Reducing the pain of hiring – ending job interviews?
• Sourcing and recruiting are onerous and cumbersome activities, not just in terms of time and effort, but also the amount of money that is spent on them. Advertising jobs on sites across the internet and then pouring over tons of resumes, proves exhausting and laborious for even the best and most seasoned recruiters. Of course, this is in addition to people who may call post see the advertisements, recruitment agencies included, who could then send in more candidate ‘profiles’. This ‘service’ comes with a hefty price – varying from agency to agency.
• Given all the facts, it seems only natural that there would be a better way to find talented people to join your organization. The better way would mean where time and effort be reduced for both the company and the job seekers – using technology to match skill sets of candidates to the jobs available. The various tools and techniques now available make it much simpler to find the most accurate match, without endless job interviews conducted. Face-to-face job interviews may have the personal touch, but are severely lacking in truly understanding the candidate’s potential. It is not possible to realize a person’s true worth in a matter of a few minutes of talking, whereas assessment tools and pre-job interview tests prove a lot more effective.
Technology Can Reduce the Pain of Hiring
• When managed well, technology can prove highly effective in streamlining and reducing the effort of hiring. While the ultimate decision for hiring a particular candidate would still be the responsibility of a human, the recruitment tools and technology prove to be catalysts in the sourcing and hiring of top talent.
• Teams and leaders responsible for sourcing and hiring today are constantly seeking better online recruiting tools and techniques, and professionals who would help them administer tests and assessments. These techniques and professionals help the company’s recruitment teams to save valuable human resource hours and are a lot more cost-effective both short and long-term. Given that these tools help to match most closely profiles to job roles, people would tend to stay longer with the company – they would be in jobs that would be best suited for them, and would have greater potential to gain promotions and better compensation.
• Some companies use employee referrals as a means to hiring talented individuals. However, the recommendation would only be helpful in gaining a candidate – the process of the job interview would still be required. This eventually would mean the need to use hiring tools to ensure that the referred candidate would indeed be a good fit.
• Tools and techniques for hiring are so critical since they assess not just ability, but also latent skills and the overall personality (including possible behaviour) of a potential employee – something that even a face-to-face job interview cannot achieve. In addition, using technology would ensure that the assessments of skills and personality of a candidate remains objective, and is not ‘coloured’ by the personal preferences and personality of the recruiter. In a job interview, the interviewer’s mood, personality, preferences, and mind-set could adversely affect the recruitment process, making it subjective and ineffective.
• For candidates, the use of technology raises the hiring process experience. By simply taking the online assessment tests, candidates would be able to prove their worth and display their true potential. This would happen minus the stress of ‘dressing appropriately’, walking and speaking in a certain way, and constantly thinking of what the interviewer would want to hear by way of answers to the questions. On many occasions, the stress of all these factors leads even the best of talent to perform poorly in an interview – not only does the candidate lose the job, the company would lose a potential leader and top talent.
• Through objective and fair online assessment tests, candidates gain a feeling of being treated fairly and with respect. Even if a candidate were not successful in the tests, they would still be happy to recommend other good resources to the company, thereby giving the company an added competitive advantage. Additionally, receiving some written material would ensure that candidates would have all the necessary information about the company such as benefits, work environment, structure, and other such facts – without feeling pressured to memorize all of it.
In Conclusion
• While some candidates may find it cumbersome to take the online assessment tests, the fact is that these tools are objective and provide a clear picture to the company and the candidate of the actual skills and potential. Post the assessment, a short face-to-face interaction helps the candidate to meet the representative of the company, garner insights into the working culture, and gain the opportunity prove her or his fitment with the company. Both technology and the interaction post the assessment tests together reduce stress for both the company and the candidate, while providing detailed insights into what each can expect from the other.
• Gaining and retaining top talent today is nothing short of a war, since skilled people are the foundation of a successful and sustainable business. Using technological tools and techniques, companies can reduce the pain of hiring and job interviews, turning the process into an enjoyable, effective, less stressful and time-consuming one. The job interview no longer remains necessary, and the process of hiring becomes a science rather than an art, which most companies seem to lack.
