skillsurvey ebook: predictive hiring

Forward

The HR world is abuzz with interest in assessments. In fact, Forbes magazine has listed “Evolving Assessment Science” as one of the nine hottest trends in HR technology today.1

While the behavioral research on which assessments are based has accumulated over decades, the e-tools available today make assessments a whole new animal. And with so much hype surrounding the topic, it can be difficult to know which way to turn.

In the following pages, we provide an overview of assessments in the hiring process and explain how best-in-class companies are using assessment science to improve the quality of hire, reduce turnover, and improve customer satisfaction.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: Turning the Hiring Process on its Head

Chapter 2: Secrets of Best-in-Class Organizations

Chapter 3: Realizing Bottom-Line Results

References

SkillSurvey, Inc.: Leading the Way

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Introduction

HIRING IS A RISKY BUSINESS

Making a poor hiring decision can lead to lingering regrets and staggering costs. We’ve all been there, and it isn’t pretty.

Estimates of the cost to replace employees range from 50 to 150 percent of a position’s salary.2 And that doesn’t factor in the indirect costs of lost business opportunities, lack of productivity, lowered morale, etc.

TURNOVER RELATED COSTSTURNOVER RELATED COSTS

$57,996668$57,968

75%75%of demand for new employees is to simply replace workers who haveleft the company.

93%93% of the position’s salaryto replace the employee

Average Cost ofa new employee*

Based on a second-level manager who earns $62k/year

*Not including training costs

“I’d rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person.”

Jeff BezosFounder and CEO, Amazon.com

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46% of new hires fail within 18 months.

“Hire for Attitude: An Interview with Mark Murphy,” Forbes, January 23, 2012. Based on study tracking 20,000 new hires.

Introduction

WHO IS THAT MASKED WOMAN?

Every candidate is, to some extent, an unknown quantity. A bit of a gamble.

The trick for employers is to dig below the surface (what’s apparent in resumes and interviews) to really determine whether the candidate has what it takes to be successful in a particular job within the organization.

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When new hires fail, 89% of the time it is for

attitudinal reasons, not for lack of skill.

“Hire for Attitude: An Interview with Mark Murphy,” Forbes, January 23, 2012. Based on study tracking 20,000 new hires.


THE ERA OF DATA & ANALYTICS

These days, few would argue that business decisions informed by evidence and data analysis are more likely to be correct than those based on intuition. And that applies to hiring decisions, too, right?

The right pre-hire assessment would actually predict whether the candidate will thrive and contribute to the organization’s success. Goodbye airport test, hello assessment tools.

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Companies increasingly view staffing and recruiting as activities that can be

measured and improved… HR metrics will be used more for prediction

and optimization in the future.

Davenport, Thomas H., Competing on Analytics: The new Science of Winning, Harvard Business School Press, 2007.

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HIRING MAY BE AN ART, BUT ASSESSMENT IS A SCIENCE

Assessments are a way of comparing an individual’s responses to various questions and situations against those of thousands of other people.

To be credible and reliable, an assessment tool must be created with scientific rigor.

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Today, pre-hire assessments are used

by 60% of large organizations and

the market for such tools generates

$1 billion in annual sales.

Bersin, Josh, “The 9 Hottest Trends in HR Technology,” Forbes, October 21, 2013.

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TRADITIONAL REFERENCE CHECKS ARE USELESS

For decades, employers sought the inside scoop on candidates by calling references. But, that practice has gone the way of using floppy disks and paper maps. It just isn’t done anymore.

Companies that still perform phone-based reference checks usually wait until the very end of the screening process—sometimes even after a conditional offer has been made—rendering the practice even more useless.

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28% of organizations skip the reference check.

Those who do bother with it miss vital information

about 80% of the time.”Human Capital Management Trends,” Aberdeen Group, 2013.

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A BREAKTHROUGH IN ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY

Progressive companies assess candidates’ past performance in a way that overcomes all of the legal, logistical, and scientific shortcomings of dealing with references by phone. They use pre-hire assessments that gather and manage multi-rater feedback electronically. They send online surveys to references asking them to answer questions on about 20 skills and behaviors linked with success in a given job. The insights—collected automatically from the candidate’s managers, peers, and direct reports, are then reviewed as part of the early screening process. 7


WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST

When it comes to managing human resources for superior business performance, some organizations seem to be getting it right. The Aberdeen Group conducted a study of 253 organizations in late 2012 to identify just what set some companies apart in their ability to meet business challenges through human capital management.8

Aberdeen ranked the organizations according to three key performance criteria: employee engagement, bench strength, and hiring manager satisfaction.

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TAP THE WISDOM OF CO-WORKERS

Research (and plenty of horror stories) suggests that gathering performance input only from a candidate’s managers can allow you to overlook factors that can ultimately undermine healthy, productive teams.

In order to reach individual, team, and organizational goals, employees must “play well with others.” Unfortunately, many employees act differently toward co-workers than toward managers, displaying only their best qualities to those in power. They may only show their true colors to peers and staff.

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Best-in-class organizations are almost

TWICE as likely to use multi-rater, pre-hire assessment solutions as others.

”Assessments” Aberdeen Group, 2012.

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WHY LEADERS USE PRE-HIRE REFERENCE ASSESSMENTS?

Thousands of companies are now conducting multi-rater, online performance assessments of job candidates during the hiring process with good reason: it’s been proven to work.

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PREDICTING QUALITY OF HIRE

A study published in the International Journal of Selection and Assessment examined the correlation between pre-hire reference assessment scores and performance on the new job. Could 360˚ candidate assessments truly be used to predict future work performance?

“Nothing in the science of prediction and selection beats observing actual performance in an equivalent role.”

Peter Cappelli Director, Center for Human Resources,The Wharton School

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Companies that use assessments to hire executives are 8 times more

likely to get a candidate they will soon promote.

Based on a study described in “The Value Proposition of Executive and Management Assessments in the Hiring Process,” The Overture Group


REDUCING TURNOVER

Research into the psychometric integrity and long-term benefits of multi-source, online assessment has shown that such tools can be used to dramatically decrease voluntary and involuntary turnover by helping to ensure a good fit between the candidate and the position/organization.

Click to read how one of the country’s top health systems used pre-hire assessments to reduce nursing turnover—for an approximate savings of $850K in just one year.

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SkillSurvey tracked 10,217 employees

at 11 companies across 4 industries

and found that the number of

employees terminated for cause

declined by 69% between year

one and year two after incorporating

pre-hire reference assessments into

the hiring process.

SkillSurvey, Inc.: Leading the Way

SkillSurvey pioneered the concept of web-based reference assessments and is the leading provider today. With over 1,400 clients in North America, SkillSurvey is used by forward-thinking organizations across every major industry vertical to improve quality of hire.

Pre-Hire 360®, our patended, on-demand reference assessment solution, is founded on over 25 years of research in job competency modeling. We know what behaviors and skills correlate with success in any given job and help you uncover what you need to know about each job candidate.

SkillSurvey’s Pre-Hire 360® provides predictive insight into a candidate’s future job performance by gathering input about that candidate’s past performance from managers, peers and direct reports. These reference assessment surveys have been created by some of the most well-respected behavioral scientists in the field and have been scientifically proven to predict performance. These job-specific surveys are delivered through a web-based platform and provide a multi-dimensional view of the candidate’s past performance. The system overcomes the usual reticence of former employers because they are released from legal liability and their feedback is confidential. Plus responding to Pre-Hire 360® is easy.

Our innovation and dedication have earned us a “Top HR Product” award from Human Resource Executive magazine and a finalist position in the “Best New Product or Service” category in the American Business Awards. SkillSurvey has also been named in successive years to the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Companies.

See for Yourself!

Take a Product Tour of SkillSurvey’s Pre-Hire 360®.

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