This past December, GreatBizTools and MyInnerGenius had the honor of being named an IDC Innovator in Virtual Interview and Assessment Technology for Remote Hiring. If you’re interested in reading more, you can check out this press release from Business Wire. This is, of course, a big deal for us, and we thought there was no better time than now to reintroduce ourselves and give you an overview of all the ways the MyInnerGenius could help your company in creating a diverse, highly-productive workforce and decrease job dissatisfaction and high attrition.
Despite industry acclaim and the fact that major companies like Apple, Nike, IBM, and Starbucks use assessment tests in their recruiting and hiring processes (the latter two actually use our product!), some employers remain skeptical about getting away from the traditional resume-and-two-interviews style of screening applicants.
In this post, we want to dispel some common myths about workforce assessments and show you that a more inclusive, fair, and high-retention style of hiring is within reach.
Assessments and Resumes are Redundant
Resumes are a useful tool, they can give you insight to whether an applicant’s professional history aligns with what you’re looking for as well as provide a broad strokes overview of their accomplishments. The downside, though, is that they are a generally incomplete view of the candidate. There’s a benefit to having all the highlights of an applicant laid out neatly on one piece of paper, but choosing who to interview and who to pass by simply on a resume alone could cut many applicants who could perform the job well but don’t have the professional or educational experience out of the running.
For instance: you have two applicants in front of you. One applicant who went to school for auto mechanics and has an associate’s degree, and one with no formal education who has been working on cars as a hobby for a decade. One has the educational experience, but one has years more hands-on experience. There’s no right answer as to who is the better choice, that lies in what kind of company culture you have and several other factors. But isn’t it a good thing to have more options?
Hiring through assessments is the way of the future. They give you a more fully rounded view of the potential employee, not just an overview of their professional history. Most people can be trained on the job to make up for any small shortcomings; people usually cannot be trained out of personality flaws or work styles that don’t fit with your business; the kind of things you can determine from an assessment.
Assessments Don’t Make That Big of a Difference
We have nearly 40 years experience helping employers find better ways to hire, and over that time we’ve seen the effects of introducing assessments into a company’s processes, and they are substantial. Candidates hired using MyInnerGenius were twice as likely to stay with the company that hired them. They were also twice as effective and productive on the job, and 10 times more likely to be open to learning aspects of their job they didn’t know and applying those skills going forward.
The reason again goes back to the breadth of candidate options you get when you use pre-hire assessments. You’re more able to find an employee who will remain at your company for the long haul because you hired the best fit, not just the one who looked best on paper. You also see positive effects when you administer assessment tests to your existing workforce. Employees like to know that their employers are taking an interest in their wellbeing and interests, not just accounting for productivity.
Assessments are especially useful when it comes to workforce restructuring; taking your existing workforce and rearranging employees into roles that might be a better fit for their talents sets. Say that Susan is just fine as an accountant, but the results of her assessment reveal that she’s more passionate about and has some prior experience in project management. Should the need for a project manager arise, you have an employee already on staff with the potential to fill the role.
Finally, assessments help reduce attrition. Letting an employee go can cost up to twice their annual salary by the time you find someone else, get them integrated into your company and fully trained for the job. When you hire confidently or restructure your company to fill a role, you spare the expense and put an end to the hiring/firing cycle.
Assessments Are Used For Big Tech, They Aren’t Practical for My Business
Well, it is true that assessments are used quite often in the tech sector, but they’re applicable and useful to any business, big or small.
Earlier we noted that Starbucks was a user of MyInnerGenius to screen applicants for a multitude of positions. There are certain skills that make for an excellent customer service employee and certain personality traits that are not compatible with a customer facing job.
Also consider that an employee who can succeed at their job is really only half of what you’re hiring for. When you have a company, you have a company culture, and it’s important you hire somebody who is compatible with the work environment you’ve established. If you’re hiring remotely, it’s very important to know if that employee can remain productive throughout the day, as you won’t be directly in contact with them to make sure things are getting done on schedule.
What About Workforce Centers
Not to sound biased, but pre-hire assessments are invaluable to work placement centers. The amount of information you can get about a potential employees background, interests, hobbies, workflow, and natural skills will give you as a placement center worker the ability to zero in on the perfect role for them.
Attempting to place the same person multiple times isn’t an ideal situation for placement center workers or the candidates in question. At the end of the day, an important part of finding a career is the fulfillment the job brings you, and whether you as an employee could see yourself staying with a company long term
A career fit assessment from MyInnerGenius will innovate the way that your company hires. Our assessments yield proven results such as increased workplace diversity, retainment of great employees, and an overall more productive workplace. Ready to try one – for free? For more info on our career fitness assessments and to enjoy a free demo, visit us at https://trywebassess.com/request_demo/
