Great People Works

Research indicates that most hiring decisions are made in the first four and a half minutes of an interview, but a lot happens before you can ever get an interview. Most companies do a great job of screening applicants in advance by profiling exactly what they are looking for and eliminating anyone who doesn't fit the exact descriptors and minimum qualifications for the job. Those that aren't automatically eliminated then get screened based on more subjective factors through interviews. Since, screening methods are flawed and interviews are inherently flawed because each person's perceptions are different than every other persons, a great deal of potential talent is left in the labor pool poor hiring decisions are made.

These poor decisions lead to all kinds of problems including death and theft in some cases but more commonly manifest themselves as high employee turnover, employee disengagement and poor business results. Even though an employee might come to work on time every day and be at their desk, it does not mean they are giving their employer their best efforts and possibly might simply be hiding out on the job. The smartest companies combine a variety of good hiring practices such as trying to match potential employees who do make it through the initial screening process to specific jobs within the company using behavioral assessments and job match patterns. A job match pattern is a pattern of thinking styles, behaviors and interests that is derived from the assessment results for the top performers on those same positions within the company. These patterns will change slightly overtime but continue to represent a template for a high performing employee. The assessment tells potential employers how well each applicant stacks up against their existing top performers and answers important questions such as can they do the work, how will they do the work and will they do the work. Smart companies then use the assessment results to refine their "shortlist' of applicants to ensure that only potential high performers make it to the final interviews. That way, if decisions are made quickly during interviews, the chances of getting a high performer are always good.

It requires shifting a much smaller portion of the total cost of poor employee decisions to the front-end cost of making better employee decisions before they are hired. In the end the company actually reduces costs of bad decisions with a very worthwhile ROI for making good hiring decisions up front. At the same time, the assessment results can aid the training, development and management of the new employee by identifying particular issues or challenges the specific individual may have and allow the company to help the employee get up to top speed more quickly.