Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/316485
[ 50 ] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | MAY 2014 Talent Acquisition candidate persona profiles and new online gaming tools that test the candidate in a virtual environment. Research has yet to be conducted on their effectiveness and legal compliance. These may prove to be better predictors of job success than current personality and skills tests, but they are still only measuring the candidate's future potential to engage in a given behavior. Best practice research has shown that companies that adopt the use of both self-assessments and third-party performance assessments have the best chance of more accurately predicting which candidates will succeed in their organization. Research from Psychological Bulletin finds "when the criterion was academic achievement or job performance, other-ratings yielded predictive validities substantially greater than and incremental to self-ratings." Pre-hire Performance Tools A scientifically validated assessment tool, administered to multiple raters who are offered the opportunity to confidentially rate a candidate's skills, behaviors, and attitudes, can provide reliable insight into those hard to measure soft-skills. Pre-hire performance assessments completed by a candidate's managers, colleagues, and direct reports can offer candid, honest insight from others who have managed, worked with, or reported to the candidate. Assessment questions that are based on specific behaviors necessary for a specific job or role that are rated by a mix of the candidate's managers, co-workers, and direct reports, yield tremendous insight. For example: • Teamwork/collaboration. Does the person maintain constructive and cooperative working relationships with others? • Self-control. Does the person behave appropriately, even in difficult situations? • Integrity. Does the person treat colleagues with fairness and respect? A recent study by SkillSurvey, published in The International Journal of Selection and Assessment, examined the correlation between pre-hire performance assessment scores and actual performance on the new job. One finding indicated a "significant, positive relationship between the overall ratings by references at pre-hire and the overall ratings by supervisors on the same items post- hire." Candidates with high reference assessments did, indeed, earn higher supervisor ratings once hired. Another finding showed that multi-rater assessments can be used to dramatically decrease voluntary and involuntary turnover by helping to ensure a good fit between the candidate and the position/organization. Another study that tracked 10,217 employees at 11 companies across four industries found that the number of employees terminated for cause decreased by 69 percent between year one and year two after they incorporated pre- hire reference assessments into the hiring process. Beyond using pre-hire assessments on select individual candidates, organizations can realize broad benefits by aggregating data across the recruitment, selection, and on- going performance management process. Once this talent data is available in a central repository, advanced talent analytics tools can help organizations: • Spot recruiting and hiring trends; • Provide quality-of-hire metrics; • Identify hidden talent pools by tying assessment results to candidate sources; • Understand how assessment results correlate to ongoing business performance (by combining pre-hire and workforce performance data); and • Support all key talent and workforce planning decisions with objective data. Organizations should consider conducting multi-rater, online performance assessments of job candidates during the hiring process for a good reason: It's been proven to work. The right pre-hire performance assessment tools can help you better predict the candidates that will succeed in your organization. Ray Bixler is president and CEO of SkillSurvey, Inc.