Behavioral & Skills Assessment Test For Better Hiring Process

Human biases are a major hurdle faced by recruiters at all times when hiring candidates. Often, the hiring of applicants is based on their academic and professional merits. The internal matrix of personality and its fitment to the industry is typically compromised. This is caused by human biases such as the Green Lumber Fallacy. It is a human tendency to overlook skills and prioritize theoretical knowledge and awareness. 

But, fortunately, today, the skills and competencies of the candidates can now be objectively assessed by modern pre-employment assessments. In fact, a report from the Talent Board reveals that 52% of employers prefer to opt for skill tests, 37% choose cognitive ability testing, 34% gauge candidates through personality trait tests, and 26% test the cultural fitment of candidates.

But have you ever thought of assessing how your applicant would behave or perform in a professional environment? 

Yes, it is possible! But it's not by learning body language cues during interviews. There is something more accurate and reliable that can help you gauge your candidates' attitudes on the field. 

Behavioral assessments are the tools that can give you insights into your candidates' approaches to various workplace situations. These help you check the practical and cultural fitment of your candidates into your organization. You must be wondering, ‘How'? 

In this article, we bring you details about the incredible combination of behavioral assessments and skill tests for better hiring. The major takeaway is effective knowledge about the administration of behavioral assessment for improving recruitment outputs. Let's not wait any longer and dive right into the topic. 

How Can Behavioral Assessments Result in Better Hiring Decisions?

Here is a job interview scenario influenced by the Green Lumber Fallacy to help you understand the phenomenon better. 

You could be comparing 2 sales candidates; let's suppose A & B. Both of the candidates are equally capable in terms of qualifications. However, candidate A differs from candidate B with her stellar industrial tenure. Hence, putting them both to a fair test was necessary. 

So, they were asked to demonstrate their skills by selling an ordinary pen. ‍

Candidate A chose to express the generic potential of the product and how it could be of use to customers. However, Candidate B attempted to be creative by maneuvering the situation whereby the ordinary pen became an essential asset of the interview hall.

Would you choose candidate B as your sales representative? 

Probably not, because you were busy looking for the expected sales knowledge in Candidate A, who had a long duration of professional tenure.

But look closer... You may have missed the mindful sales skills demonstrated by candidate B, even though it seems as if she has not adapted to the formal interview setting.

Choosing candidate A will not only mean losing the skilled candidate B, but it will also mean that you are continuing the propagation of traditional hiring myths. Ignorance regarding a candidate's skills can cost a company a huge loss of talent, resources, development, and productivity. 

The Green Lumber Fallacycan surely seem to be the easiest way to make hiring decisions. However, it doesn't necessarily give you good candidates. To avoid losing good candidates, you need to assess both skills and knowledge in a fair manner.

How can you fairly assess your candidates' behavior?

Behavioral assessments can play a vital role in objectively gauging your candidates. These assessments are conducted through projective situations with items that probe the candidates in order for them to portray their on-field experience. The situation-judgemental framework of items assesses the applicants' truthful actions and approaches in a job posting or in a professional setting.

The recruiters can make the required hiring decisions by qualitatively evaluating the reports of candidates in terms of terms of job skills and soft skills. Behavioral assessments also identify the scope for improvement and training for the candidates. It can predict the future performance of the candidates based on their responses to the situationss presented in the items. 

What Makes Up Behavioral Assessment Items?

The items of a behavioral assessment are specific to a performance or ability that the employer wants to test. This can either depend on a job position or on the company's work culture. There are a few basic formats followed while preparing the questions for a behavioral assessment. 

Firstly, it must always give the scope of expression to the candidate. It should not be ambiguous or unclear. It must project a situation in a professional space. And lastly, it should be relevant to the job post. Here are some items of different types used in behavioral tests.

Benefits Of Behavioral Assessment

Behavioral assessments reveal the components of the interviewees' personal competence, social dealing, and relationship management. Combining these with psychometric tools like the big 5 personality test can provide a comprehensive view of a candidate's potential. It is essential for the employer to gauge these components so as to know if the candidate is competent and genuinely aspiring for the job post or not. Furthermore, it has many benefits, some of which are mentioned above.

Psychometric tests, another valuable pre-employment assessment tool, can complement behavioral assessments by providing deeper insights into a candidate's natural tendencies and cognitive abilities. While behavioral assessments can tell you how a candidate approached a situation in the past, online psychometric tests can help you understand their underlying thought processes, personality traits, and aptitude for certain skills. This combined approach creates a more well-rounded picture of the candidate.

Skills Assessments Vs. Behavioral Interviews

Skills assessments evaluate the candidate's soft skills quantitatively required to perform well in the role and deliver the required output.  However, a thorough knowledge of a candidate's behavior is an important consideration for making hiring decisions as it results in building the company's environment and culture. This, in turn, results in an increase or decrease in the company's growth or team effectiveness. This ‘know-how' regarding the applicants is obtained through the administration of behavioral assessments in job interviews.

The skills assessments can provide reports about your candidates' expertise as required for the job post. However, you can only gauge the possible rapport between your team and the candidate while interacting in person through a behavioral assessment. 

The conclusion about skills tests vs. behavioral assessments is clear and obvious. Both are required for making an objective and fair hiring decision. These are two opposite sides of a coin, and this two-step evaluation guarantees better hiring. 

Conclusion

PMaps provides human resource support and encourages you to explore the merits and demerits of advanced skill-gauging technologies to effectively assess candidates. You may tour our website for products and services or contact us at (+91-8591320212). You may reach out to us by email (ssawant@pmaps.in). 

You can also book a short 30-minute demo call with our experts to clarify all of your remaining doubts regarding candidate assessments. We will help you strategize and streamline your hiring process for the betterment of your organization.