Ahhh… The perfect match! And I am not referring to love, here. But when you’re desperate to find the perfect candidate for a job, you might just sound as hopeless as someone who has been trying to find love for years.
There are numerous ways to try and find the right person for the right job, but we already know most of them: analyzing CVs, setting up proper job interviews, being specific in our job offers, seeking references…
How about something out of the ordinary, yet proven? How about a Job Match test?
And it does exactly what it says it does: it’s a test. To match someone. To a job.
Now, here are a few reasons why your organization absolutely needs one.
Don’t confuse a job match test with random online questionnaires
First things first, you need to understand that these two are completely different things. Questionnaires advising you to “Become an Astronaut!” are a far cry from the job match tests that this article is about (unless I was writing this article from outer space, which would’ve been pretty cool!).
A serious and scientifically validated fit assessment cannot be developed overnight. It requires time and a large sample of people to ensure accurate results. Only then can a job match test become truly effective.
And what does a job match, or fit assessment, do?
It simply allows you to “match” someone’s skills to a preferred and pre-established standard, allowing you to compare their profile to the job position you have handy.
Clone your best employees
We did say the job match test was scientific, didn’t we? But “cloning” makes it sound like it’s coming straight out of Raëlism.
What I mean by a scientifically validated job-fit test is that it refers to the degree to which a test measures what it is actually supposed to measure.
For instance, AtmanCo’s psychometric test was developed by psychology specialists and has undergone a thorough scientific validation using a sample of several thousand people to ensure the reliability and validity of the results.
And what I mean by “clone your best employees” is just to try and identify certain key indicators in your high-performing employees: do you see one? Are all of your best salesmen typically extroverted and results-oriented? Are most of your superstar Marketing Experts analytical and challenge-oriented?
Don’t get me wrong: team diversity is part of what makes an organization successful, but certain job positions most definitely have some sort of tendency in terms of what kind of personality you are looking for.
Determine the possible fit based on known benchmarks
Nowadays, I don’t think we can argue that it takes much more than a simple resume combined with a short interview to predict if a candidate will be fit for the job and the company.
The job-match test is a great way to compare a candidate’s personality profile to that of an ideal standard to have a better idea of their suitability for the job and chances of success. To determine if your candidate is qualified, you can either measure the level of fit compared to industry-based generic job standards, or you can build your own spectrum of what you consider to be the ideal candidate.
What matters is that you pick the right recruiting metrics that apply to your job, your industry, or your organization.
Score on job match tests is not everything
Even though the higher the score is, the more the person falls in the spectrum you are looking for, beware not to only swear by that number.
It’s as if a teacher were to state that whomever gets above 80% on an exam is a great student. What about the student who got 79%? What about the one who randomly got 90% because he answered most multiple-answer questions out of luck?
A job-match test is not a school exam, but you get my point: you cannot solely rely on that job-matching score.
The important thing to do is to look where your candidate or employee falls on your prefered spectrum to be able to:
- Optimize their onboarding process
- Train your candidates and employees appropriately
- Know what to expect from their natural reflexes
- Pinpoint aspects that will need more development
- Identify their strengths
- Highlight the core competencies needed for both cultural and job-fit
No two snowflakes are alike
And no two employees will perform exactly the same, despite both fitting (or not) according to the job match test.
These personality tests based on an employee’s fit assessment are meant to be objective and positive, not discriminatory to reject a potential candidate or refuse to promote an employee. It is a useful support to take success factors for benchmarked positions into account, in order to have a better chance at making amazing HR decisions.
How likely are you to try this type of test in your organization?
Some opinions are mixed as to the usefulness of these types of assessments. And to that, I answer: you’re right… IF you base your HR decisions solely on this assessment. The job match test is meant to support your hiring or advancement opportunities decision, not to rule everything else out.
If you were to tell me you only made decisions based on one aspect of the process, I’d also tell you that you are wrong. You need to assess different information from different sources before you can make accurate and reasonable decisions (interview, CV, peer evaluations, background, etc.). The job-match test is only one of those elements that will ensure you made the right choice the next time you say “I do” to a candidate.
So! What is your opinion on using job-match assessments in your organization?