5 Talent Assessment Trends to Improve Your Future Readiness

Like many other aspects of business, Covid changed how and why companies recruit. Work from home became the new normal and virtual hiring became imperative. It’s not that these weren’t around before Covid. Unfortunately, some mindsets were posing challenges for remote work and hiring. With the choices running low, it’s a reality that work from home and virtual hiring are here to stay. The positive vibes and success stories from various industries are heartening. They are a testimony to how virtual working helped them cope with the challenges that the pandemic threw in. Some organisations did better than others because they already had processes and platforms in place. They were future-ready and, hence, did not have to waste time on getting organised. Many others followed suit and that set the base for new talent assessment trends.

Covid was just an enabler for the many sweeping changes waiting to happen. Organisations understood and appreciated the value of being future-ready. Those organisations that are able to see and plan for the future will always have an edge over their competitors. This ability also has financial implications. According to a McKinsey survey, 95 per cent of the economic profit is earned by the top 20 organisations. What is noteworthy is that these are the ones that already have or are implementing bold changes for future-readiness. Being future-ready goes much beyond virtual working. Let’s take a look at five talent assessment trends that help improve your future-readiness.

The changing nature of work

The normalisation of remote working brought a lot more flexibility and agility into hiring. Professional staffing and flexi work options became attractive. Companies realised they had to adapt quickly. This meant hiring managers had to change their perspectives. Adaptability and flexibility of candidates were critical, as was their technical capability. Hiring people with multiple skills or those who could be easily reskilled became imperative. The use of customised online assessment tools designed for the purpose helped this cause. Remote working also allowed access to larger talent pools catering to the diversity aspect. Along with businesses, talent assessment teams also evolved to be future-ready.

Every business is now digital

The Internet and related technologies have changed our lives and businesses forever. Whether B2B or B2C, every business is online today. From the neighbourhood stores to the big retailers, online existence is critical for survival and profitability. This is how the business landscape became future-ready without realising it. Your branding strategies will need to include digital marketing for ensuring future-readiness.

Force Majeure events

In many ways, Covid was a Force Majeure event that forced businesses to rethink contracts. The future-ready businesses that were fully prepared for remote working responded better to the situation. This one instance is ample for organisations to understand the importance of such future events. With changing world scenarios, wars, acts of terrorism and natural disasters can never be ruled out, which emphasises the need to be future-ready.

Assessing a dynamic (and fickle) workforce

A diverse and dynamic workforce brings with it some interesting and complex challenges. Attrition is a reality and meeting employee expectations is always tough. There is constant debate on which is better, hiring or using the gig economy. Decision making is not easy any more owing to these and other factors.

How do organisations conduct honest performance assessments leading to win-win situations? Annual performance reviews, ratings and subsequent hikes or promotions need to be fair and transparent. Creating data-driven assessments, preferably powered by AI, can streamline this process greatly. Clearly setting the goals at the onset and following this approach from top to bottom create employee confidence in the system. Honest conversations during performance reviews with constructive two-way feedback also help. Implementing innovative approaches for employee assessments is an indication of being future-ready. It also inculcates an organisational culture of growth, learning and success.

The increasing focus on diversity

Diversity is the new-age mantra that organisations are fast realising to be highly beneficial. Diverse hiring promotes equal opportunities for all, accepts and respects differences and creates an inclusive workplace. It also offers innovative opportunities that organisations can build upon. That it also has a direct correlation with organisation’s financial performance is a major factor driving diversity hiring. Gen Z is more open to joining companies that offer diverse opportunities because they see value in it. Thus, the diversity aspect is overall beneficial to organisations as it gives access to a larger and committed talent pool.

HirePro Functional Assessment and behavioural tests can help organisations determine candidate suitability on many factors including attitude to diversity. Employee attitude plays a significant role in sustaining diverse teams. This is where online assessments can be weaved into your organisational future-readiness.