Recently we published a whitepaper discussing the relationship between recruitment effectiveness and the use of assessments. As part of that discussion, we examined some reasons behind the increasing adoption of talent assessment solutions.

The growing use of assessments is being driven by several factors ranging from technological innovation to the ability to standardize a process that is often ad hoc and open to variance.

First, the growth of cloud-based applications is one technology factor driving the adoption of assessments. The technology benefits from cloud deployments allows assessment content providers to easily deploy assessment content, connect platforms to create interoperability, and customize client solutions while maintaining scalable economics which reinforces a strong value proposition.

Second, big data, business intelligence, and analytics are also driving the use of assessments within talent acquisition solutions. The same factors being realized elsewhere in the enterprise apply equally well within talent management and acquisition. Historically, Human Resource departments have not been able to quantify the investment return like operations or information technology have been able to show. Now, though, recruiting leaders can demonstrate a clear linkage between assessment content and business outcomes through analytics that link the hiring process to new hire performance over the employee lifecycle.

Finally, the process to implement assessments, when done correctly, enables the organization to drive objectivity and alignment. This process allows for:

• A job analysis which enables the hiring team to determine the competencies that drive job success, gain alignment on these competencies, and use them in future discussion on training, coaching, and ongoing development.

• Standard evaluation of candidates using objective tools that measure these key competencies.

• A validated process that has been calibrated to job performance. When communicated to the hiring managers, this enables everyone to understand how the hiring process is related to business outcomes.

• A closed loop analysis process. As discussed earlier, the economics, availability, and integration of data enable recruiting leaders to deeply understand their hiring funnel, if a candidate meets quality of hire baselines, and ongoing performance improvement opportunities.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net