Hiring the right candidates and getting them to stay are two of the biggest challenges facing any organization. These two factors are closely tied together — if you can’t hire the right people, you won’t be able to keep people around long enough to build a successful organization.

 

Hiring managers often feel as though they’re dealing with a giant revolving door. It’s an issue for hourly employees, but it’s equally problematic at the management level. Retaining top talent at the higher levels of an organization is extremely important.

 

To address this challenge, many organizations have turned to data-driven assessments to hire better candidates. Not only do these tools help organizations hire stronger candidates, they can also be used to reduce turnover by identifying those candidates most likely to stay with the organization long-term.

 

What Do Data-Driven Assessments Measure?

PRADCO has several types of data-driven assessments. The general leadership assessment consists of 50 behaviors and can be customized to organizational needs by developing a benchmark that contains a smaller set of critical behaviors. This highly-customized assessment goes far beyond technical skills. It seeks to determine if a leader has what it takes to be a long-term success.

 

Data-driven assessments aren’t just for leaders, either. PRADCO offers an entire suite of options, including sales assessments, individual contributor assessments, hourly employee assessments, culture fit assessments, call center assessments, and more.

 

In regards to turnover, data from these assessments is used to determine what behaviors are common amongst those who stay versus those who leave. It offers an interesting perspective on what characteristics rate higher amongst those who stay and how these behaviors differentiate them from those who leave.

 

Data can also reveal how long certain people are likely to stay, as well as why they are likely to leave. Do they leave voluntarily or are they fired? By looking at these results, hiring managers are able to get a comprehensive picture of what will make someone a candidate that is worth hiring and training.

 

How Do the Assessments Work?

The pre-employment assessment process is simple and straightforward. Candidates complete the pre-hire assessment online which can take 15-45 minutes. Results are delivered immediately to the hiring manager, who will be able to discuss the feedback or provide onboarding suggestions to the candidate.

 

PRADCO’s higher-level assessments are significantly more in-depth. Candidates will take a basic assessment, but they’ll also take part in a more comprehensive survey. In it, they’ll discuss their work history, major projects they’ve completed, and describe a disagreement they’ve resolved. They’ll also talk about career goals, point out some of their shortcomings, and take part in sentence completion exercises. This approach provides much more robust data and a better understanding of the candidate overall.

 

After this, they’ll take part in a behavioral interview, which will help probe deeper into the candidate’s motivations, leadership style, work approach, interpersonal skills, and decision-making abilities. It will also provide a chance for candidates to be taken through their scores and given feedback.

 

Assessments in Hiring

Many companies find that data-driven assessments are invaluable tools to help them develop their own benchmarks for measuring quality employees. One organization completely upended their internal performance standards after the PRADCO assessment helped them realize that the behaviors that separated top and bottom performers in their current assessment were not what they wanted them to be.

 

Their standards had focused on qualities like getting results and being proactive as indicative of good performance. Post-assessment, they realized that top performers needed to demonstrate people-oriented qualities such as versatility, the ability to relate to others, and an appreciation for diversity. By adjusting their approach, they were able to hire candidates who could better succeed within their organizational culture.

 

Another company was noticing extremely high turnover. Analyzing assessment results helped them better understand the reasons behind the turnover rates. The assessment data revealed which behaviors were related to specific turnover reasons — often things like attendance issues or failure of mandatory drug screening tests.

 

In other words, certain behaviors that are measured during the assessment process have real-world consequences, such as not calling or showing up for work. Keeping this in mind, management was able to improve their hiring process and reduce turnover.

 

Retaining Current Employees

The best way to retain excellent employees is to get them off on the right foot from the start. Data-driven assessments provide information that hiring managers can use to structure their onboarding procedures. This will help you set your employees up for success.

 

In addition to this, following the onboarding advice that’s given to them will make employees a better fit for the job and the culture of the organization. This will greatly increase their long-term happiness — and the likelihood of them staying. The employee will walk away from the process with something of value that they can apply to their development right away. Furthermore, when employees have a positive experience with the assessment, they’ll have a more positive view of the organization. This will help them want to stay longer-term.

 

While data-driven assessments are useful in the hiring process, they’re also great for gauging ongoing developmental opportunities with current employees. Management finds them helpful in assessing incumbents to find out what factors separate the top performers from bottom performers.

 

Why is this important? Statistically, top performers are usually going to move up in the organization and achieve better results. Bottom performers typically aren’t doing well because they aren’t as motivated and are usually on their way out.

 

Data isn’t only helpful to pick out the less successful people, though — it can also help you retain the good ones. Because top performers can also be attracted to other organizations, these assessments can help management identify who these individuals are and put processes in place to be sure they stay around for the long-term.

 

This can go a long way to making sure current employees feel valued. They’ll feel as though the organization is investing in them even if there aren’t any immediate opportunities for their advancement. This is essential to their ability to see a path upward in the organization and make the changes necessary to get around any hidden barriers that may prevent them from growing.

 

Do Data-Driven Assessments Really Work?

While candidates and employees can make promises, data is more reliable. Time and time again, clients have put their trust in PRADCO assessments. Using data to better understand people and to improve decision-making can be very impactful to an organization’s bottom line.

 

At PRADCO, we have the experience, drive, and tools to be your partner in hiring better talent. We’ll take the time to learn about your organization and customize solutions for you. We’re ready to help you hire with confidence. If you’re ready to get started, let’s talk.