Why tailored assessments will replace resumes
“We are entering an age where speed, flexibility, innovation and execution matter much more than decades-old qualifications or antiquated experiences dressing up a lengthy resume.” ~The future ready organization: How dynamic capability management is reshaping the modern workplace by Gyan Nagpal, award-winning talent strategist and leadership coach
Indeed, traditional recruitment processes, centred around the resume, no longer work. It was riddled with issues at every stage, such as:
- Misrepresented information in resumes
- Faulty or biassed screening
- Lags at every stage
- Human errors
The adage don’t judge a book by its cover can work both ways in recruitment. Undeserving candidates may clear screening and deserving ones may get eliminated based on misleading resumes.
A few insights from a recent HirePro study, No resumes please:
Paving the way for talent-centric recruitment, throw more light on this trend.
- 56% of candidates claim skills they barely know.
- Recruiters don’t trust resumes as they believe 85% of candidates lie.
The industry has caught on to the resume malpractices. There is a realisation that only a changed approach can evaluate candidates holistically. This thought process resulted in the industry adopting a skills-first strategy. 75% of recruiters agree that skills-first hiring will be the focus for the next 18 months, says the HirePro study.
A trend, referred to in Future of Recruiting 2023: LinkedIn Talent Solutions report, affirms this point. It says recruiters are 25% more likely to search by skills than three years ago.
Another associated trend is that behavioural and functional skills are finding equal prominence as technical skills. What’s the best way to implement skills-based hiring? Industry trends indicate that the solution lies in tailored assessments powered by AI. Aneesh Raman, the vice president and head of The Opportunity Project at LinkedIn, refers to AI as the “North Star for the skills-first movement” in an SHRM article.
What are tailored assessments?
Organisations can fully customise their assessments for a role by leveraging technology to find the best fit. These assessments have questions based on real-life scenarios aligned with the role. Also, advanced AI technologies help enhance these tests significantly. You can explore options such as personality assessments, gamification, adaptive tests, VR assessments, etc. They help evaluate candidates holistically for various personality aspects, such as:
- Problem-solving skills
- Learning quotient
- Emotional intelligence
Nowadays, these traits are being considered among the most sought-after skills as they indicate the performance quotient of individuals.
While resumes only hint at what the candidates can do, tailored assessments show you, with proof, what they can do. Let’s see what the top benefits are.
Benefits of tailored assessments
Objectivity
Humans are prone to errors and biases. Technology brings in objectivity, removing all forms of conscious and unconscious bias. The HirePro study finds that 44% of recruiters found biases in traditional, resume-based hiring. Tailored assessments reduced biases by 78%.
Data-driven decision-making
One of the prime factors bringing objectivity to tailored assessments is AI-backed insights. Recruiters gain vital inputs on candidates’ reasoning skills, decision-making approach, etc., to better evaluate their fitment.
Holistic and inclusive approach
Options like adaptive tests provide an inclusive way to evaluate candidates holistically. These tests change the difficulty level of questions progressively, depending on the responses from candidates. The algorithms calculate percentiles based on the varying weightage of questions. Thus, all candidates can showcase their competencies equally for a fair result. Gamification and VR-based tests provide recruiters with multiple insights to ensure a more accurate evaluation.
Time and cost savings
Tailored assessments save time spent on resume screening and lengthy interviews. These tests can be administered remotely to multiple candidates across geographies simultaneously. The HirePro study found that with tailored assessments, recruiter efforts dropped significantly from an average of 23 hours to four or five hours.
Tailored assessments reduce recruitment costs associated with interview logistics, background checks, etc. Since these tests improve hiring decisions based on many parameters, they also reduce the cost of wrong hires and help increase productivity and retention.
Enhanced candidate experience
Tailored online assessments eliminate the need for candidates to travel for recruitment. Automated scheduling, instant communication and shorter tests accelerate the process, vastly improving the candidate experience. Gamification and VR-based assessments add to the candidates’ experiences as they are more immersive.
Future performance predictors
AI-backed predictive analytics help understand the future performances of candidates to make better hiring decisions. Candidates chosen after thorough skill evaluations outperform other candidates on the job across various sectors, according to the HirePro study.
It appears that resume-based hiring is going out the window! With multiple factors working for tailored assessments, they have become an essential hiring tool. What remains to be seen is their further evolution with technology that will maximise benefits.
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