Past assessment data can help you identify future high performers, fit candidates to managers, and avoid hiring mistakes.
Pre-employment assessments help employers avoid hiring mistakes. But a candidate’s assessment report isn’t obsolete once you hire them. Over time, assessment data becomes a valuable resource. Analyzing the data helps you link specific characteristics to workplace performance. You can use this knowledge for strategic workforce planning to make incremental improvements with every new hire.
How to use assessment data for workforce planning.
Every time you screen a candidate using Berke, you receive a Job Fit Report that quantifies the candidate’s key attributes and abilities. During the recruiting process, this provides hiring managers with a way to compare potential hires and choose those who best fit the position. Later, this data – combined with all past employee assessment reports – can provide insights to shape future decisions.
Some ways to use historic assessments data to improve workplace results:
- Review high potential profiles when assessing new hires. High potential employees are among the most valuable staff– and they are the ideal candidates to replicate in future hiring decisions. Whenever an employee is placed in a high-potential program or promoted to a senior role, recruiting teams should revisit their Berke report and note the combination of traits that helped them stand out. Did they rank especially high in assertiveness? Do they have an equal balance of adaptability and intensity? The unique profile can provide insights for future hires, helping companies fill their future ranks with top performers.
- Link traits to every job and improve hiring profiles. Each position requires a different set of skills, personality traits, and problem-solving abilities. While the ideal salesperson may be results-driven, highly sociable, and someone who loves taking action; the IT team may require someone who is drawn to structure, adaptable, and great at logical problem-solving. Reviewing assessment data for the individuals who thrived or struggled, can help recruiters hone their candidate profiles ensuring future hires will be suited to the company, the team and the position.
- Link assessment traits to management style. All managers have their own style of leadership and mentoring. Reviewing profiles of a manager’s entire team, and knowing which team members have the best rapport with their manager, can help recruiters determine which characteristics best fit that department. It can also help HR pinpoint where a manager may need the training to support employees with different personality traits. This exercise will generate the greatest productivity and employee morale.
- Figure out what went wrong. When a seemingly great candidate doesn’t work out, re-visit that person’s assessment report for clues as to what went wrong. Perhaps the candidate matched every category but one or maybe multiple small mismatches added up to a bigger issue. Tracking each instance will allow you to find the trends. It’s also worth looking at everyone who left the company to see if there are broader trends among those who leave. If there are broader trends, it’s indicative of the company culture. Knowing this will help you identify people who share your company’s values in the future.
Berke offers benchmark studies to help companies identify workforce trends. You can benchmark all high potential employees in a given role, or all employees under a given manager, or all employees who leave. When companies incorporate assessment data into their strategic planning, they will build a better workforce, and generate more value from their investment.