveals insights into a candidates working style, professional attitudes and whether they have the required enthusiasm and motivation for your role.
Whilst “personality testing” may seem a harsh way to phrase what we’re discussing; it has been utilised for some time in workplaces everywhere. Think about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, of which I’m sure most people have participated in at some point. Discovering the personality type of a candidate will help you ascertain which candidate is truly a good fit for your company.
Behavioral Testing
What behavioral testing aims to achieve is a deeper understanding of how a candidate will react to different stimuli within the workplace. Behavioral testing tools are used to measure professional temperament by testing how a candidate thinks they are seen by colleagues and, therefore how they will behave in their position. This will illustrate if individuals are naturally minded to your role.
Generally used once a hire has been made, behavioral testing can still be useful in the interview stage using hypothetical situations with the candidate drawing from their past experiences. Whilst not essential, by any means, these tests are valuable tools to keep in mind, especially when you are trying to make the choice between a group of similar candidates.
We at AHR understand that often hiring managers are time-poor and not able to dedicate their full attention to an exhaustive hiring process.
This is where we are ideally situated to help you.
AHR offer three levels of recruitment assistance, so whether you prefer to be provided with helpful templates and explanations on how to best run the process yourself (we support you doing it), whether you prefer an experienced AHR professional to be there with you through the whole process (we do it with you) or whether you want to take your own time back and have us complete the process ourselves (we do it for you), there is a package that will suit any need.
Call us now on 1800 577 515 or get in touch via our website (where you can send a query or book a free consult with the “book” button). One of our professional staff will be more than happy to talk to you to see what we can do to take the pain out of your next recruitment drive.
We’ll see you next week when we return to summarise everything that we have touched on in this series of recruitment blogs.
*The information provided in this blog was accurate at the time of writing and is intended as general advice. For specific advice, please call AHR on 1800 577 515*
