There is no question that business priorities are shifting. In its 2012 CEO Challenge report, The Conference Board identified the top two business issues CEOs care about right now: innovation and human capital. Together, these two priorities will determine how successful organizations are in the years ahead.
It is no surprise that the issues CEOs identified as challenges are permeating throughout organizations. It has left many talent management professionals asking two questions:
How can we best determine what skills and behaviors we will need to meet future business goals?
How can we identify them in the talent we hire?
The answer is: The most efficient and effective way to do this is with pre-hire assessments.
The following are pieces of advice from a recently published article, Advice for Navigating Pre-Employment Assessment Complexity:
Match the assessment to its purpose. Some assessments are designed strictly as a screening tool. Some offer deeper insights into a candidate and help the hiring manager structure an effective pre-employment interview.
Measure and predict broadly. Job expansion and the use of technology to perform many unskilled tasks mean that most modern jobs are multifaceted, with performance drawing on interpersonal, motivational and cognitive skills. This "whole person" view of jobs should also be reflected in what a pre-hire assessment measures.
Leverage assessments to manage risk. High-quality pre-employment assessments reduce two critical forms of risk--risk of poor new-hire quality, and risk of indefensible selection practices.
The use and potential of pre-employment assessments has increased dramatically in recent years and is expected to continue. The opportunities for assessment to be a primary influence on a company's talent management strategy have also never been stronger.
Source: Human Resource Executive, May 2012
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