Assessment: Promise Land
People Management September 2011
As organisations become ever more lean, getting exactly the right skills in place is critical. So employers can take heart in the fact that options for assessment are proliferating, providing flexible ways to identify someone’s potential.
Firms are turning to assessment providers to ensure they are attracting the right kind of people, and keeping them.
It would be a stretch to suggest that the assessment sector is recession-proof. But it is fair to say that providers have not suffered in the way other HR services vendors have. During the toughest period of the economic downturn, employers continued to make use of assessment tools as they needed to restructure, or develop existing staff.
Now that recruitment is starting to pick up – in some sectors at least – firms are turning to their assessment providers to ensure they are attracting the right kind of people, and keeping them. "Successful organisations know they must carefully assess talent to remain competitive," says Sean Howard, SHL. "As employees are enticed by new opportunities, companies who value their internal talent are looking for ways to ensure their workforces' interests and abilities are matched and potentially redeployed."
This has had a knock-on effect on the assessment tools on offer, on client expectations of providers and products and on associated pricing. The economic backdrop has also defined extra characteristics that employers are looking for in potential and existing employees. Competency and skills are no longer enough. The interest in potential goes hand in hand with a related desire: to hire people with change management skills. "In a world where organisations are in constant flux, change management skills are vital," says Stephen Brooks, specialist in people management at PA Consulting Group. "People always used to think that change has a beginning, middle and end. Now they are seeing that change has lots of middle but no beginning or end."
Knowing how to deal with the unknown is essential, particularly for senior leaders. "Companies hire seniors on the basis that they can do the job in the next 12 to 18 months," says Simon Brittain, managing partner at Kiddy & Partners. "But if you can find someone who can do that and adapt to future change, that is who you will be hiring."
Focusing on cultural fit has meant that organisations are incorporating their employer brand values into bespoke assessment. The Chemistry Group, for instance, has taken this approach in its work with mobile phone company O2 to create a bespoke online game that an applicant completes for an in-store "guru" position. The game – O2 Village – involves candidates pretending to be a guru, with their responses to questions assessed. This is followed by a behavioural telephone assessment and then an in-store interview. In its first week, the programme saved O2 125 working days, and the quality of applicants increased. This approach marks a shift in the way organisations use assessment, says Philby. "Clients are moving to a place where they want bespoke tools that fit their brand."
While there is growing interest in bespoke solutions, many organisations still want to buy off-the-shelf in order to save money. "Some clients are looking for lean assessment solutions – quick, user-friendly and cost-effective assessment tools/approaches," says Helen Bradley, managing consultant at A&DC. "In both cases, there has been an increased interest in sifting and remote online assessment."
Technology has aided this, with many assessment tools able to be used online. Applicants can take assessments on mobile technology, for instance, and managers can view results quickly.
Education, education, education
Social media is also fast becoming a popular method of attracting and contacting potential applicants, and organisations are using websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to build employer brand loyalty. But more education in how technology can benefit assessment is needed.
Many of these techniques are taking a step into the unknown for the assessment sector, which strives for scientifically valid and robust procedures. "It is very difficult to apply the conventional psychometric yardsticks of reliability and validity to assessments based on serious gaming," says Robert McHenry, OPP's chairman and CEO. "So we don't know if they are any good or not."
The use of social networking sites in assessment also remains under-researched. As Fiona Robson, senior lecturer, organisation and HRM at Newcastle Business School, says: "The use of technology is growing, though there is a general caution about in relying solely on these methods, as they remain fairly new and untested."
Online approaches can also be impersonal, and it's possible to find crib sheets on the internet for assessment tools, says Brooks. "If you have impersonal processes, the message you are giving is that it's an impersonal company. You have to do some face-to-face [assessment]." He suggests that organisations have chosen online because it's cheap and cheerful, but adds: "I believe there will be a rebound from it. I suspect we may get a happy medium of online with [traditional methods of] establishing relationships, especially as we move into a more competitive market."
All these market pressures have led to the assessment market being characterised by some consolidation and competition. This year's merger between SHL and -PreVisor created a global giant, providing assessment tools to 150 countries, covering 30 languages.
Global capability is becoming more important for smaller providers, too. "We are a firm in central London with partners in various areas of the world. In the next 12 months we will be making sure we have got global capability," says Simon Brittain of Kiddy & Partners.
In the developed world, adds McHenry, there is a great deal of competition for market share, and many providers are being forced to look to expand in new international markets, such as China and India. "The ability to service a customer globally and have the resources to assist customers throughout the talent lifecycle of their employees is becoming essential for a provider," he concludes.
What's on the horizon
Assessment 2.0: A full understanding of how social media can properly benefit the assessment process without sacrificing robustness and validity needs to be achieved.
Fewer graduates: With annual fees for degrees rising to as much as £9,000 at many institutions, there are "almost certainly going to be fewer graduates and less diversity," according to Stephen Brooks, specialist in people management at PA Consulting Group. Employers and assessment providers will need to consider that the graduate recruitment market may get very tough for them in the future and graduates may be more demanding.
Neurology and assessment: Shadowing Alcoholics Anonymous and WeightWatchers, the organisation has been able to look at what drives entire shifts in people's behaviour and how this can be applied to the specific behaviours organisations seek in employees.