Pre-employment screening – 3 WC Blog 428
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Pre-employment Screening Or Hiring Assessments; Is One A Better Tool Than The Other For Staffing Your Business? Part 1
I have a question for you store owners, ( I am addressing you but I really hope that some of those in positions of authority to make decisions regarding hiring in larger companies will read this article too). How many of you utilize those hiring assessments when you are having prospective employees complete your applications? You know the ones I’m talking about they ask a prospective employee five different times what they would do if they saw a manager stealing. The catch is that the question is worded differently each time and some of those times it is asked in a confusing manner that requires the applicant to be very careful when reading the question. I know the intent behind the surveys. The idea is to see if the applicant is being consistent and too many inconsistencies results in a failing score. When managers see the score they automatically disregard that applicant. The other problem with the assessments is that many are measuring the strength of an applicant’s responses. Too many “mediocre” responses and scores are lowered. How do I know this? First, as a Loss Prevention Manager and Logistics Manager for nearly 14 years for a major retailer I have been involved with the hiring process, I know how these things read. I have also been on the applicant’s end of one of these. I will go into that a little later. Before I do that I want to let store managers and human resource managers know that there is a more effective method of hiring great people without losing good ones due to what I consider a flawed and quite frankly, flawed evaluation process. Pre-employment Screening is a much more effective method of evaluating a potential candidate.
Pre-employment screening is the process of having a prospective employee’s history verified. The easiest way to get this done is to hire a background check company to do the legwork for you. These companies specialize in contacting references on an applicant’s application. They can validate a person’s work history along with other personal information that might include a criminal background check, a driving history, and past residences where they say they have lived. What does it matter if a person lists the wrong place where they once lived on their application? It could be that your applicant has been moving to avoid something. It might be they are trying to skip around to avoid credit collectors or worse, law enforcement officials. The professionals that work for background check companies know where to find information someone may be trying to hide and they know why that information is important.
So, why am I so vehemently opposed to hiring assessments? Am I against trying to minimize the chances of hiring a bad apple? Not at all, I just know that they can and do take strong candidates out of your hiring pool. I also know that if someone is clever they will answer what will get them through that assessment, whether they are a good applicant or not. When I was between jobs a number of years ago I applied for a department manager job for a retailer and took the assessment. Mind you I had experience as a military Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), a Bachelor of Arts degree, about 18 years of retail experience and 14 of that in management. I failed to meet the company’s minimum score for a department manager. The store manager could not allow me to retake the test for 6 months but I could take the sales associate assessment. I knew then what the test was looking for and scored a 100%. The manager said he had never seen that score before. I was hired for the associate position. I took that knowledge and when my children were applying for jobs I told them how to answer questions. All three were able to get jobs the first time around. No, don’t worry, I won’t give away any tips but I want you to understand a Pre-employment screening is a much more reliable tool than that silly assessment.
In Part 2, I will explain further why I dislike assessments so much. I will also explain more on why I believe a Background Check Company is a much better alternative to ensure you are hiring a great team of employees.
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
I have a question for you store owners, (I am addressing you but I really hope that some of those in positions of authority to make decisions regarding hiring in larger companies will read this article too). How many of you utilize those hiring assessments when you are having prospective employees complete your applications? You know the ones I’m talking about they ask a prospective employee five different times what they would do if they saw a manager stealing. The catch is that the question is worded differently each time and some of those times it is asked in a confusing manner that requires the applicant to be very careful when reading the question. I know the intent behind the surveys. The idea is to see if the applicant is being consistent and too many inconsistencies results in a failing score. When managers see the score they automatically disregard that applicant. The other problem with the assessments is that many are measuring the strength of an applicant’s responses. Too many “mediocre” responses and scores are lowered. How do I know this? First, as a Loss Prevention Manager and Logistics Manager for nearly 14 years for a major retailer I have been involved with the hiring process, I know how these things read. I have also been on the applicant’s end of one of these. I will go into that a little later. Before I do that I want to let store managers and human resource managers know that there is a more effective method of hiring great people without losing good ones due to what I consider a flawed and quite frankly, flawed evaluation process. Pre-employment Screening is a much more effective method of evaluating a potential candidate.
Pre-employment screening is the process of having a prospective employee’s history verified. The easiest way to get this done is to hire a background check company to do the legwork for you. These companies specialize in contacting references on an applicant’s application. They can validate a person’s work history along with other personal information that might include a criminal background check, a driving history, and past residences where they say they have lived. What does it matter if a person lists the wrong place where they once lived on their application? It could be that your applicant has been moving to avoid something. It might be they are trying to skip around to avoid credit collectors or worse, law enforcement officials. The professionals that work for background check companies know where to find information someone may be trying to hide and they know why that information is important.
So, why am I so vehemently opposed to hiring assessments? Am I against trying to minimize the chances of hiring a bad apple? Not at all, I just know that they can and do take strong candidates out of your hiring pool. I also know that if someone is clever they will answer what will get them through that assessment, whether they are a good applicant or not. When I was between jobs a number of years ago I applied for a department manager job for a retailer and took the assessment. Mind you I had experience as a military Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), a Bachelor of Arts degree, about 18 years of retail experience and 14 of that in management. I failed to meet the company’s minimum score for a department manager. The store manager could not allow me to retake the test for 6 months but I could take the sales associate assessment. I knew then what the test was looking for and scored a 100%. The manager said he had never seen that score before. I was hired for the associate position. I took that knowledge and when my children were applying for jobs I told them how to answer questions. All three were able to get jobs the first time around. No, don’t worry, I won’t give away any tips but I want you to understand a Pre-employment screening is a much more reliable tool than that silly assessment.
In Part 2, I will explain further why I dislike assessments so much. I will also explain more on why I believe a Background Check Company is a much better alternative to ensure you are hiring a great team of employees.
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
