| As
the labour market continues to tighten, employers constantly
complain that is increasingly difficult to find the
‘right’ candidates, in-fact it is now widely
recognised that this factor alone is one of the biggest
threats to the expansion of organisations in the UK
and Europe.
Survey after survey reveal what all employers
and HR departments know, “you just cannot find
the right candidates!”, “everybody is after
the same people!” the melodramatic phrase that
encapsulates these symptoms - the ‘war for talent’.
That the War For Talent exists is indisputable, and
if it truly is a war then the screeners and testers
are the ‘code breakers’
There are lots of candidates about, but
ascertaining if they are the ‘right’ candidates
for the job and for the company is now less of a ‘knack’
and more of a science.
Average correlation between what a company
wants in an applicant for a position and what it finally
employs is still often less than 30%, put simply they
have a 1 in 3 chance of getting the ideal candidate.
Then they have to keep them!!
Screening; the methods by which organisations
filter applicants in or out of the recruitment process.
The theory is simple, using a combination of behavioural,
cognitive, attitude and skills assessments the organisation
can focus in on the right candidates. Too often, application
of these methods is inconsistent, burdensome and costly.
Moreover the company need to fully understand BEFORE
they employ the use of sophisticated screening techniques
just what it is they are looking for.
Many organisations need to easily understand
and be able to answer key questions surrounding not
just the requirements of an individual to do the job,
but to be able to identify which are the best performers
and to be able to push that information back into the
recruitment process so that recruiters use screening
and skills testing to identify actual and future high
performers.
Online screening and skills testing used
not just within the recruitment cycle, but as part of
a companywide employee performance evaluation will help
identify actual and potential talent both within as
well as outside the organisation and give employers
competitive advantage in the ‘war for talent’.
Bring on the Cavalry then, Talent management
Solutions enable employers to easily accommodate their
chosen screening and skills testing techniques both
as part of the recruitment cycle AND within Employee
Performance Monitoring.
Using a Talent Management System with
integrated skills and screening tests a manager is able
to view the skills and competencies of their high performers,
and can use that data as a benchmark to identify new
recruits that fit the same mould quickly easily and
for little cost. Moreover they can change the profiles
required of groups of people who perform ever changing
roles within a constantly changing and growing organisation.
Companies can for example easily access
this information to identify WHERE the good applicants
are coming from and more efficiently use its attraction
budget to tap into the pool of ‘excellent’
as well as ‘right’ candidates.
Accessible, consistent and incisive screening
and skills tests help IDENTIFY the talent within people.
HR Departments acquire significant advantage in locating,
engaging and developing high performers within their
organisations only when this
information is integrated within a solution to MANAGE
that talent.
Chris Buckley
HRsmart United Kingdom |
