Effective Recruitment Methods that can be Used Today

Companies of all types and sizes try to hire the best employees. To achieve this, they use various methods of employee selection in their recruitment process to narrow down potential candidates.

But from automated CV review and cover letter reading to whiteboard interviews and trick questions, the range of methods employers use to assess candidates is immense and overwhelming.

So how can you tell which methods of employee selection you should use? And which of these are most effective in your recruiting process?

• What does it involve?
• Assessment of cognitive skills
• Assessment of learning flexibility
• Test situational judgement
• Measuring employee integrity
• Test job skills
• Enter a test work order
• Organize an Assessment Center
• Structure your interview process
• Conduct peer interviews
• Check candidate references
• Organize a work trial day

What is employee selection?

Employee selection, also known as candidate selection, is the process of finding a new employee who is best suited for the position in question. The steps in the employee selection process depend on the role you want to hire for, your recruitment budget, the seniority of the position, the available resources and your organizational requirements.

Rather than relying on one method alone to select or reject candidates, your selection methods should be combined to make the most informed decision possible. For example, you can combine pre-recruitment testing with other employee selection methods such as interviewing, testing and trial days to accurately predict the success of the position and cultural fit.

Best Employee Selection Methods for Top Talent Selection

Assessment of cognitive abilities

Cognitive skills are the most important predictor of work performance in all employment levels and industries. Cognitive skills assessments are a form of pre-recruitment tests that assess how well candidates use a variety of mental processes, such as working with numbers, abstract thinking, problem solving, reading comprehension and learning skills.

When correctly implemented and applied, the assessment of cognitive skills is a highly effective method for predicting professional success. Thanks to digital technology, they are also relatively inexpensive and easy to manage online. However, one potential pitfall is the risk of negative impact, i.e. the negative effect that a biased selection process has on a protected group of people.

To prevent it from hindering your recruitment efforts, you should be careful to measure the negative impact of your cognitive ability tests regularly. You can measure your negative impact by tracking whether the four-fifths rule or the 80% rule applies to your candidate selection.

Assess the learning ability

Learning flexibility assessment is another effective employee selection tool that you can integrate into your recruitment process. The American author Alvin Toffler gave a good breakdown of learning flexibility when he said

"The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.

In other words, learning flexibility is the ability to be in a new situation, not knowing how to deal with it, and then finding out anyway. An agile learner can apply his or her previous learning experiences to new scenarios that he or she has not yet experienced. Learning flexibility is a critical skill that you can measure to gain a real understanding of how applicants function and adapt in ever-evolving work environments.

However, it is a challenge to develop a well-designed, reliable assessment to measure learning flexibility. When you go down this path, make sure that your assessment of learning flexibility evaluates the skills and characteristics that agile learners have in common.

Test situational judgement

Another great way to improve employee selection is to evaluate situational judgment. Situational Judgement Tests (SJT) present candidates with various scenarios that they might experience when selected for the specific role for which they are applying.

These tests are designed to assess how well candidates set priorities, follow instructions and deal with situations that occur in the workplace. They are highly anticipatory in terms of job performance and cultural suitability and can give candidates a realistic preview at the beginning of the application process.

Apart from this, Situational Judgement Tests can be costly and are sometimes difficult to design and implement. This is because they usually require the input of an industrial psychologist (IO) as well as a production team and a designer. You can simplify the process by choosing a partner like Harver who takes care of the entire production process.

Measuring employee integrity

Of course you want to hire honest, reliable employees for your organization - but how exactly do you measure that? Employee Integrity Testing allows you to gain insight into the honesty, reliability and work ethics of candidates. Integrity and other relevant soft skills are usually assessed using a digital personality questionnaire.

However, before jumping on the bandwagon of integrity testing, potential legal issues must be considered. Some have been challenged in court for requiring candidates to evaluate statements that could be considered discriminatory. In some areas, such as Massachusetts in the USA, integrity testing for employees has even been banned altogether. To avoid legal problems, it is important to ensure that your test complies with applicable laws, has no adverse effects and proves validity.

Test job skills

Does the candidate have the actual knowledge required to perform the activity in question? While it is usually important that the knowledge can be learned in the workplace and other factors are more important, there are certain roles that require candidates to have specific professional knowledge and skills. Each job family requires a different assessment of skills, but some skills such as multitasking, typing and language skills can be useful for different roles and industries.

Apart from this, skills assessment is still an additional step for applicants. Therefore, timing is everything. Introducing a competency test too early in the recruiting process can put off applicants. To avoid this, you should keep your competency assessment short, allow sufficient time for it and wait until you have a small pool of short-listed candidates to move forward.

Give a work assignment for a test

Test assignments or tests of work samples are an excellent way to help with employee selection. They allow top candidates to get a feel for what they would do at work while you can understand the skills they bring to the table.

For example, candidates for a banking position might be required to work on a mathematical problem, while candidates for a software engineering position might be required to demonstrate their programming skills. Other examples include writing assignments, typing tests, fact-checking assessments and other job-specific skills.

The downside of test assignments is that candidates may be eliminated from the hiring process if they are completed too early or for too long. Keep your test items short, give clear instructions and introduce the test at a later stage in the recruitment process, for example after an initial interview, when candidates invest more and are likely to follow through.

Organize an assessment center

Assessment centers allow employers to see candidates' hard and soft skills in action. Rather than locations where candidates take a particular test, assessment centers refer to a testing process that analyzes each candidate's social, analytical and communication skills.

These tests consist of simulations and exercises designed to evaluate how a person would perform in real-world scenarios in the workplace. They are usually carried out within a fixed time frame and usually last one day. This approach helps recruiters and hiring managers to make informed hiring decisions. It also gives candidates a clearer picture of the realities of the job they are applying for.

One drawback is that these tests must be evaluated by trained individuals and that their implementation and evaluation can be costly. Therefore, assessment centers are most cost-effective in large-scale recruitment efforts. Because assessment is done manually, the results can also be subjective. If you are considering setting up an assessment center, your assessors should be thoroughly trained to conduct tests and evaluate candidates.

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Structure your interview process

Structuring your interview process ensures that everyone is treated fairly and that the same pre-defined questions are asked. This allows recruiters to compare candidates' answers and be more objective, minimizing recruitment bias. A structured interview process is especially helpful if you have several qualified candidates for the same position.

Apart from that, interviewers might judge candidates subjectively, which can make it difficult to take what they say at face value. To get the most out of your interviews, create a standardized interview guide that contains both pre-defined questions and detailed evaluation criteria. This will ensure that you ask the same questions to every applicant and remain as objective as possible when selecting your new employees.

Conducting peer interviews

It is always a good idea to involve the team you are hiring for, as they know the daily tasks and current skill gaps better than anyone else. Peer interviews help to ensure that you remain objective in your hiring efforts and on the same page as the hiring manager and the internal team.

By giving team members the opportunity to interact with candidates, you can gain additional insights that the hiring manager might not have been able to provide. Peer interviews help decide on the cultural fit and make the candidates feel more comfortable. Chances are that they will open up more than if they were interviewed by a potential boss!

Possible pitfalls are that the interviewers need to be trained to be sure that they ask the right questions. It can also be distracting and sometimes get in the way of daily responsibilities. This can be counteracted by selecting the right interviewers, creating a standard structure for the interviews, providing comprehensive training for the interviewers and making the requirements of the position clear.

Check candidate references

Reference checks are more than just a formality. They are an opportunity to gain valuable insights that can help you identify top candidates and better understand how a candidate would fit into the new position. Reference checks allow you to learn more about candidates and the way they work and can bring up red flags before you make your selection.

However, checking references can be time-consuming - especially if you are hiring for countless open positions at once. But you can make it worthwhile by asking the right questions. Focus on questions that give you more insight into performance, successes and weaknesses. Avoid asking closed questions that require only a yes or no answer, as they are less likely to provide useful information.

Instead, you will find examples of relevant open questions to be asked in a reference exam:

• How long did the candidate work for your organization?
• What tasks and responsibilities did the candidate have?
• What was their greatest strength? What was their greatest weakness?
• Why did the candidate leave your organization?
• Would you hire him/her back if the opportunity arose?

Organize a taster day

As with any long-term investment, it is advisable to try things out before you make your choice. Inviting the shortlisted candidates to a job trial day is a good way to see how they react to the usual situations they encounter in the role when they are selected.

Think of it as an audition to assess both professional and cultural suitability. You can see how candidates and potential colleagues get along with each other and help set expectations both in relation to the specific role you are hiring for and in relation to the company as a whole.

The disadvantage of job trial days is that they are time-consuming for candidates. You should always discuss and agree on the conditions (e.g. compensation, a full/half day or a few hours, etc.) in advance to ensure that the candidates' experience remains positive - you don't want to lose your first choice along the way!

In the end

The employee selection process is as unique as an organization itself, and the best format for your business depends on many things. You need to find the selection methods that are reliable, proactive and best suited to the roles you want to hire for. And don't rely on just one method when making your decision. Don't rely on just one method to make your decision, but combine several methods of employee selection to get the job done - and put the right people in your company in the right roles!

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