SHL’s Andy Neleson talks us through the common measures HR leaders use at hiring assessments, from skills to situational reactions.
According to research by workforce software makers SHL, hiring assessments are set to become a trending tool for recruiters over the coming months. The UK-headquartered company’s research has shown that the use of algorithmic hiring assessments has been steadily increasing over the past few years.
The research was wide-ranging and covered a number of topics, including how AI is impacting HR trends. Based on a survey of 1,600 global HR workers in mid-2023, 80pc of respondents indicated that they consider testing candidates a valuable part of the hiring process.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65pc) stated that their organisations use assessments for hiring new talent, and 70pc said that they used assessments about the same or more in 2023 compared to 2022.
But when these HR professionals say “assessments” what do they mean? One in four said they are using interactive assessments, such as simulations and job fit assessments, in recruitment. Other methods of assessment include psychometric tests that test for personality.
To find out more about what types of hiring assessments employers can use to scope out the suitability of their talent, we spoke to Andy Neleson, global solutions director of volume hiring at SHL.
“There are many assessment methodologies and strategies that can be used for hiring, or development, mobility, succession etc,” Neleson says, before talking us through some of the most common approaches.
Common types of assessments
Skills assessments are “fair and valid” evaluations of both the hard and soft skills that candidates have that can be used to support hiring decisions. Generally, skills-based hiring is preferred these days – and not just for skill reasons. The method can also be fairer from a DEI perspective. Some hiring assessments and methods recruiters use can overlook neurodiverse candidates, in particular.
Lots of recruiters still rely on personality assessments, says Neleson. “Personality is a stable trait and can be used to align an individual’s workplace behavioural styles and preferences with the roles they are best suited to.”
As well as personality, recruiters tend to favour cognitive ability tests – especially for specialist jobs. However, this method is controversial, as Neleson acknowledges. “We are careful with cognitive ability testing so as to ensure we aren’t negatively affecting disparate groups in the labour market.” Recruiters need to be careful and sensitive if they choose to rely on cognitive ability testing. Perhaps skills-based testing, which is similar, is fairer.
Another testing approach which is similar to both skills testing and personality testing, is situational judgement assessments. It sounds rather technical, but this is just a fancy expression for finding out how candidates might approach various scenarios or problems they might encounter on the job.
At SHL, Neleson says, “We often re-create the job when designing measurement tools and put candidates in situations they will face on the job so as to measure how effectively they navigate actual job tasks. A common example is customer service and contact centre agents, we have multiple contact centre simulations whereby candidates field calls from customers, document information, navigate multiple resources etc.”
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