Stop Guessing, Start Knowing: 5 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process Using Behavioral Assessments

Hiring the right talent is crucial for any organization's success. Yet, traditional hiring methods often rely on subjective impressions and gut feelings, leading to costly hiring mistakes. As a consultant at DRIC, a firm specializing in talent and leadership optimization, I've seen firsthand how incorporating behavioral assessments into the interview process can dramatically improve hiring outcomes.

In one case, a client asked us to assess two candidates for a management position. One was an internal candidate with a lot of potential but no management experience. The other was an external candidate who had 8 years of management experience. Our role was to provide data to help the hiring team determine who was the best fit. The first candidate (we’ll call him Jim) had very high scores for mental ability, moderate leadership scores, and slightly below-average emotional intelligence scores. The second candidate (David) had average mental ability scores, and? higher leadership and emotional intelligence scores. Some data suggested that David could be inflexible and inconsistent in his approach to work. We also looked at indicators of personality. Jim was very reserved and energized by opportunities to logically work through problems. David was action-oriented and got things done by working collaboratively with others. Based on hiring team interviews with the candidate, what the position and organization needed, and our psychometric data, the organization ultimately selected Jim. They felt that he was the best fit for several reasons: this was a junior management position with few direct reports which required a lot of analytical thinking. They opted to also invest in developing Jim’s emotional intelligence and leadership skills in anticipation of more senior roles in the future.?

Behavioral assessments provide objective, data-driven insights into a candidate's personality, work style, and potential for success in a specific role. They go beyond the resume and the interview script to suggest how a candidate is likely to behave in real-world work situations.

Here are five ways to leverage behavioral assessments to transform your interview process and make smarter hiring decisions:

1. Identify Top Performers with Predictive Accuracy:

Behavioral assessments can help you identify candidates who possess the specific traits and competencies linked to high performance in a particular role. For example, if you're hiring for a sales position, assessments can reveal a candidate's level of assertiveness, persuasion, and resilience – key traits for success in sales. By comparing a candidate's assessment results to a benchmark of top performers in similar roles, you can gain valuable insights into their potential for success. In the case above, the hiring team selected Jim from the two finalists because very strong analytical skills were one of the must-haves for the role.?

2. Reduce Bias and Promote Diversity:

The hiring team in this case liked both candidates but for different reasons. Traditional interviews can be susceptible to unconscious bias, leading to inaccurate evaluations. Behavioral assessments offer an objective and standardized way to evaluate candidates, reducing the influence of personal biases related to factors such as gender, ethnicity, or background. This helps create a more equitable and diverse workforce, which, in turn, fuels innovation and improves organizational performance. Remember that we can never entirely eliminate bias from any hiring process because we all carry biases. However, by increasing the data available about each candidate, it is possible to reduce that bias. We also have several strategies to reduce bias in psychometric testing. (We’ll share those strategies in an upcoming article).?

3. Enhance the Candidate Experience:

Surprisingly, many candidates appreciate well-designed assessments. They provide an opportunity for candidates to showcase their strengths and learn more about themselves. Assessments can also help candidates determine if the role and the organization are a good fit for them, leading to greater job satisfaction and reduced turnover. We view assessments as a tool for mutual understanding and embed candidate engagement in our process by using a high-touch approach. This means that we talk with the candidate at the beginning of the process to orient them and address questions and expectations, we share the testing data with them, and invite them to comment on the accuracy of our findings. We are also accessible throughout the process if questions arise or if, in rare cases, there is a tech glitch! Candidates have expressed appreciation for the investment in them - whether they get the job or not - and the opportunity to share their voice and perspective on the process and the outcome.?

4. Ask Better Interview Questions:

Behavioral assessments can inform and enhance your interview questions. By reviewing a candidate's assessment results beforehand, you can tailor your questions to probe deeper into specific areas. For instance, if an assessment indicates a candidate might be less comfortable with ambiguity, you could ask, "Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information. How did you approach it?" This allows you to gain a more nuanced understanding of the candidate's behavior in relevant situations.

5. Improve Onboarding and Development:

The insights gained from behavioral assessments don't end with the hiring decision. They can also be used to create more effective onboarding plans and tailor development opportunities for new hires. By understanding a new employee's strengths and areas for development from the outset, you can provide targeted support and help them integrate more successfully into the team and the organization. We routinely do post-hire conversations with candidates who have been in their positions for at least 3 months. This is a calibration discussion with their hiring manager to review their assessment results and discuss what results might be relevant to strengthening their performance in the role. We assist in creating development plans and sometimes provide coaching. We also have a relationship that allows us to provide future support for the candidate as needed.

Choosing the Right Assessments

At DRIC, we utilize a range of validated behavioral assessments. The choice of assessment depends on the specific role, the competencies required, and the organization's culture. It is crucial to use assessments that are reliable, valid, and appropriate for the intended purpose. It is equally important that those using and interpreting the assessments are appropriately trained.

The Bottom Line

Incorporating behavioral assessments into your hiring process is a strategic investment that can significantly improve the quality of your hires, reduce turnover, and ultimately contribute to your organization's bottom line. By moving beyond subjective evaluations and embracing data-driven insights, you can make smarter hiring decisions and build a more talented and engaged workforce.

What are your thoughts on using behavioral assessments in the hiring process? Share your experiences and insights in the comments below!

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