We at viasto always talk about the importance of diagnostic principles for recruiting. Far from any buzzword terminology (cf. #bigdata, #employmentbrand, …), diagnostics is something you really need to incorporate into your recruiting to be successful. In other words, to make the best hires. We have already demonstrated in several webinars how to implement diagnostics, providing best practice cases and insider knowledge. In the following article I will show you a recruiting process best case incorporating diagnostic excellence and examine the question: what do I need to do to make sure I’ll only have the very best candidates in my assessment centre?
Best Practice: Energy group selects 170 top candidates for AC out of 3000 applications
An international energy company offers 30 trainee positions annually. To achieve their goal of filling these vacancies, they chose to streamline their process by focusing on the preselection step. It is also crucial for them to have as many qualified candidates as possible in this assessment centre. Diagnostically speaking, they want to maintain the “base rate” as high as possible.
Competency profile and trainee selection
A premise for selecting the best talents is to establish a competency profile, i.e. job-relevant requirements and skills that the candidates should be tested on in preselection. The following process matrix gives an overview of the various areas of competence and how they should be assessed in the selection process. As you can see, in addition to online tests, the multinational used pre-recorded video interviews.
Success #1: Video interviews give information about the suitability of candidates
Why exactly are video interviews useful? Well, the most important result is that the assessment of applicants’ video answers reliably predicts their performance in the subsequent assessment centre. That means:
Candidates who performed well in their video interview are likely to perform well in the following assessment center, too. This is an important outcome, because you may want to avoid “negative surprises”, i.e. unsuitable applicants, in the AC.
Success #2: Online tests and video interviews are the perfect match
Online tests and pre-recorded video interviews are often used in parallel, since both procedures are complementary to each other, as they assess different competencies.
An example: the asynchronous video interview helps you see if your candidates have developed communication skills, but is not suitable for assessing cognitive skills. Online tests, on the other hand, are. As a result, if you use both methods, you will have quite a complete picture of the candidate’s suitability and see who is really qualified for the job you offer. This combinatorial approach ensures an efficient and diagnostically reliable preselection.
