When you’re hiring candidates, it can be difficult to determine who can put their money where their mouth is. People can ace the interview but end up floundering on the job because they aren’t able to keep up with the demands of the position. It’s vital for your business to find and hire the best talent you can find. If you want to find the right candidates, you need to test them before hiring.
Predict Productivity
A productive employee can be a godsend for your company. The more efficient someone is, the more they’re able to bring to your business. According to this article, “it is important to recognize the difference between efficiency and productivity. Efficiency is about doing the same with less. To improve efficiency, then, a business would look to reduce the amount of time and the number of resources required to produce a given product or service. Simply put, improving efficiency is about streamlining. Productivity is about doing more with the same. Both are valuable though.” Productivity comes from proficiency. When someone knows their way around a role, they can be much more productive. Administer tests that focus on a candidate’s proficiency. You might consider making these timed. While “beating the clock” shouldn’t be the point of doing well on the tests, those who produce satisfactory answers in a timely manner should be given priority consideration.
Save You Time
While training is important, you don’t want to hire someone and have to spoon-feed them. According to this article, “testing to measure a candidate’s hard skills during your hiring process allows you to save time down the road by validating and ensuring your new hire has the skills that you want and need in your position.” Testing your candidates saves you time. It might be hard to turn down likable candidates, but you need to put the needs of your business first. The best candidate is someone who’s personable but also highly qualified. They need to be able to handle not only their tasks but also interpersonal relationships with other employees and customers. Your employees should reflect your business’ mission statement.
Revamp Job Posting
If you find that candidates are consistently struggling in one particular area of testing or more, you might have to reassess your hiring process. Ask yourself why they’re having so much trouble with these aspects and whether you might have to reconsider the job posting. You might have made the posting too general and gotten too many applicants without the necessary skill set. According to this article, “clearly defining the responsibilities of the anticipated hire will help the candidate envision themselves in the role and assist them in determining if they are a qualified candidate. Use present tense and keep statements short and concise. Utilize formatting features like bulleted lists to keep the layout clean and easy to read. Use gender neutral phrases, or refer to the new hire using “he/she.” Also, avoid vague terms that may make a task seem optional or open to interpretation (e.g.: “May be responsible for occasional payroll duties”). Finally, when including descriptions of recurring tasks, include the frequency (e.g.: Must take and distribute meeting minutes for quarterly committee meeting).” Go over the posting and consider how it could be revised to include more specific language that attracts the best possible candidates more easily. By fine-tuning it, you can get even closer to finding the right candidate.
Testing your candidates helps you to separate the weak from the strong. As an employer, you deserve people on your team who understand what you need from them. Qualified candidates should be flattered, as this shows just how important you consider their competence to be. When you have evidence of a candidate’s talents, you can feel much better about hiring them.
With technology, remote work has become a popular option today instead of the the traditional office space. Here is a 9-step recruitment process documentation from our friends over at TimeDoctor to help you hire the best talent from anywhere in the world.
