Staff Selection – Use Competency Tests To Reduce The Risk

Introduction

Staff Selection is an interesting activity. You have a job vacancy. You place an ad or use some other means to broadcast the news to potential candidates. You ask them to write to you. You read their applications and resumes. Before you read another word, stop and think about the last time you appointed someone who “didn’t work out”.

The Rot Sets In.

Based on what these complete strangers have written – or what someone else has written for them – you decide “who seems suitable”. You invite 3-4 of these complete strangers to visit you for an interview. You don’t know it. But you’re already in trouble.

A Retail Transaction

Selection is a retail transaction. You are the buyer. Applicants are sellers. Yet we don’t use sound retail practices when selecting staff.

A New Car And Staff Selection

Seriously: would you buy a new company car by inviting every car dealer in the state to send brochures to you? Would you ask the dealers with the   “best” brochures to come and tell you why you should buy their car? Of course you wouldn’t. Strange, isn’t it? New cars cost a lot less than new employees …!

Making Sense

What I’ve described is how many managers all over the world select new staff. They may vary the process by using a consultant or selection agent, a proforma application form or some other method to try to screen out unsuitable candidates. They may even conduct reference checks to try to avoid serious mistakes. It’s a flawed process. It doesn’t make sense.

Stranger Danger

Many managers appoint complete strangers to vacant jobs using only two criteria:  what the stranger wrote in an application and how well they “performed at interview”. If you’re appointing someone whose job is to write applications and “interview well” those criteria are sound. For any other job, it doesn’t make sense. You don’t buy anything else for your business using this method.

What You Must Do: Test Competence

There are lots of staff selection processes. Whichever you follow, include competency testing. You must ascertain whether complete strangers can do what they say they can do,  and whether they really know what they say they know. Stop kidding yourself. You cannot tell from a written resume, a completed application form or a face to face interview. I repeat: you cannot tell what someone can do merely by talking to them. If you genuinely believe you can, stop reading now. I can’t help you.

Expensive: You Bet!

We’re not discussing the buying of soft drinks, ice creams and fairground rides. Selection’s a very expensive business. You’re going to pay someone $50,000 – $100,000 a year – or perhaps much more – to perform for you.  You’ll also pay various taxes and fees above the actual salary. If the new employee “doesn’t work out”, it costs more. Consider this. Would you pay even $500 up front for a ticket to a sports event or a concert where you didn’t know of the performers and had no firm evidence of their accomplishments?

What To Test

You must decide what skills and knowledge applicants must, yes must, bring to the job. Do not believe what they tell you. Do not accept a referee’s opinion. I’m not saying that applicants and their referees are dishonest liars. I’m saying that you must satisfy yourself, based on demonstrable skill, that the candidates can do what they say they can do.

Case Studies

Competency testing isn’t just for operators, tradespersons, salespeople and office staff.

A client was seeking a Finance Manager. They sought written applications. They created a short list. The prime role was to prepare the annual reports. They took a cross section of these reports and created a series of questions about them. They called the “best” candidate to do the test. After 15 minutes, he told the receptionist he was “going to his car for some information”. They never saw him again.

In another case an accountant claimed in his resume that he could prepare and analyze spreadsheets. When confronted with data, spreadsheets and a PC, he could do neither satisfactorily. I have an endless supply of such stories. Tales where competency testing revealed serious inadequacies. Tests often “find out” candidates who, on paper, look outstanding. Incidentally, if an applicant is reluctant to take your test … well, you have your answer.

When?

Perform your tests as early as possible in the selection process: before you conduct a face to face interview. Why bother to interview someone who lacks the skill and knowledge to perform at the level you require?

Conclusion

Selection is about the future. Many managers spend all their time assessing what candidates have done for others in the past. It’s what they’ll do for you in the future that matters. That’s what you must decide. Competency testing should be an essential part of making that decision.

What To Do Now

Think about how competency testing could improve staff selection in your business. Make a note of how you’ll include it when you next have a vacancy. And leave a comment about the value of this post to you.