Making Today’s Remote Recruitment Choices – A Story Of Cars and Candidates….
| Of the multitude of changes that have come about during the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing candidate suitability is probably one of the lesser known….. In pre-pandemic days recruiters and employers could always meet candidates in person in order to validate their suitability. At whatever stage of the recruitment process the meetings took place it was always considered an important factor in making hiring decisions. Now that we live in a socially distanced world with constraints on freedom of travel and personal contact the dynamics have changed. The rules of the recruitment game have altered for both the candidate and the recruiter. Candidates realise, especially if they are not in current employment, that they are now one of many in the job-hunting game. They know they need to work smarter in their job search and in marketing themselves in what is a highly competitive arena. So, they’ve become better at polishing their image via their CV, aligning credentials and enhancing their appearance on video calls. One only has to look at the myriad of backgrounds used by politicians on video calls – from strategically placed books on bookshelves to framed photographs of award ceremonies and tasteful pieces of artwork, etc., etc…all to create the ‘right’ impression. Recruiters and employers need to ensure that the candidate they see on the screen and in the documentation supplied to support their application has the capability to fulfil the job role. Furthermore, that job role may require the incumbent to work remotely from home for all or part of their scheduled work time – so how can that be assessed? I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is a vehicle inspector for a national motoring organisation and it suddenly occurred to me that he and I are in the same business – allow me to explain: The essence of buying a used car is ‘caveat emptor’ – let the buyer beware – since many used motor vehicles have hidden histories ranging from undeclared accident repairs and write offs to outstanding finance and ownership issues, etc. So, companies offer to do provenance check of vehicles to ensure the potential buyer has the full picture before deciding to purchase. One well-known company suggest in their ads that 1 in 3 cars have what they call ‘hidden histories’…. As a psychometric assessment provider, we offer a similar service to our clients when considering candidates for employment. Our assessments measure many ‘hidden factors’ that cannot always be derived from the CV, etc. including specific cognitive ability, personality job-fit, attitudes towards the workplace such as integrity/reliability and motivations. This additional information helps potential employers with their all-important hiring decisions. Similar to the vehicle checking company, our data shows that up to 1 in 3 candidates assessed have ‘hidden factors’…. Finally, the current trend is for many businesses to require employees to work remotely from home – a relatively new factor to consider when recruiting but not everyone is suited to this new way of working. To assist in this respect, our psychometric assessments also measure a candidate’s suitability for remote working and produce guidance for their supervisors or managers in ways to manage and motivate them. Here at Big 5 Assessments we aim to provide clients with informed data to enable them to make sound hiring decisions – after all, if it works for cars it should work for people too…! Author: Nigel Newman, Co-Founder & Managing Director www.big5assessments.com | nigel@big5assessments.com Big 5 Assessments is a Psychometric Testing Supplier and Designer based at the Oxford Science Park with over 30 years of assessment experience. They have developed market-leading ‘job-fit’ technology incorporated into a suite of assessments delivered via an online portal – making it a cost-effective solution for our times. |
About the Author: nikkyvb
Nikky van Bommel is the Marketing Director for Big 5 Assessments and has worked in the Psychometric Testing industry for over 10 years. Nikky is responsible for all marketing and social media for the organisation.