May 2006 Newsletter
PageUp Newsletter May 2006
In this issue:
- Psychometric tests allows you to hire the top candidates
- PageUp is nominated to present at the Business 3000 breakfast held at the RACV club in Melbourne
Psychometric tests allows you to hire the top candidates
Corporate Australia is increasingly recognising and measuring the impact and cost of poor hiring decisions and associated staff turnover.
Costs may include aspects such as administration and recruiter fees to fill the new vacancy, the administration costs of processing the separation, the cost of hiring in temporary help, orientation and on boarding of the new employee associated with employee turnover. Additional hidden costs include disrupted department operations, loss of client relationships and even chain reaction turnover.
In light of these costs reducing staff turnover and creating a sustainable workforce is amongst the highest priorities of businesses and getting the hiring decision right is a crucial goal of recruitment teams.
Psychometric testing provides an objective summary of an individual's abilities, behavioural style and cultural fit and is an excellent predictor of future performance. They provide an objective measurement of a candidates taking much of the inference and guesswork out of the recruitment process as well as providing a bench mark against the identified pre-requisites for success in a position.
Psychometric tests are a valuable tool in the prevention of expensive hiring mistakes, the reduction of staff turnover and the identification of culturally relevant motivational fit. Psychometric testing has been proven to predict the success of candidates and to help reduce staff turnover. Increasingly the value of this information has been turned to apply to another of the major challenges for recruitment teams, identifying Talent in an increasingly tight market.
The traditional place for psychometric assessment within the recruitment process has been to apply this methodology late in the selection process, perhaps as a point of comparison between qualified candidates and as a means to rule applicants out of the process. Increasingly however these tools are being seen as a means of 'ruling applicants in' and giving them consideration where there is an obvious match between the cultural, personality and soft skills fit even though they may not meet other criteria such as experience.
The anecdotal evidence is reporting a significant improvement in first 6 month turnover (indicating job fit), increased sales per hour, improved staff dependability (as measured by metrics such as absenteeism and procedural / behavioral compliance measures), training outcomes and customer service measures.
Profiling to rule candidates in is a lesson learnt from the recruitment of graduates and recruitment into executive fast track programs and it is increasingly being applied to applicants at early stages in general recruitment processes.
Testing in the early stages of the application process allows recruiters to broaden their prospective pool of talent to candidates who otherwise might not be considered. Whilst the results of testing alone should not determine the final hiring decision, it provides an objective measurement of the likelihood of success of candidates in addition to the usual criteria. A larger pool of potential talent allows greater comparison of the merits of all applicants across all dimensions.
The move towards testing at the top of the recruitment tunnel has been facilitated by the wide spread use of online technologies. Testing online reduces costs (testers, time, provision of facilities) as well as businesses reporting a 50-70% time reduction to create a shortlist. Integration with recruitment management systems has added significant value to this process enabling the information and efficient screening of larger application volumes.
Psychometric testing is well established and its benefits proven and well documented. The application of these tools; which increase the quality of hire and help reduce turnover is increasingly being recognised not just as valuable tools in short listing candidates but in increasing the pool of talent under consideration - a benefit which should not be ignored.
PageUp People has integrated with many of the top online testing providers, for example SHL. For further information please call PageUp on +61 3 8677 3777 or +61 2 8088 0600
PageUp is nominated to present at the Business 3000 breakfast held at the RACV club in Melbourne
Recently some of Melbourne's biggest movers and shakers gathered at the RACV club for the Business 3000 breakfast. Karen Cariss, PageUp's CEO presented a very enlightening presentation on PageUp's business success and excellence.
The guest speaker was Oarsome Foursome member James Tomkins, who spoke about the lessons learned in sport and business.
The Business 3000 award is dedicated to recognising:
Local companies that have demonstrated business success and excellence
Inspire other businesses to take up the challenge and learn from the
experiences of others to achieve their own business success
Foster a valuable networking environment for local business people, share ideas and experiences
Create business support and encourage and support business activity that will enhance the City of Melbourne?s reputation for innovation, business vitality and environmental sustainability