I saw this clip again the other day and whilst it’s not great it does illustrate the age old problem recruiters face time and time again.

How do we assess candidates quickly and fairly so that we can make a decision?

I have done a lot of work around behavioural based psychometric testing and when used properly as part of an overall package of assessment it really works.  Naturally as with all these things, no matter how accurate I think it is it doesn’t mean that it works for everyone. I would rather organisations committed to them or dismissed them, sadly some opt for the middle route deploying the 16pf as some form of catch all without any clear understanding of what they are using it for and the results they can expect. This sums up interviewing and assessment in general.  Certainly in sales recruitment where it still comes down to the first few seconds on that first face to face interview.  Again I admire organisations that admit that it is all about gut feel.

A company I recently met did exactly that, more like speed dating than interviewing, 6 people meet the candidate in 90 minutes.  From a candidate experience they got to meet more people in the organisation than they would normally, from the potential employer point of view 6 gut feels are better than 1.

More structured interview clearly work but making sure they are used effectively can be a challenge, even if we all stick to the same structured competency based questions we all ask them in a different way and more critically hear the answers in a different way.  Flavour of the month is behavioural event interviewing. 

I’m a great supporter of it.

In competent, experienced hands it is a great tool to assessing what we are really like, how we behave in certain circumstances.  When supported by effect psychometric testing and a decent manager to employee interview it can be cracking.  In the wrong hands the BEI is waste of effort.  Critics would also say that candidates can also rig the results if they do enough of them.

So how do we move on from “where do you see yourself in 50 moons time” type questions to something that delivers?

Answers on some slate please...