When you have an open position, one of the first questions you should ask hiring managers to consider is whether they can promote internally, rather than looking externally.
With a critical labor shortage in the U.S., it’s wise to focus a talent strategy on retaining employees. If a current employee is ready for a new role, making an internal hire not only helps advance that person’s career, it’s also one the most powerful ways to increase retention.
At the same time, external candidates often bring fresh insight, varied perspectives and relevant experience that you couldn’t find internally. So, it can be difficult to determine whether to hire internally or look elsewhere.
Assessment data collected from current employees and candidates can help organizations know who to hire, whether it be an internal employee or external candidate.
Ideally, you already have assessment reports for current employees (from when they were hired). If not, ask employees to take the assessment and explain that the results will be used throughout their tenure, to help with employee development and team building.
Once you have the assessment data for all potential candidates, you can make more informed and balanced decisions. Specifically, assessment data can help you perform the following tasks:
Compare capabilities against job requirements
When you have data around the personality traits and problem-solving abilities which are required to succeed in an open position, it’s easy to measure a candidate against those requirements. Assessment data offers accurate comparisons of both internal and external candidates against job requirements. You can also understand how candidates compare to other candidates.
Evaluate cultural fit
If you want to find a cultural fit, you need to uncover data about personal motivation, thinking style and communication preferences. Pre-hire assessments help you do that. You’ve likely already done the work to identify the characteristics that define your company culture, but may find it difficult to know whether or not someone is a cultural match. Berke helps make those decisions for you.
Download our Interview Guide
Even experienced hiring managers can struggle to get insight into a candidate during an interview.
Learn how to conduct meaningful interviews and get to know the real person with our Interview Guide.
Learn more
Reduce bias
Reducing bias is a tricky exercise. When considering external candidates, some organizations remove names, dates, and other data from the application process. Others make the language in job postings as neutral as possible.
While there is widespread awareness around bias and external recruiting, there isn’t as much consideration when it comes to internal hiring decisions. Yet, different types of biases impact internal decisions. A current manager may not want a high performer to switch teams and therefore limit their potential options. Alternatively, a manager may not really like an employee and make an endorsement for the internal hire, without really considering what’s required. Regardless of the situation, an assessment adds a new layer of objectivity to the hiring process and puts internal and external candidates on an even playing field.
Plan for long-term talent needs
Once you collect pre-hire assessment data, it can be used to compare current employees to other roles in the organization. Assessment reports provide reliable information about the “bench strength” that exists within the organization. Assessments results become a database of internal talent that will continue to fuel your pipeline long after someone they are hired.
Making the right hiring decision is challenging. When recruiters and hiring managers have access to objective data about both internal and external candidates, they are better equipped to make hiring decisions that will help an organization meet their talent needs.
