As a human resource professional and advisor, I work with hiring managers to ensure they are finding the best possible candidates to fill positions. When I begin working with a new hiring manager, we find that many individuals use their gut instinct to make tough decisions, and unfortunately, their bias can prevent them from selecting a pool of candidates that would be the best fit.
So, what’s the solution? How do we remove our bias from hiring decisions? The answer is simple- with data to your decision-making process. Hiring managers who use data-driven decisions are generally more successful in making fair and confident selections.
To make data-driven decisions, consider using assessment tools. The recent PXT Select State of Hiring study shows 60% of hiring managers find it difficult to hire top performers and 57% struggle with increasing employee retention. These are common issues for hiring managers in our industry, and assessment tools that provide scores for employees may offer support in making the right decisions and saving time while doing so.
Assessment tools allow you to access personality traits, thinking style and interest, resulting in an overall view for a candidate based on a particular performance model. This information can help you determine if an employee is a strong candidate and potentially well suited for the long haul—reducing turnover and increasing morale.
Another common concern in our industry is having strong leadership potential in team members. Many employers prefer to promote employees into leadership roles and that quality of the next tier of leadership begins with hiring the right people. It can be easy to focus on hiring an individual with a specific skillset to get a job done, or with a specific interest area to be confident in a long-term hire, but a strong hiring decision considers the past (skillsets, experience), the present— (interest, personality) and the future (leadership potential, engagement).
Using an assessment tool to report on interest, behavior, and cognitive ability can aid in getting the right people in the right roles and setting your company up for consistent productivity and results. Receiving unbiased insights on a candidate pool could be the key to improving hiring decisions.
Emily Possidento, MBA, SHRM-SCP is an HR Consulting Principal on MCM’s HR Solutions Group Team. She has more than 20 years of experience in human resources within the health insurance, executive headhunter, IT advisory, accounting and financial staffing, and business consulting industries. She has expertise in talent selection and development, organizational training and development, employment assessments, managerial coaching, performance management and strengthening engagement.
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