Alternative Hiring Methods
September 7, 2015 | By John Bracamontes |
I recently read a Harvard Business Review article that spoke of alternative hiring methods and found a few very interesting points.
Traditionally we have used behavioral & personality tests that are long and arduous. Most people hate taking them and they are a one size fits all solution. This is great for scalability, but is likely turning off many high potential candidates and has become even less accurate over time.
What is being introduced into the talent identification process today are:
1. Behavioral Analytics
2. Web Scraping
3. Gamification
The behavioral analytics method is not new, but becoming more widely used and easier to implement with simple ways to digest the data and make sense of what it means. This data applies to internal candidates and is used in creating ideal candidate profiles for the companies them employ it.
Web scraping is used to find publicly available information on a candidate. That can be the things they have liked, shared, said, connected to and things that their family and friends have liked, shared and connected to. This is a way for them to assess cultural fit and predict with decent accuracy the IQ of a particular person.
Gamification is used to make the vetting and application process as frictionless as possible. They are literally using games and game like features to assess a candidates problem solving skills and give choices that will bring a deeper insight into a candidates likes, dislikes and work style.
Gaining this type of insight is great, but what you will find with many of the employers utilizing these methods is that the data is used to squeeze as much out of current employees and is in great contrast to the working environment of the company itself. Let’s be real, a large company using a game to assess a candidates characteristics and portraying a fun and progressive atmosphere through a portal or app is many times the complete opposite of that inside the walls of the workplace where more data is collected to ensure they are working hard, harder, hardest.
Not that this is bad, but it does raise concerns to the value of privacy and brings back images of “Big Brother”.
Is this intense focus on vetting candidates a good thing? I think so and truly believe it is in the best interest of both the company and the talent.
Is the intense focus on behavior and productivity a good thing? To a point, but that should be second, third or tenth to the focus on providing a quality product or service. Making sure the outcomes for your customers are met or pleasantly exceeded should be first on that list and that may mean sacrificing the “Big Brother” mentality / actions.
You can read the full article here: https://hbr.org/2015/06/3-emerging-alternatives-to-traditional-hiring-methods
