Delving Deep into Talent Selection Assessments

In the human resource industry, talent selection assessments are a hot topic. Talent selection assessments help employers identify the top candidates for their open position. In today’s employment landscape, talent assessments are recognized as a vital component of a company’s success and performance. Talent selection assessments provide organizations with an opportunity to identify and hire the candidate with the best job fit, organization fit and team fit.

Why should Employers Conduct Talent Selection Assessments?

Talent selection assessments are widely known as employment screening tests or pre-employment assessments. These assessments are generally conducted to evaluate the job fit of the candidate for a specific position.  Unlike interviews, where the candidates are often telling hiring managers what they want to hear, talent assessments are data driven and objective. Talent assessments provide empirical evidence (i.e. information acquired by observation in the form of recorded data that can be the subject of scientific analysis). 

Selection Decisions are based on all of the Information Collected on a candidate

Selection decisions are based on the following types of information collected from candidates: Application forms, Resumes, Cognitive ability tests, Job Knowledge tests, Personality tests, Biographical data inventories, Integrity tests, Structured interviews, Physical fitness tests, Situational judgment tests, Work Samples, Assessment Centers, and Physical ability tests.  Any assessments used must be able to show job relatedness.

What Can you Expect in a Talent Selection Assessment?

Though each talent assessment is unique, there are some common things that you can expect from online talent assessments:

➔   Verifications of specific job skills required

➔   Verbal reasoning and problem-solving questions

➔   Numerical reasoning and problem-solving questions

➔   Questions about motivations and passions

➔   Questions about Personality Traits or Behavioral Traits

➔   Situational Problem-solving scenarios

➔   Technical Knowledge questions

➔   Questions about honesty, trustworthiness, and dependability

Are Talent Selection Assessments a Pass/Fail Process?

Talent Selection decisions need to be based on all of the information collected on candidates,

not only a single assessment score.  The talent selection decision should be based on the Overall Job Fit, Organization Fit and Team Fit.

The Five Steps of the Talent Selection Process are:

●     Gathering pre-qualifying information (e.g. application, resume, pre-qualifying questionnaire etc.)

●     Conducting Talent Assessments (e.g. cognitive ability, personality, motivations, integrity etc.)

●     Conducting Structured Interviews (e.g. Knowledge, skills, abilities, job fit etc.)

●     Conducting Background Checks and Reference Checks

●     Making the Final Selection Decision and the Job Offer

We hope that our post has given you a brief overview of talent assessment processes and strategies. So, if you choose to conduct talent assessments, you will have a good idea of the different strategies available to you.  If you have questions or would like more discussion about your talent assessment strategy, you can contact Hire Smart for further assistance.