Using Behavioral Assessments in Hiring, Promotions

In challenging economic times, businesses must look for every advantage to become and stay profitable. The amount of time, energy and resources allocated to employee development shows, without a doubt, this is an area where effectiveness needs to be maximized. In the employee development and selection process, it is money well spent to utilize certain management tools. One such tool is a human behavioral assessment.

Regardless of the economy, there is always a need to get employees to perform more effectively, promote from within and fill vacancies. During difficult times, the number of applicants can be tremendous. Utilizing assessments is even more critical at these times because of the tighter economic environment. There are fewer dollars to be allocated and the evaluation, promotion and hiring cycle is a costly process. Implementing employee development and selection using behavioral assessments can help management identify an ideal candidate.

It is interesting to observe that most organizations have set standards, policies and procedures to optimize the work environment; but, when it comes to the evaluation, development and selection process, it is often left to the “tyranny of the urgent.” Just get a warm body in there and hope it works out.

If these same standards, or lack thereof, were applied throughout an organization it would spell immediate disaster. The most critical pieces of the puzzle include the people who keep it all together and their ability to add success or failure to an organization’s productivity yet, too often, we just don’t take the time. This means managers face more challenging responsibilities directly related to poor employee evaluation or hiring practices and not identifying people who will be successful in the position being filled. It is not only evaluating technical skills, but does this person’s behavior fit for the work to be done and the organizational culture?

Without a doubt, poor evaluation, promotion and hiring practices affect profitability. And it is the profitability of a company that affects an organization’s bottom line. It is imperative to have people who are competent and have the correct behavioral fit so that production in a specific area of expertise is seamless and without issue.

How much does it cost a company to not develop their employees, to promote the wrong individual or hire the wrong person? The cost in any of these three areas can be up to four-times an employee’s annual salary and benefits. Because these costs are generally hidden, their impact is often never addressed; they are just accepted as a cost of doing business. A Harvard University study reported 80 percent of turnover could be blamed on mistakes made during the employee selection and hiring process. Every employee a company hires and every manager it promotes is a considerable investment.

Using Behavioral Assessments

Many business people are finding ways to increase their chances of hiring or promoting the right person for the right job at the right time. Consultants and industry experts are increasingly turning to behavioral assessments for many reasons. The cost, in expense and heightened anxiety levels, of hiring or promoting the wrong person is rising relentlessly.

Most information on employment applications is predictably subjective. Resumes present only positive information, some of it exaggerated. Stricter EEOC regulations and the threat of lawsuits for discrimination make it difficult to obtain complete or balanced information from an applicant’s previous employers. Even former employers willing to comment on an applicant rarely give the real reasons that person left the former organization. Experienced interviewers can often obtain additional information; but, many applicants are skilled at being interviewed and can mask their true personality. Behavioral assessment testing is the most objective, economical way of obtaining necessary information for predicting an applicant’s probability of success in any position.

There are several additional benefits to utilizing behavioral assessments:

Behavioral assessments look at an individual’s behavior style based on his personality and the situations in which he may find himself. Assessments provide an objective, non-judgmental analysis developed through research and repeated validation with the purpose of helping people understand behavioral styles and personality types.

Behavioral assessment is an excellent tool for skill development. It can identify employees’ skills and match them with jobs into which they can grow, helping to prepare people to assume key positions in the near or even distant future. The idea is to assess personality and talent, then provide the coaching or mentoring to develop it.

Michael Eiseman is an executive business consultant with the Winslow Research Institute; reach him at [email protected].

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