Screening & Assessment

Corporate recruiting is a field where there are distinct and measurable differences between the average and elite functions. In short, what that means is that “elite” recruiting functions (defined as the top 1%) produce superior results and act in ways that are totally different from the average function. I am …

If you’re getting low quality hires, it’s time to realize that the blind and uneducated use of resumes may be a main contributing factor (note that earlier this year I completed a similar analysis on interviews, the second major contributor to low quality hires). Resumes are the currency of recruiting. …

Candidate selection and assessment is one of the most conservative processes in all of talent management. Many think the topic is not worth a detailed examination, but a weak assessment or interview process can be the primary cause for not hiring top candidates. For decades, the majority of firms have …

What could be simpler than assessing "the fit" of a candidate?

Employment reference checking and background screening should win recognition as the weakest of all corporate HR processes. A validity meta-analysis study conducted by Aamodt & Williams in 2005 found that the corrected validity coefficient for reference recommendations and actual job performance was a staggeringly low .29. Despite the facts, 96% of …

With access to and leverage of talent playing a more critical role in an organization’s ability to succeed than ever before, it should come as no surprise that the financial analyst community would start evaluating talent management capability when rating organizations. The fact that analysts historically haven’t paid much attention …

Characterizing the Last 20 Years While the adoption of technology has certainly been a major driver of change, there are ultimately four characteristics that define the business environment of the last two decades. Those characteristics are: Continuous churn — frequent cycles of both rapid economic growth and contraction that forced …

If you want to avoid many of the interview errors that have been outlined in the previous three installments in this series, it’s important that you take the time to educate managers about interviewing. I’m not talking about a day-long training session; instead, use a reminder sheet, e-mail, or website …

There’s no doubt about it: Google is one of the most innovative recruiting organizations on the planet. I’ve written in the past about some of their world-class practices, but in light of recent innovations and global news interest, an update is in order. In less than nine years, Google has …

Interviews Stink as Selection Devices Everyone conducts interviews; it is an established part of business culture and nothing is going to change that. Applicants expect interviews as do recruiters and managers. Unfortunately, the extensive use of a tool does not make that tool and accurate one. There are literally dozens …