Balance is the name of the game when it comes to candidate selection and knowing when and how to combine assessment results, with reference feedback, with how to interview, and how to tap into intuition is no simple task. Combining all these skills can definitly be a challenge.
It’s important to remember that at any time during the hiring process a candidate may be disqualified if a part of the whole is not a match for your culture / or identified criteria.
One time, I had a candidate who had an excellent resume and references and great assessment scores, but during the interview he repeatedly used expletives. And so it was decided that even though resume and behavioral assessment results were great—the interview and culture fit (due to his language) moved this candidate out of the running.
On the other hand, there may be times when you choose to overlook a less than desired behavioral score because during the interview you discuss the “concern” feedback with the candidate and identify that there is either a logical explanation for the too low / too high trait scores, or the candidate provides a viable explanation for the low / high scores.
I had this happen not long ago for a senior position where the candidate in question had a couple of key behaviors (trust, respect for management) showing “less than desirable” scores. When the candidate was asked about this apparent disconnect, he readily acknowledged that his angst was brought on by some understandable frustration in his current situation. The organization I was assessing for was satisfied with his explanation, his low scores were understandable to the hiring team, and he actually was hired… because - there was balance to the process.
Here are the four (4) information gathering areas of hiring and how to balance them:
- Assessment results— - 30 percent
- Interview— - 30 percent
- Reference check / feedback— - 30 percent
- Feelings, intuition, and opinion— - 10 percent (Biases die hard— – thus the lower percentile allocated for this portion.)
An above average rating in any one area shouldn’t, on its own, get someone hired. You’ll want to have balance that consists of good or better ratings for all four areas before you make someone a job offer.
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