Discover the Real Science behind Candidate Selection

Yes, recruitment is far more than checking a resume, ‘liking’ a candidate at interview, and trusting the rest to luck.

There’s a science behind the selection of new employees which can revolutionise the way you identify and develop top performers as well as reduce high staff turnover.

Studies show that around 50% of candidates embellish their resumes. So is it wise to place too much store on what candidates choose to tell you?

According to extensive research studies, real and enduring success lies in matching potential employees to the critical success attributes of the role.

And this gives employers an entirely new focus. As well as knowing the vital components of the job in question, the task is to analyse how closely each candidate matches them.

This is where the JobFit tool emerges as hero – working out a candidate’s genuine compatibility with both the role and company culture, based on a range of smart, quantifiable criteria.

MORE: Take the Online Job Analysis Survey

The importance of JobFit

A major 20-year study by H & J Greenberg highlighted the importance of using JobFit when matching people to roles.

This involves selecting a candidate based on the position’s critical success attributes rather than relying on the traditional criteria of the individual’s job history, industry experience, educational qualifications, age, gender and race.

One of the largest studies of its kind, 360,000 people from 14 different industries were tracked in the United States, Canada and Western Europe.

The results, published in the Harvard Business Review, provided a startling insight into the shortcomings of entrenched recruitment practices which are still prevalent in companies of every size.

The research findings

Here’s what the study found:

“Experience is usually a principle criterion for making hiring decisions…… Yet we found little difference in performance between these experienced individuals and those with no experience. The person with no experience, given training and supervision, is as likely to succeed as the person with two or more years of experience.”

So experience, in itself, is a poor indicator of future performance. Employers need to look at other transferable skills and personality traits which can enhance employee performance in lieu of experience.

And it’s not just a question of experience being a poor indicator. Accumulated years of experience can actually indicate someone who has merely ‘survived’ their employment, rather than learning from it. As the research shows, don’t rule out that fresh, energetic, gifted individual just because they haven’t done the job before.

Employers also need to look beyond education, and not be blinded by prestigious qualifications. Although a degree is often a key criteria for filling roles, the study found that people with lower levels of education can do the job “as readily” as those with university degrees.

It’s an interesting move back to a time when society offered far more chances to ‘climb the ladder’ starting right at the bottom – rather than being ruled out of certain jobs through lack of educational advantage.

The relevance of JobFit

 “In view of these findings, an obvious question arises: If these long used criteria are invalid, what criteria can industry use to better predict job performance? The answer is: criteria that make a better match between the person and the job.”

And this is where JobFit comes into its own. By identifying a role’s critical success attributes – its mental demands, environment, pace and requirements for specific personality, behavioural traits and occupational interests – the JobFit tool allows organisations to make superior job matches and crank up the success rate in employing future high performers by up to 300%.

It takes a quantifiable approach to candidate selection, telling you whether a person has the attributes to do the job, how they will carry out the job and if they are likely to enjoy the job.

So let’s take a look at three ways of using JobFit principles in the recruitment process.

1. Establishing cultural fit

 No job candidate can be truly assessed without reference to the critical success attributes of the role.

But how will you tease out the critical success attributes of the role without reference to the company culture?

Every position reflects the goals, ethics and expectations which drive the company forward. These need to be built into every role as a true representation of what makes the company – and its staff – tick.

Trying to match a candidate to a role without knowing how the role fits into your organisation is putting the cart before the horse.

But this can be hard to define. Perhaps you’ve never really pinned down what your company ethic is all about – and how your staff reflect it.

We can help you identify the core features of your company culture, which feed in to the essential attributes of your job roles.

Once you have a strong foundation to build on, you can more accurately target the top performers and future leaders who form the heart of your company.

2. Developing customised benchmarks

“Just get me another Bill or Mary.” How many times have you said that before a recruitment process?

The most productive and effective employees are the ones you want more of, but how do you find new employees just like them?

It’s all about extracting the ‘success DNA’ of your most productive staff. Our customised people assessments are the key to creating, managing and retaining top-level teams, providing a blueprint for identification of star performers.

Using JobFit assessments, we can help you understand what makes your most talented recruits tick.

Our unique, high performance benchmarks – tailored to your organisation’s needs – guide you through the hiring process, identifying core competencies essential for an employee to excel in a specific role as well as form a positive fit in your organisation.

3. Behavioural interviews

Behavioural interviews, based on behavioural psychology, are another smart, proven method of predicting how well a candidate will perform in a specific role.

The science behind this type of interview question dictates that past behaviour is the most likely indicator of future behaviour.

By using behaviourally-based interview questions, hiring managers can identify candidates’ personality traits and motivations, along with their potential to share organisational values.

In a survey by DDI Australia, 78% of respondents noted behavioural questions as a highly effective tool for identifying cultural fit.

Our JobFit assessments provide customised interview guides, drilling down into the candidate’s personality, behavioural traits and suitability for the role.

So why is JobFit a science? Because it relies on objective measurement of critical success attributes and core competencies, and has been statistically proven to reduce staff turnover by an average of 47%.

With an average ROI on assessments of $26 per $1 invested, there’s never been a better time to start the JobFit journey.