Advertisement
Advertisement
082316_talent
ATD Blog

How to Leverage Talent Assessments Beyond Hiring

Thursday, December 1, 2016
Advertisement

While the expression “the war for talent” is overused, it’s also accurate. Organizations understand that acquiring the best people, and then developing and retaining them, is critical to gaining competitive advantage. 

Recruiting teams are asking critical questions and facing tough challenges, such as how do you find people who will be successful in the role when 65 percent of applicants will not meet basic requirements? Senior HR and talent development leaders are being tasked more broadly with finding synergies between the talent acquisition process and talent development initiatives. 

Leading companies are doing both—leveraging meaningful data and insights from pre-hire assessments to create and implement robust, holistic post-hire talent management programs.

The Case for Talent Assessments

To inject more quality into the hiring process, leading companies are developing comprehensive talent assessment programs that look at candidates’ potential (including personality and cognitive ability), knowledge (including skills and judgment), and on-the-job behavior. Some companies choose to look at broader factors, such as values and fit to the organizational culture as well. 

In the past, human experience and gut feel were thought to be the best determinant of a candidate’s competencies and potential for success at an organization. Over time, high-quality, predictive psychometric assessments have proven themselves in countless studies. The scope of assessments has evolved as well—from the traditional verbal and numerical reasoning tests to customized, job-specific tests and now to video-based and multimedia assessments, including online simulations. 

In addition to psychometric assessments, progressive organizations are now leveraging algorithmic assessments. Algorithmic assessments use advanced machine learning techniques to create sophisticated algorithms that can predict which job applicants are most likely to be successful in role. For example, machine learning algorithms like those used in the CEB Sunstone Analytics tool identify top candidates by reviewing resumes based on patterns of features associated with high and low performers within a specific company and role. Machine learning algorithms can also increase objectivity in the hiring process by minimizing the biases that are inherent with human decision making and focusing on verified data to increase the likelihood of companies hiring the candidates that fit best.

Advertisement

Leveraging Assessments Post-Hire

While assessments are known to help with the hiring process, the assessment process can provide far more value beyond recruiting. For instance, data gleaned from assessments can support internal and external benchmarking and the analysis of talent supply and demand. It can enable companies to answer questions like: Which business units provide the highest proportion of future leaders? How do our candidates in Europe, Asia, and the Americas compare with those of our competitors? What is the mix of available talent in our desired locations? Which aspects of our attraction strategy are most effective in terms of bringing in the best people? 

Data from assessments can also be used to guide development activities for individuals and teams: 

  • Individuals. At the individual level, assessment results should be used to identify the strengths and development areas of new recruits. This information should be fed back to the candidate to build greater self-awareness. The assessment results should also be used to create tailored development plans. The more senior the candidate, the more detailed the plan can be (and the greater the investment in time to create it), but the same approach should be used at all levels. In this way, assessments help improve employee effectiveness, engagement, and competence. 

    Advertisement
  • Teams. At the aggregate level, assessment results can give insight into the strengths and development needs of groups and populations. This enables organizations to design strategic development initiatives and focus development resources for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. For example, if from the assessment results we can see that this year’s graduate intake needs development in teamwork or personal organization, then the priorities of the learning and development team—and its contribution to business effectiveness—will be clear. 

A best-practice strategy uses assessments to support and inform not just recruiting but also other HR functions, including: 

  • Succession planning: Assessment plays a vital role in identifying potential successors to specific roles and supporting development planning. Assessment data can help identify strengths and limitations when current role performance data may not provide all the information required to predict future success.

  • Talent audits: As part of wider organizational development or change processes, it is often necessary to understand the capabilities of teams, groups or populations of people. Objective assessment methods provide a valuable source of information on strengths, development needs and limitations at the individual or group level. For example, leading companies are innovating ways to track progress and demonstrate the returns on high-potential employee (HIPO) programs. Dashboards are used to track the program’s progress against key milestones and the degree to which HIPOs have and are acquiring the most-needed skills and expertise.

  • Identifying emerging talent: Who within the company has the potential to succeed at higher levels? It can be difficult to separate managers’ ratings of potential from their ratings of current performance. Since only one in seven high performers also has high-potential, true potential is often overlooked. The right psychometric assessments look beyond current performance at the factors that predict high-potential, such as ability, aspiration, and engagement— as well as desired personality traits for strategic vision and driving change. Once future leaders are identified, development experiences can be tailored based on the recommendations of the talent assessments. 

Harnessing the power of assessments outside of hiring provides a greater ROI that can be felt throughout the business, not just in the HR or talent space.

About the Author

As Talent Solutions Architect at CEB, Jean Martin directs the development of talent management solutions and insights across the company with heads of human resources at some of the largest global organizations. Specifically, Jean spends time working on issues relating to driving breakthrough organizational performance, and assessing, engaging and retaining the best employees.

Be the first to comment
Sign In to Post a Comment
Sorry! Something went wrong on our end. Please try again later.