Psychometric testing offers numerous advantages when it comes to the hiring process. By implementing this scientifically backed approach, organisations can identify the best potential hires for their specific roles, increasing their value to the business and improving retention through alignment. Let’s explore the key benefits of utilising psychometric testing in your hiring process:

1. 1. 1. A Baseline to Identify the Best Potential Hires:
         Psychometric testing serves as a baseline to evaluate candidates objectively and identify the most suitable individuals for your organisation. By going beyond resumes and previous work experience, psychometric assessments allow you to assess candidates’ key skills, preferences, and potential for growth. This approach helps you make more informed decisions and identify candidates who align with the role’s requirements.
      2. Proven, Legally Defensible, and Science-Backed Approach:
         Psychometric testing provides a reliable and legally defensible method for recruitment. These assessments are developed based on rigorous research and adhere to established scientific principles. By relying on a well-validated and standardised approach, you can make confident and informed hiring decisions while mitigating potential biases.
      3. Increasing Diversity of Hires:
         Psychometric testing promotes diversity and inclusivity by relying on objective and fair data. Traditional hiring methods, such as relying solely on resumes or unstructured interviews, can be influenced by unconscious biases. By leveraging psychometric assessments, organisations can reduce bias and ensure a more equitable and diverse selection process, leading to a more inclusive workforce.
      4. Improving Time to Hire and Reducing Costs:
         Efficiency is a key advantage of psychometric testing. By screening candidates early in the recruitment process, employers can streamline the selection process, saving time and resources. With psychometric testing, assessments can be administered to a large number of candidates simultaneously, accelerating the screening phase and shortening time to hire. Additionally, reducing time spent on lengthy administrative tasks enables HR teams to focus on other critical aspects of the hiring process.
      5. Enhancing Retention and Performance:
         Psychometric testing helps improve employee retention by aligning individuals with roles that suit their skills, preferences, and potential for growth. By identifying candidates who are well-suited for the position and organisational culture, employers can create a more engaged and productive workforce. Matching candidates with the right role increases job satisfaction, reduces turnover, and leads to fewer job vacancies.
      6. Aligning Results with Role Requirements and Development:
         Psychometric testing allows you to align assessment results with specific skills or competencies required for the role. By defining the role’s key requirements and desired attributes, you increase the likelihood of making the perfect hire. Moreover, the data obtained from psychometric assessments can be utilised for effective onboarding and targeted people development initiatives, further maximising the value of new hires.
      7. Filling the Gaps in Traditional Methods:
         Traditional hiring methods, such as resume screening, job experience evaluations, and unstructured interviews, may not provide a complete picture of a candidate’s suitability for a role. Psychometric testing offers a data-driven and standardised approach, providing valuable insights that complement traditional methods. By incorporating psychometric assessments, you can make more informed decisions and identify candidates who possess the necessary cognitive abilities, personality traits, and potential for success.

Early screening through psychometric testing offers significant advantages in the hiring process. By incorporating assessments early on, employers can efficiently narrow down a large pool of candidates and identify the most suitable individuals for further evaluation.

Moreover, psychometric testing provides a standardised and consistent evaluation process, ensuring that all candidates are assessed using the same criteria. This objectivity helps reduce biases that can arise from subjective judgments during initial resume screening or interviews. By relying on scientifically validated assessments, employers can make fair and unbiased comparisons among candidates, based on their performance on the assessments.

Overall the most effective approach is to ensure that you are assessing the key competencies throughout the process and ideally multiple times in the process.  Testing should ensure that you are only spending the time interviewing candidates that are more likely to proceed.  Test early and widely wherever possible with appropriate length of test to ensure high completion rates.

Enhance your hiring process today by leveraging the power of psychometric testing. You can reach out to one of our experts or call 03 9040 1700 to learn more.

Psychometric testing offers numerous advantages when it comes to the hiring process. By implementing this scientifically backed approach, organisations can identify the best potential hires for their specific roles, increasing their value to the business and improving retention through alignment. Let’s explore the key benefits of utilising psychometric testing in your hiring process:

1. 1. 1. A Baseline to Identify the Best Potential Hires:
         Psychometric testing serves as a baseline to evaluate candidates objectively and identify the most suitable individuals for your organisation. By going beyond resumes and previous work experience, psychometric assessments allow you to assess candidates’ key skills, preferences, and potential for growth. This approach helps you make more informed decisions and identify candidates who align with the role’s requirements.
      2. Proven, Legally Defensible, and Science-Backed Approach:
         Psychometric testing provides a reliable and legally defensible method for recruitment. These assessments are developed based on rigorous research and adhere to established scientific principles. By relying on a well-validated and standardised approach, you can make confident and informed hiring decisions while mitigating potential biases.
      3. Increasing Diversity of Hires:
         Psychometric testing promotes diversity and inclusivity by relying on objective and fair data. Traditional hiring methods, such as relying solely on resumes or unstructured interviews, can be influenced by unconscious biases. By leveraging psychometric assessments, organisations can reduce bias and ensure a more equitable and diverse selection process, leading to a more inclusive workforce.
      4. Improving Time to Hire and Reducing Costs:
         Efficiency is a key advantage of psychometric testing. By screening candidates early in the recruitment process, employers can streamline the selection process, saving time and resources. With psychometric testing, assessments can be administered to a large number of candidates simultaneously, accelerating the screening phase and shortening time to hire. Additionally, reducing time spent on lengthy administrative tasks enables HR teams to focus on other critical aspects of the hiring process.
      5. Enhancing Retention and Performance:
         Psychometric testing helps improve employee retention by aligning individuals with roles that suit their skills, preferences, and potential for growth. By identifying candidates who are well-suited for the position and organisational culture, employers can create a more engaged and productive workforce. Matching candidates with the right role increases job satisfaction, reduces turnover, and leads to fewer job vacancies.
      6. Aligning Results with Role Requirements and Development:
         Psychometric testing allows you to align assessment results with specific skills or competencies required for the role. By defining the role’s key requirements and desired attributes, you increase the likelihood of making the perfect hire. Moreover, the data obtained from psychometric assessments can be utilised for effective onboarding and targeted people development initiatives, further maximising the value of new hires.
      7. Filling the Gaps in Traditional Methods:
         Traditional hiring methods, such as resume screening, job experience evaluations, and unstructured interviews, may not provide a complete picture of a candidate’s suitability for a role. Psychometric testing offers a data-driven and standardised approach, providing valuable insights that complement traditional methods. By incorporating psychometric assessments, you can make more informed decisions and identify candidates who possess the necessary cognitive abilities, personality traits, and potential for success.

Early screening through psychometric testing offers significant advantages in the hiring process. By incorporating assessments early on, employers can efficiently narrow down a large pool of candidates and identify the most suitable individuals for further evaluation.

Moreover, psychometric testing provides a standardised and consistent evaluation process, ensuring that all candidates are assessed using the same criteria. This objectivity helps reduce biases that can arise from subjective judgments during initial resume screening or interviews. By relying on scientifically validated assessments, employers can make fair and unbiased comparisons among candidates, based on their performance on the assessments.

Overall the most effective approach is to ensure that you are assessing the key competencies throughout the process and ideally multiple times in the process.  Testing should ensure that you are only spending the time interviewing candidates that are more likely to proceed.  Test early and widely wherever possible with appropriate length of test to ensure high completion rates.

Enhance your hiring process today by leveraging the power of psychometric testing. You can reach out to one of our experts or call 03 9040 1700 to learn more.

The statistics are in and the numbers don’t lie. Psychometric assessments really are the best indicator of how a candidate will perform on the job. Cognitive ability and conscientiousness are the strongest predictors of future job performance. Also, amongst the various different elements measured, problem-solving ability is most strongly linked to success on the job.

Psychometric testing allows recruiters to make smarter and faster hiring decisions and select the best person for the job. It helps to also make the recruitment process more tailored to the individual. For example, personality tests are often used to inform a behavioural interview. This approach ensures that both candidate and company make the right choice – ultimately leading to a more successful match and long-lasting working relationship.

In this article we walk through some of the most common assumptions hiring managers make when it comes to psychometric assessments. These often act as barriers when it comes to including these screening tools in the recruitment process and ultimately cost the business more time and money.

There are several barriers to using psychometric assessments in recruitment. Some of them are:

The Assumption: High Cost

Psychometric assessments can be expensive, especially if an organisation needs to assess a large number of candidates. This cost can be a significant barrier for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets.

The Reality

The cost to add psychometric assessments to your recruitment process can be minimal and in comparison to the results the cost really isn’t a factor. Consider that the average cost to replace an employee is between 15 per cent and 21 per cent. Does that sound expensive?

According to a BambooHR survey, 68 per cent of new hires leave within the first three months, and 90% of employees remain open to new opportunities even if they are not actively looking for a new job.

Psychometric assessments allow you to recruit quality candidates that WANT to work for your organisation and allow you to find the best candidate for the role, making them less likely to resign or fail within the first few months.

The Assumption: Validity and Reliability

There are many non-believers out there and for good reason. There is a plethora of assessments that do not possess the validity credentials required to find a quality candidate. These are often the shiniest new assessment platforms that promise the best candidate experience (CX) but do not have the scientific backing to actually determine who the right candidates are.

The Reality 

Testgrid is an agnostic supplier of psychometric assessments, which means we provide assessments from proven publishers and our assessments are data backed and based on science.

The Assumption: Bias

A key assumption is that psychometric assessments can introduce bias into the recruitment process. For example, if the assessment is not culturally sensitive, it may disadvantage candidates from certain backgrounds.

The Reality

Our assessments remove bias from the recruitment process by allowing organisations to measure candidates’ ability and workstyles based on such factors as the suitability to the role or alignment company values and culture.

Our assessment range include indigenous norm groups and we even have assessments for neurodiverse candidates. This ensures assessments are fair and accurate no matter the candidate’s background.

The Assumption: Technical Knowledge

Many recruiters view psychometric assessments as complex, and some recruiters feel they may not have the technical knowledge or training needed to administer them correctly.

The Reality

Our assessments are easy to use and the reports generated guide you through the candidate results and teach you how to interpret them. In addition, our Expert Services team will walk you through the report results and we can provide debriefs for individual candidates, where relevant. We also provide workshops to upskill recruitment teams on using our assessments.

The Assumption: Time Constraints

There is a myth that psychometric assessments can be time-consuming for candidates and recruiters alike, which can be a barrier to their use in recruitment.

The Reality

This is untrue, we have a range of assessments for various roles and some of our assessments can be completed in under 2 minutes.

Overall, while psychometric assessments can be useful tools in recruitment, it’s important to weigh their potential benefits against the barriers to their use and ensure that they are used in a fair and ethical manner.

If you would like to learn more about how you can improve your recruitment process from get in touch or call 03 9040 1700 to learn more.

A bad hire can cause a cascade of negative consequences that can affect the bottom line, damage the company’s reputation, and impact the morale of the team. The financial and legal costs of a bad hire can be substantial, and the impact on company culture can be long-lasting.

However, by being aware of the risks and taking proactive steps to mitigate them, businesses can ensure that they are making the best hiring decisions for their organisation. In this blog, we will explore the potential commercial impacts of a bad hire and provide strategies for mitigating these risks, including the use of pre-employment assessments, team involvement in the recruitment process, and investment in onboarding and training.

One of the most significant and obvious commercial impacts of a bad hire is financial costs. The cost of hiring a new employee can be substantial, with recruitment costs, onboarding, and training. According to the AFR, depending on a candidate’s seniority, the mistake can cost a business between 15 per cent and 21 per cent more than the employee’s salary, based on lost revenue, lost productivity, and additional performance management and training resources.

This can be a significant cost, particularly if the business uses recruitment agencies or consultants to find suitable candidates. Furthermore, a bad hire can impact the company’s productivity and revenue. A new employee who is not suitable for the role may take longer to get up to speed, causing delays in projects or work. They may also make mistakes that cost the company money or lead to lost opportunities. These costs can add up quickly, particularly in industries where time is critical, such as manufacturing, construction, or technology.

Furthermore, when this happens, the organisation has to spend additional money to re-advertise the role and re-start the recruitment process, losing approximately 16 weeks/4 months to this process.

The legal ramifications of a bad hire cannot be ignored. If a new employee causes harm or injury to others, the company may face legal action and potential financial damages. This can lead to significant legal costs, as well as damage to the company’s reputation and brand image.

In addition, if the employee engages in discriminatory or harassing behaviour, it can not only result in expensive lawsuits but also have negative implications for the company’s culture and employee morale. Furthermore, bad hires may also result in breaches of confidentiality, intellectual property theft, or violation of data protection laws, all of which can result in significant legal and financial repercussions. It’s crucial for businesses to take proactive measures to mitigate these risks and ensure that they are hiring the best-fit candidates for their organisation.

The impact of a bad hire is not limited to financial costs or legal risks. The negative impact of a bad hire on company culture can manifest in various ways. For instance, if the new employee is not a good fit for the company’s values and culture, it can cause resentment among existing team members. This can lead to decreased collaboration, communication breakdowns, and decreased productivity. Furthermore, a bad hire who is not open to feedback or unwilling to learn can frustrate colleagues and hinder the team’s progress.

In some cases, a bad hire may even try to undermine their colleagues or take credit for their work, leading to a toxic work environment that erodes trust and destroys morale. Ultimately, the impact of a bad hire can be felt across the organisation, affecting not only the immediate team but also the company’s overall reputation and ability to attract and retain top talent.

If you are looking for advice or more information on how to improve your recruitment processes, you can reach out to one of our experts or call 03 9040 1700 to learn more.

Conventional recruitment processes are a good starting point but are also restrictive in terms of how deeply and accurately can they help assess a candidate. Combined with unconscious human bias, hiring decisions often go wrong and cause businesses millions of dollars in associated costs and time.

Cognitive aptitude testing enables hiring teams to look beyond the surface and make fair hiring decisions. Backed by science and many years of generating accurate results – they have become a powerful tool within the HR sector.

Cognitive aptitude testing provides an extensive measure of an applicant’s cognitive abilities. Such as observation and attention to detail, problem-solving, critical thinking, numerical and spatial reasoning, language comprehension etc.

These assessments indicate how likely it is for a candidate to be successful in the role and within the organisation. Recruitment decisions based on pre-employment cognitive aptitude assessment have shown a higher retention rate and increased diversity amongst team members, both these attributes are highly relevant to high-functional, productive and progressive teams.

The different types of cognitive ability

There is a diverse range of cognitive abilities assessed in the pre-employment cognitive aptitude test. Every participant will perform and score differently, indicating their unique strengths.

Given the requirements of a specific role and organisation, scoring high on certain metrics may be more relevant than others. During your consultations will Testgrid, we will help you identify the metrics most relevant to the requirements of hiring for your business.

Numerical Reasoning

This section tests a candidate’s ability to understand data, read tables and graphs and make sound interpretations to aid growth and performance. If a role requires decision making based on numerical data, such as accounts, performance & growth marketing, sales and data science – those candidates must score highly in this section.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal reasoning indicates a candidate’s aptitude for comprehending language. Their ability to communicate clearly using written and verbal communication, understand data, as well as, be able to identify key messages in the text is determined throughout this section. Customer/client-facing jobs such as customer service representatives, client leads and account managers, as well as those working within human resources will benefit from having a high aptitude for verbal reasoning.

Abstract Reasoning

Abstract reasoning assesses whether a candidate can engage in creative problem-solving, do they pay attention to implicit details and if they can identify complex patterns. It also indicates a candidate’s ability to think objectively in most situations. These are attributes relevant to those in design and analysts jobs.

Mechanical Reasoning

This section is indicative of a candidate’s ability to understand and apply complex mechanical concepts. The ability to do so is highly relevant to those working in defense, emergency services, engineering and to machine operators.

Spatial Ability

This ability is highly relevant to architects, construction site workers and engineers. It indicates a candidate’s ability to comprehend, memorise, transform and visual and spatial objects.

Testing for cognitive aptitude while recruiting

Hiring the right talent is a challenge faced by most businesses. It can be difficult to assess how well a candidate will perform in a given role. However, it’s possible to generate reliable predictions with Testgrid.

Cognitive aptitude testing has become one of the most sought-after ways of determining a candidate’s performance. It’s become the tool of choice for hiring managers around the world to make fair and dependable recruitment decisions.

Find out about job performance and hidden potential

Cognitive aptitude testing is the most hassle-free and reliable means of identifying potential in a candidate. Backed by technical expertise, it can help you assess whether a candidate has the necessary skills, training and experience to carry out the expected responsibilities for a role – to the utmost standard.

Cognitive aptitude tests can help your save time and money

Cognitive aptitude testing can help you narrow down candidates with potential, thus, adding a layer of scientific validation to hiring decisions and reducing chances of mis-hires and early resignations. This also enables companies to save time by only interviewing applicants who have shown the required expertise for the role. Therefore, this method of screening applicants is both time and cost-effective.

Cancels out scope of any bias in hiring decisions

Even the most well-meaning hiring managers can fall prey to unconscious bias. They may have a preconceived notion of who may perform well in a given role. Therefore, taking away from the objectivity that’s necessary to give each candidate a fair chance and equal opportunity. Using this method allows recruiters to assess each candidate based purely on their intelligence and capability.

The different types of cognitive aptitude tests you’ll find

There are A LOT of assessments available to measure aptitude, so it’s important you know what you are looking for before you start. Firstly, when deciding which aptitude assessments to select for your recruitment process, you must first look at the key requirements of the role.

Due to the broad range of assessments available you need to consider what is important with a given role that you need to identify in your candidates.

Let’s look at 2 examples using roles that vary in function and seniority.

Role #1 Apprentice/s

Consider a mining company hiring an mechanical engineer or electrician. Each role would have its own requirements specific to the role (see previous A LOT of assessments comment) but a general rule of thumb would be that an apprentice should be able to read and understand a technical manual. Therefore, an assessment or including questions that assess verbal and mechanical reasoning ability would be a prudent investment in your recruitment process.

Role #2 Senior Executive

There are a lot of factors to consider when designing a recruitment process for executive roles but one to consider would be that the successful applicant should be able to understand data presented in graphs and take action on this data using critical thinking. These can be assessed using numerical reasoning and abstract reasoning assessments.

Preparing candidates for success

Cognitive aptitude test is becoming popular and essential to the recruitment process. One of the leading reasons being that it ensures that the selected candidate is prepared (and/or can be trained in the capacity) to perform their tasks and responsibilities to the expected standard.

It reduces the chances of early resignations resulting from employees feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared once they start the job. This is especially relevant for roles and industries that require technical expertise.

Even as grown-ups, taking tests can provoke stress. Therefore, maintaining caution and transparency while conducting any pre-employment assessments is highly important. This is a great opportunity to positively position your organisation and its culture to prospective employees.

All applicants testing for a particular position must undertake the same assessment and be required to meet the same benchmark. In addition, each applicant must receive ample and honest communication about what they are being tested on. This will also ensure that the candidates perform in the assessments only under eustress and feel well prepared.

There are ways to factor in socio-cultural and economic differences, as well as, make arrangements for candidates with special needs to be assessed fairly in comparison to their peers. This empowers workplaces to be fair and give equal opportunities to candidates from varying background and with diverse skillsets.

Use the most comprehensive cognitive aptitude assessments available

Testgrid has been providing pre-employment assessment solutions to businesses for over two decades. We have worked across many industries and have earned our position as the market leader by working in consultation with our clients – at every step of the way!

We have the ability to customise pre-employment assessments to best meet your recruiting needs, so you can hire the right candidate and continue growing your business. With leading employment testing technology and assessment science, Testgrid can help hiring managers optimise selection and realise exceptional talent acquisition results.

We exist to empower organisation to achieve success through people.

To find out more or to book a demo/consultation – email us at hello@testgrid.com or call us at 1300 878 473 (Australia)/0800 000 849 (New Zealand).

Depending on who you listen to AI is spoken about in one of two ways: with fear or love.

The eyes of fear view AI as a pending human resources apocalypse and a replacement for human skill sets in a world with a shrinking requirement for humans to do X job, when a machine can do it better, cheaper and faster.

The eyes of love, instead, view AI as a tool that will help the human race march forward in a world where the advancement of technology is constant, necessary and heading towards more and more intelligent AI.

In this article, I will attempt not to lean into the Skynet, Rise of the Machines narrative and in the same way, avoid the rose-tinted glasses approach of viewing AI as the solution to all of our problems.

Instead, I will be taking a balanced look at AI’s loudest, and most impressive offering to world; ChatGPT and talking through how this tool will affect recruitment.

ChatGPT is a powerful AI-based language model that can be used to create simple or complex dialogues. The first iteration of ChatGPT was released to the public as a free chat-bot in November 2022 and has caused a stir in a number of industries, as the tool can execute a number of text-based communication tasks. The AI can be used to create short or long-form text and go as far as to create code for website development.

Quite simply you enter a question, command or statement and ChatGPT generates a response from its data set.

ChatGPT does not search the Internet but instead generates its responses based on a dataset that it was trained on in 2021.

Below is an example of how chat GPT works, where I asked ChatGPT what it is:

Now, this section could be very long, so I will keep it high-level. But below is a list of how ChatGPT can be used by both companies in their recruitment processes and by candidates looking for a role. Oh, and one more thing, ChatGPT wrote the following section.

Let’s start with recruiters..

Automation: One way ChatGPT can be used in talent acquisition is by automating the initial screening process. ChatGPT can be trained on a dataset of resumes and job descriptions, allowing it to understand the qualifications and skills required for a particular role. This can help to quickly identify and shortlist candidates who are the best fit for the job.

Scheduling: Another way ChatGPT can be used in talent acquisition is by assisting with interview scheduling. The model can understand natural language requests and respond with suggested times and dates for interviews, eliminating the need for back-and-forth email or phone tag.

Candidate Experience: In addition, ChatGPT can also be used in creating a personalised and engaging Candidate Experience (CX). The model can be trained on data to create custom and personalised emails, chatbot responses, and even video scripts that can be used to communicate with candidates. This will give a more professional and personalised touch to the overall experience of the candidate.

Reference Checking: Furthermore, ChatGPT can also be used for automated reference checking by being trained on a dataset of reference check questions and responses. The model can then be used to conduct reference checks with a high degree of accuracy and consistency, saving time and resources for the recruiting team.

Job Ads & Descriptions: With a few prompts and inputs, ChatGPT can write multiple job ads and descriptions at once.

Overall, ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionise the talent acquisition process by automating repetitive tasks, such as writing job ads and descriptions and providing valuable insights into the qualifications and skills of potential hires.

How Can Candidates use ChatGPT?

Resume Writing: ChatGPT can be used to generate a personalised and optimised resume based on a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and job experience. The model can be trained on a dataset of resumes and job descriptions, allowing it to understand the key elements that employers are looking for in a candidate.

Interview Preparation: ChatGPT can be used to generate responses to common interview questions, allowing the candidate to practice and refine their answers in advance. The model can be trained on a dataset of interview questions and answers, providing the candidate with the most relevant and effective responses.

Networking: ChatGPT can be used to generate personalized and engaging messages for networking with professionals in the candidate’s desired field. The model can be trained on data to create custom and personalized messages that will increase the chances of getting a response.

Cover Letter: ChatGPT can be used to generate personalised and optimised cover letters that are tailored to the specific job and company the candidate is applying to. The model can be trained on a dataset of cover letters and job descriptions, allowing it to understand the key elements that employers are looking for in a candidate.

Job Search: ChatGPT can be used to generate custom and personalised job search queries that will help the candidate find the most relevant job opportunities. The model can be trained on a dataset of job listings and requirements, allowing it to understand the key elements that employers are looking for in a candidate.

Overall, ChatGPT can be an effective tool for candidates looking to improve their chances of getting a job by providing personalised and optimised content that will stand out to potential employers.

Ok, now it’s me again (promise). So, we can see that in the above that ChatGPT can be used to assist both recruiters and candidates to produce communications and generate pretty comprehensive responses.

If I put my fear hat on for a second and look at the impact this is going have on your recruitment process. How are you going to know if a candidate really wrote their resume or cover letter? How are you going to know that your usual interview questions haven’t been put through ChatGPT and the candidate is armed with some great responses the AI generated in seconds?

There are already a plethora of YouTube videos providing guides, hints, tips, tricks, secrets and hacks on how to write an entire resume and cover letter using the tool.

Without watching a single tutorial, I was able to produce the resume below in 5 minutes. In fact, the formatting took the most time. The content within the resume, including hobbies, took less than 40 seconds to produce. I’ll just let that ring in the air for a second.

I was so impressed by ChatGPT that I created a video showing just how easy it is to create a resume. The video uses a live job ad example to convey just how advanced ChatGPT is and how you can protect your recruitment process from the tool.

Below are some ways recruiters can check if a candidate has used ChatGPT. You may notice that these solutions are manual and labour-intensive and therefore will add a lot of time to your recruitment process

• Resume Verification: HR departments can compare the candidate’s resume to the job requirements and qualifications. If the resume is overly generic or contains language that is not typical of a human-written document, it may be an indication that the candidate used ChatGPT.
• Interview Verification: HR departments can compare the candidate’s responses in the interview with the information provided on the resume. If the candidate’s answers are too polished or rehearsed, it may be an indication that the candidate used ChatGPT to prepare.
• Networking Verification: HR departments can compare the candidate’s networking messages with the other communication they had with the candidate. If there is a significant difference in style or language, it may be an indication that the candidate used ChatGPT.
• Cover Letter Verification: HR departments can compare the candidate’s cover letter with the job requirements and qualifications. If the cover letter is overly generic or contains language that is not typical of a human-written document, it may be an indication that the candidate used ChatGPT.
• Job Search Verification: HR departments can compare the candidate’s job search queries with the job requirements and qualifications. If the queries are overly broad or contain language that is not typical of a human-written document, it may be an indication that the candidate used ChatGPT.

The poor predictive value of the resume has been a topic of debate in recruitment for years and with new technologies constantly emerging the lid in the coffin has been half-nailed shut. ChatGPT is the final nail to close it forever.

I may sound harsh but it’s not only the resume that is at risk. ChatGPT is being called the Google Killer with its ability to answer questions and provide answers instead of just providing links, so what chance does the humble resume stand against such a tool.

My SWOT analysis below shows that ChatGPT brings with it a range of challenges and benefits to recruiters but ultimately you need to update your recruitment process to accommodate this new technology.

Below are the methods we recommend implementing, if you are not already, to ensure your candidates are who they say they are and that you are gaining useful, valid, secure and accurate people insights.

Behavioural Assessments

Our behavioural assessments are designed to measure your candidates’ work style preferences, abilities, personality traits, and other characteristics that are relevant top your requirements. Using behavioural assessments completely bypasses the need for a resume and allows you to find the right candidates quickly.

Testgrid’s behavioural assessments are secure against ChatGPT and a better predictor of success than the resume, as they provide a full report on candidates’ suitability for a role.

We even asked ChatGPT if it could complete behavioural assessments and we got the response below:

Video Interviewing

Video interviewing is a crucial step to ensuring you are gaining accurate input from the candidate in light of ChatGPT, while providing a positive Candidate Experience (CX). Whether you choose a face-to-face or automated interview in your process, our technology allows you to be certain that your candidate is who they say are and gain the insights you need to make a good hiring decision.

Proctoring

Proctoring allows you to not only monitor your candidates but allows you to monitor their desktop, device and their physical environment to ensure candidates are not cheating by using any other resources to provide or generate information. This can be done at an individual level or at scale using our Proctor’s own AI technology that will combat ChatGPT’s own AI.

If you would like to learn more about how you can protect your recruitment process from ChatGPT or other AI technology then simply sign up to speak to one of our experts or call 03 9040 1700 to learn more.

The last few years have seen unprecedented disruptions in when, where, how, and even why we work.

From talent shortages to a recession on the horizon, the recruitment trends and the market is more uncertain and competitive than it ever has been and it is increasingly more important for organisations to ensure processes and procedures are in line with the expectations of the market.

We are going to look the coming recruitment trends and what they will bring to the job market, how changing market conditions will impact recruitment, and what employers can do to evolve their strategy to attract— and retain—the best talent.

State of the market

Job vacancies in the Australian labour market have not just recovered from the Covid pandemic, they’ve doubled. According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics release, there are 470,900 job vacancies in Australia, an 85% increase since November 2020. As of September, 2022 unemployment sits at an incredibly low 3.5% as Australia approaches what is considered full employment, meaning almost everyone willing and able to work is in a job.

The market as it stands is very candidate-driven, but that could change significantly as recent signals point to a downturn in the economy. Australia is forecast to enter a recession in 2023 due to a further slowing of the economy and a spike in unemployment. The governments increase in the permanent migration program ceiling to 195,000 from 130,000 in 2022-23 is set to help ease widespread, critical workforce shortages and strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour.

With these looming changes in mind, we explore the challenges and trends facing employers in 2023.

A look at short-term hires and boomerang employees

Instead of relying only on full-time employee (FTE) hires, the latest hiring trends show companies are increasingly adopting contract employment by looking to interim executives and professionals to meet scaling workforce needs.

According to a Korn Ferry survey, the number of global interim workers is expected to grow in 2023: to roughly 78 Million, from about 43 million in 2018. The same report also stated that 80% of large organisations plan to increase their use of contract workers in the coming years.

There are numerous benefits to a short-term hiring approach, one of most important ones being the cost. The cost of hiring temp workers is generally more effective than the cost of hiring permanent employees. In addition to this, people who choose interim or contract work are often highly skilled, project-based individuals who can quickly adapt to new environments. They can bring unique skill sets and experiences needed for finite projects during uncertain times, while minimising risk to your business.

When it comes to boomerang employees, they are not a new concept, in fact 15% of professionals who quit their jobs return to their former company, but in 2023, that figure is set to increase. We spoke about the benefits of re-hiring corporate alumni earlier in the year (you can read that piece here). In a tight talent market, these ex-employees can hold incredible value. They come up to speed faster, hold institutional knowledge and understand the culture and values of the company. A widely cited study out of Cornell University found that, in one large healthcare organisation, boomerang employees outperformed new external hires overall, particularly in people-centred or administrative roles.

2023 will see organisations putting more effort and resources into the off-boarding process, maintaining their talent pool by staying in touch with employees who leave and sending them updates on the latest developments within the company, vacancies and other relevant information and ensuring they’re aware that the door is open should the ever wish to return.

The rise of internal mobility

Professionals are no longer thinking of career-growth in the traditional sense. They’ve stepped off the ladder and have begun exploring other parts of the organisation, signalling a stronger internal mobility trend.

Data shows that employees leave their employers for better development opportunities at similar rates as they leave for higher compensation. In 2023 employers will need to put more emphasis on developing their current workforce, offering regular trainings and certification programs to re-skill or up-skill internal candidates. Utilising predictive analytics to audit employees’ existing skillsets, shortlist promising internal candidates for difficult-to-fill roles, provide tailored career development content, and create personalised career pathways based on goals and interest areas will also be imperative.

Internal mobility is high-ROI: an average of 9X more effective than job boards in producing hires. It takes just 4 internal applications to result in 1 successful hire. These internal career pathways look different to each company: it could include lateral moves, upwards mobility, or cross-functional training and development.

Sustaining culture with a remote workforce

With a large majority of organisations successfully having adopted a hybrid work model, the issue that is now arising is how organisations can maintain, or even improve their culture, if so many people are working from home. Some organisations have turned to forcing everyone back in the office, despite what employees want or whether their roles require in-person interaction, but it is predicted that those organisations will likely see a dip in productivity – if not more employees handing in their resignations. 

A Korn Ferry survey showed that 79% of professionals said they will work fewer hours when they return to office than they currently do while working remotely. In another, 64% of respondents said going back to the office would impact their mental health negatively.

While hybrid workplaces have been predominantly great for employees, there is no doubt about the fact that they do affect culture. New hires make 17% fewer connections compared with pre-pandemic, according to a Vox report. In a hybrid workforce, people tend to communicate less with people outside of their departments and this can result in a decrease in collaboration, innovation and employees who feel isolated.

The good news is that a strong work culture in a hybrid workplace can exist, and there is a real opportunity for employers to evolve their approach to teamwork and collaboration in 2023.

Purpose and employee sentiment and wellbeing are they key to a strong company culture no matter the working arrangements. organisations need to look to instilling a strong sense of shared purpose across the board to unite people around a common goal. A shared purpose is a crucial unifier for employees and the very foundation from which the business builds and evolves its organisational culture. It is also inextricably linked with business performance. Research shows that having a strong purpose can contribute to the overall health and performance of a business, with purpose-oriented companies having 30% higher levels of innovation and 40% higher retention rates than companies that aren’t purpose-oriented (Deloitte).

Organisations need to review how they interact with employees and how they foster a culture in which people feel free to use their voices openly. As a starting point, companies need to have a solid understanding of how employees feel about their work lives. This can prove a challenging task when the workforce reaches far and wide, as is often the case in hybrid working models. But methods such as the Employee NPS Survey can play an important role in helping organisations gather and analyse data to understand employee sentiment.

Periodically surveying employees about their day-to-day workload and experiences, reactions to policy changes, new initiatives, or questions is a necessity to to help avert low employee morale and high attrition rates.

Work-life integration V Balance

Flexibility is a top priority for candidates in 2023, with 76% of professionals reporting they would prefer their workweeks to shift to non-traditional hours. Another reports that 88% of surveyed professionals said returning to the office will make home duties more difficult to handle.

Research indicates that 60% of jobseekers are looking for remote working options, while only 30% of advertised jobs are listed as remote roles. This provides an opportunity for hiring teams to bridge the gap, and realign their EVP with the current market.  In 2023, candidates will be foregoing the traditional 9-to-5 in favour of a more fluid schedule and looking for employers who offer work-life integration. Work-life integration involves blending both personal and professional responsibilities. Rather than viewing work and personal time as separate entities. Think working a few hours in the morning, taking an afternoon break for an appointment or to pick up the kids, then back to work in the evening.

Tailoring an employee’s work environment to their work style and personal circumstances can help create a productive, balanced work environment. It’s important to remember that there is no one-size-fits all approach as each individual works differently.

Doing more with less

We know we continue repeating ourselves here, but it’s not without need.  The need to do more, with less resources is one of the key challenges for hiring tea,ss.. Recruiter workloads increased 28% last year compared to pre-pandemic —with no signs of slowing down.

Business need to be leveraging technology to source better candidates, engage applicants, reduce time to fill, and improve candidate experience. Additionally, streamlining technology creates efficiencies and allows organisations to operate with leaner teams and do more with their budget. According to a LinkedIn survey, the average time to hire is 40 days, and according to SHRM 60% of candidates drop our do to a lengthy process. This is not only costly to you, but also results in a loss of productivity. It is important that your process is streamlined to offer the best candidate experience and to keep candidates engaged in your process. 

Pre-employee assessments are proven to cull out unqualified individuals early while providing your hiring manager with high-scoring candidates. Another helpful way to streamline processes is to automate scheduling. There’s no need for one round of phone interviews to schedule two more in-person interviews when everything can be done online in only a couple of minutes. By utilising assessments and video interviews, we were able to cut down Coles’ time to hire by 95%, saving them 20 business days. You can learn more about the case study here.

To navigate the 2023 talent market you need a strong and valid strategy. Every day, Testgrid works with various clients to help them optimise their recruitment and find the top talent. Get in touch to see how we can help, here!

View our recent Webinar: 2023-proof Your Recruitment Process or eBook : Future-proofing your Recruitment Process (or both), where we discuss what to prepare for in 2023.

For the last few years, international students have not been able to enter the country as easily as they had before. Pre Covid-19, the international student population in Australia was 738,107. This year, the population is 422,095. In addition to this, graduate demands have never been higher and interest in graduate schemes has never been lower, making for the perfect storm in the graduate recruitment field.

With talent teams still feeling the burn from Covid-19 travel restrictions and more candidates going straight into entry level positions and skipping the graduate process all together, it is increasingly difficult to keep talent interested, even once they have been offered the job, but this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. It simply means that graduate employers need to ensure their process is in line with market demands and that they’re in the best possible position from the beginning. 

Virtual recruiting isn’t going anywhere

We may be stating the obvious but virtual recruiting is here to stay. There’s a good chance that you’re reading this from the comfort of your home office, couch, or, even bed Research by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) finds that 93% of employers have moved their recruitment process online. This may have been brought about by the pandemic, but virtual graduate recruitment is now business as usual with 48% of employers anticipating that their recruitment process will still be mainly virtual in five years’ time. Virtual recruitment can attract a higher number of candidates — potentially more than your current application and assessment process can handle. The process should be efficient for you and for candidates. You don’t need to read hundreds, or potentially thousands, of resumes. You don’t need to conduct dozens of interviews. There is a range of digital tools that can be a huge help for remote recruitment, from pre-employment assessments to video interview, when combined they can significantly reduce your time to hire.

Diversity really matters

ISE’s research into the biggest student recruitment trends looks at the commitment employers are making to diversity in hiring. Employers are broadening out their recruitment strategies to include targeted action on diversity strands including ethnicity, socio-economic background, disability, and gender. While 65% of employers have formal targets around diversity and have been actively developing their recruitment processes to make them more inclusive, almost all (99%) felt that they had more to do on diversity over the next five years.

According to Intel, diversity “will be a workplace deal-breaker for Gen Z.” Over a third of Gen-Zers say if given two similar offers, they would without a doubt choose the company they saw to be more diverse and inclusive.

What are you doing to stand out in this space? It is important to consider language used in graduate job descriptions as research suggests that the inclusion of certain words in a job description which are regarded as being more masculine could deter females from applying for the position, and vice versa. Do your job advertisements include a diversity and inclusion statement? Are you profiling current graduates? Student’s researching your program should be able to see profiles from a range of different candidates of different genders, backgrounds, disciplines etc. After all, you can’t be what you can’t see!

An efficient recruitment process is critical

22% of graduates  say that a long and complicated application process would deter them from applying. A poll carried out by Prospects supports this, discovering that university graduates are discouraged by long application forms that asked, (what they felt were) unnecessary questions or that require candidates to repeat information already supplied.

Some of the most common causes of prolonged time to hire are:

• Having a poorly structured and unoptimised hiring process 
• Lack of communication between the company and the hiring manager
• Multiple rounds of lengthy interviews
• Poor online presence

Pre-employee assessments are proven to cull out unqualified individuals early while providing your hiring manager with high-scoring candidates. Another helpful way to streamline processes is to automate scheduling. There’s no need for one round of phone interviews to schedule two more in-person interviews when everything can be done online in only a couple of minutes. By utilising assessments and video interviews, we were able to cut down Coles’ time to hire by 95%, saving them 20 business days. You can learn more about the case study here.

Make upskilling a priority

The Bright Network’s research shows that 95% of graduates want employers to be actively involved in their career upskilling. Upskilling refers to learning new skills to improve your performance – and possibilities – in your current career. Development should be a key part of employer branding in graduate recruitment strategies and employers should consider how they can bring in mentorship and training into their graduate development programmes.

Through upskilling, companies can save money by increasing the abilities of their current employees, instead of spending time and budget on hiring new workers. By providing employees with upskill training opportunities, organisations can make employees feel that they are valued and have a dedicated future within the company.

Wellbeing and the work-life balance

As we heard earlier, the job market has changed for good as a result of hybrid working. Graduates coming out of university have done the majority of their studies remotely and will expect their move into the professional world to be equally as flexible.

Work life balance, and people and company culture are more important to graduates than pay. When asked, 61% of graduates cited having a good work-life balance as most important, and 39% said having a good salary. Therefore, the ability to convey your organisation’s company culture, values and work-life is critical during the recruitment process. A realistic job preview, especially in a virtual setting, is the most effective way to bring your organisation to life.

Ensuring you have an effective recruitment strategy for graduate hires will ensure your businesses has the talent it needs to head into the future. Offering graduate talent a fair, engaging, digital assessment experience is where Testgrid can help. Contact us to learn more

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Psychometric Testing – But Probably Should

Psychometric tests are objective and standardised tests, based on a scientific method that is used to measure candidates’ mental ability and behavioural style. Typically designed to measure a job applicant’s suitability for a role, the tests are based on personality characteristics, aptitude (or cognitive ability), and can be custom-designed to ensure cultural add.

There are a lot of misconceptions about psychometric tests; here are 5 things to note that will provide clarity and focus to your recruitment process:

1. One size doesn’t fit all

When it comes to choosing a psychometric test for your organisation’s recruitment campaign it’s best not to take a cookie-cutter approach. Every organisation is different, not all tests are the same, and not all will work for your organisation. Any testing suite will also look different within your organisation, depending on the role and what is relevant to test. Some tests are better than others, not all will give you the desired outcome (trial and error is  always your friend!).

2. Psychometric testing is the best predictor of job performance

The statistics are in and the numbers don’t lie. Psychometric tests really are the best indicator of how a candidate will perform on the job. Cognitive ability and conscientiousness are the strongest predictors of future job performance. Also, amongst the various different elements measured, problem solving ability is most strongly linked to success on the job!

3. Psychometric testing can reduce staff turnover, improve engagement and retention

Research shows that psychometric tests can reduce staff turnover by 30-40%.

Psychometric testing helps to make informed recruitment decisions and select the best person for the job. It helps to also make the recruitment process more tailored to the individual. For example, personality tests are often used to inform a behavioural interview. This approach ensures that both candidate and company make the right choice – ultimately leading to a more successful match and long-lasting working relationship.

4. Psychometric testing is objective and legally defensible

Psychometric tests are objective – unlike interviews and ‘gut feel’. The candidate either does, or does not, have the required numerical/verbal/logical reasoning skills required to do the job. There is no vagueness or recruiter bias, it’s clear to everyone whether the candidate is the right person for the job. As an employer, it is important that you use objective methodologies in your recruitment process, to ensure fair and equal assessment of all candidates.

5. Psychometric testing goes beyond recruitment

Most organisations use psychometric testing only in the recruitment process and then file away the results once the selection decision has been made. But test results are valid for another 24 months, and can be utilised for the on-boarding and development of new hires. A new employee’s behavioural profile can help direct their development path within the organisation or assist with how they integrate into workplace culture. It can help them to understand their own preferred work behaviours and how to maximise their strengths and seize growth opportunities.

Want to know more? Contact us today to ask us about how psychometric testing can improve the success of your recruitment campaign.

The dedicated and compassionate individuals working in the aged care sector form the very essence of its existence. According to the findings of the aged care royal commission, these remarkable individuals hold a pivotal role in shaping the aged care journey for older Australians and their loved ones. As highlighted in the commission’s comprehensive report, the task of recruiting, retaining, and empowering a workforce capable of providing the expected level of care is undeniably intricate and multifaceted.

Aged Care: the fastest growing health segment in Australia.

As the largest demographic of our society ages, the demand for aged care services grows rapidly. In fact, so rapidly that aged care recruitment is experiencing significant and critical challenges in keeping up with demand.

Recruiting for aged care: How do we build a skilled, adaptive and diverse workforce of aged care employees with integrity?

As per Professor John G Kelly’s findings, the aged care industry needs to recruit 20,000 new employees per year, for the next six years, to be able to meet demand.

At face value, this level of recruitment is a massive challenge just in terms of the sheer volume of new employees needed. But the even bigger challenge is: how do we ensure that the aged care workforce we end up recruiting is of high integrity, with the right skills, highly adaptive and diverse in nature?

Challenges and Solutions:

Challenge 1: Recruiting for aged care – How do we improve the speed and efficiency of large-volume recruitment?

The costs of aged care recruitment are high, and in some parts of Australia, particularly rural and remote areas, there are already significant shortages of skilled candidates. Increased competition for staff in coming years will only heighten the challenges of recruitment.

Solution: Video Interviewing of candidates.

Video interviewing with a tool such as Vieple, helps you reach candidates near and far, interstate and overseas, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Video provides a robust process, reduces recruitment time, and vastly improves your ability to land the best candidates in a competitive market.  Read more about video interviewing here.

Challenge 2: Retention – How do we make them want to stay?

To improve employee retention and performance in aged care workers, several critical factors have been identified as contributing to long-term engagement and loyalty:

Training and development

Job status and recognition

Job satisfaction

Developing career prospects

Solution: High performer analysis, values and motivation assessments

It takes a special kind of person to want to work in the aged healthcare sector. Some would even say it’s almost a kind of ‘calling’ to look after the aged. To find the right candidates, it helps to have organisation-specific, tailored assessments and tests to gauge values and ascertain an individual’s motivations.

By the use of tools such as emotional intelligence, behavioural, values and motivation assessments, a recruiter can more readily identify, recruit and retain the right talent.

Challenge 3: Career pathways – How do we ensure adequate learning and career development?

Career pathways are integral to employee retention strategies and provide an excellent opportunity to work with training providers to develop skills and competencies needed now, and into the future.

The aged care sector needs to work closely with vocational education and training providers as well as higher education providers to ensure that this happens.

Solution: Workforce competencies and training needs analysis

Workforce Competency Assessments help identify your candidates’ abilities to do the job, while a Training Needs Analysis ascertains what additional training is necessary so you can plan training programs accordingly.

When your employees learn new skills and feel progress in their career path, they feel valued and invested in the long-term growth of your organisation. They’ll be more likely to stay and grow and become loyal and highly skilled aged care workers.

Want to know more about how we help solve the challenges of aged care recruitment?

Contact us today and ask about our solutions for the aged care sector.