We are excited to announce that our native integration with Vieple video interviewing is now live. The partnership combines Testgrid’s candidate profiling capability with the simplicity of Vieple’s video screening service and comes after a long relationship, where the technology has consistently reduced time to hire and increased the quality of clients for our customers.

Vieple is an award-winning one-way video interviewing solution that launched in 2012 and has been providing an excellent CX that simplifies the hiring process for businesses of all sizes. Rather than conduct multiple phone interviews that take an average of 30 minutes to complete, Vieple allows hiring managers to screen 10 candidates in that time by setting questions and allowing candidates to record their responses. Hiring managers can then scan the responses and advance the appropriate candidates.

Hiring managers can ask as few or as many questions as they require from candidates and have access to Vieple’s bank of competency, motivational and job fit questions. With the integration, video interviewing slots into our customers’ existing processes and once candidates are finished, you can view and rate their responses ensuring you choose the right person for the next stage.

The benefits that come with this integration and the performance statistics surrounding Vieple are staggering

• With Vieple you can conduct ten video interviews in the same amount of time as one phone interview (30minutes)
• 60% of HR managers use or have used video interviewing in the hiring process
• Video interviewing decreases time to hire by 80%
• Video screening improves candidate experience by 40%
• Video interviewing reduces recruitment costs by 60%
• Video interviewing increases the quality of hires by 47%

Testgrid is proud to be supporting Australian organisations during these troubling times and this integration will help us continue to grow our customers’ businesses and empower success through their people.

If you would like to learn how you can add Vieple to you process then simply contact us or email hello@testgrid.com.

We are excited to announce that our native integration with Vieple video interviewing is now live. The partnership combines Testgrid’s candidate profiling capability with the simplicity of Vieple’s video screening service and comes after a long relationship, where the technology has consistently reduced time to hire and increased the quality of clients for our customers.

Vieple is an award-winning one-way video interviewing solution that launched in 2012 and has been providing an excellent CX that simplifies the hiring process for businesses of all sizes. Rather than conduct multiple phone interviews that take an average of 30 minutes to complete, Vieple allows hiring managers to screen 10 candidates in that time by setting questions and allowing candidates to record their responses. Hiring managers can then scan the responses and advance the appropriate candidates.

Hiring managers can ask as few or as many questions as they require from candidates and have access to Vieple’s bank of competency, motivational and job fit questions. With the integration, video interviewing slots into our customers’ existing processes and once candidates are finished, you can view and rate their responses ensuring you choose the right person for the next stage.

The benefits that come with this integration and the performance statistics surrounding Vieple are staggering

• With Vieple you can conduct ten video interviews in the same amount of time as one phone interview (30minutes)
• 60% of HR managers use or have used video interviewing in the hiring process
• Video interviewing decreases time to hire by 80%
• Video screening improves candidate experience by 40%
• Video interviewing reduces recruitment costs by 60%
• Video interviewing increases the quality of hires by 47%

Testgrid is proud to be supporting Australian organisations during these troubling times and this integration will help us continue to grow our customers’ businesses and empower success through their people.

If you would like to learn how you can add Vieple to you process then simply contact us or email hello@testgrid.com.

We collaborate with world’s largest provider of online invigilation services

Testgrid is pleased to announce our partnership with ProctorU, a Meazure Learning company. ProctorU is a platform that provides a full suite of secure online proctoring and identity management solutions for companies, professional credentialing organisations, and academic institutions across the globe.

The partnership means that Testgrid can monitor your candidates as they sit their assessments to avoid fraudulent activity, such as candidates using a proxy or cheating.

“We are pleased to partner with Testgrid to help their clients safely and securely deliver employment assessments online”, said Carl Theobald, CEO of Meazure Learning. “Working together, we will bring the most secure online testing solution to the Australian market, providing individuals the opportunity to accelerate their careers from the safety and comfort of their own home.”

The integrated process between Testgrid and ProctorU is easy to set up and ensures a smooth candidate experience. Candidates simply sign up to complete their assessment as normal and their dedicated proctor will guide them through the process, providing maximum security to Testgrid’s customers.

The benefits of the partnership include:

• Verification of candidates
• Physical environment checks
• Cheating detection and prevention
• Live communication with the candidate
• Live proctoring
• Screen monitoring
• Customisable rules and procedures
• Guided candidate experience

ProctorU is the world’s most experienced provider of online invigilation services and adding this feature to Testgrid’s technology stack provides a higher level of service to their customers.

Our Managing Director, Gerard Ward said “We understand the challenges our customers are facing in not being able to hold in-person assessment centres for their volume hiring. This new service ensures the integrity of their processes, while enhancing the candidate experience. Testgrid’s assessments are often utilised in specialist roles or positions where security is paramount. This partnership allows these assessments to be carefully monitored, something that is particularly important during the pandemic, as so many organisations are being forced to hire remotely.”

If you would like to learn how you can set up proctoring for your business then simply contact us or email hello@testgrid.com or download the brochure below.

How Covid-19 affected graduates cognitive ability.

It is no surprise to learn that the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected people from all walks of life and left many feeling greater anxiety, financial worry, and loneliness. Stay-at-home orders have not only decimated our livelihoods, we are now also beginning to see to the lingering effects on our society.

In October 2020, shortly after the second Covid wave in Australia, rates of life satisfaction dropped sharply in Victoria, and rates of anxiety and worry significantly increased Australia-wide. Australians in the 18-24 age range experienced the largest increase in psychological distress. Mental health conditions have long been known to impact cognitive functioning, with depression and anxiety reducing the body’s ability to cope with day-to-day tasks, brain capacity is reduced and people struggle to function at their best (Lukasik et al., 2019; Shilyansky et al., 2016).

Research has found that the dominant emotion many have been experiencing throughout this pandemic is called Languishing. Known as the neglected middle child of mental health, it can completely dull motivation and focus. It’s not quite burnout, nor depression. It is a state of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield.

Download our Graduate Recruitment Guide >>

Prolonged time in a socially impoverished environment is detrimental to key aspects of cognitive function. Recent research suggests that the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic led to worse performance in terms of cognitive functioning, including fluid intelligence, working memory, and cognitive control (Bogliacino et al., 2021).

Additionally, social isolation had a detrimental effect on cognitive abilities, such as executive functioning and memory (Bzdok & Dunbar, 2020). Adults experiencing cognitive decline show riskier decision-making in comparison to healthy controls (Smart & Krawitz, 2015); age-related decline in cognitive processing may lead to decision-making deficits as adults age (Beitz et al., 2014). Even relatively short-term social isolation—specifically, reduced social contact with those outside the household—has a negative impact on cognitive abilities/executive functions. 

Download our Graduate Recruitment Guide >>

This year, Our Psychology team identified a trend in the graduate recruitment space when several organisations attracted candidate pools with lower cognitive ability assessment scores than previous years. Consequently, we embarked on an investigation to determine if these appearances were backed by data by utilising TRIO Essentials to measure graduates’ cognitive ability and compared their psychometric assessment results pre and post-pandemic. So, with these feelings of ‘languishing’, and mental health difficulties persisting in 2021, is there a significant reduction in graduates’ cognitive capacity and psychometric test scores? If so, how can recruitment processes be optimised to suit this ‘new normal’?. To learn more about the study and how you can adjust your process to support graduates, download our Languishing Whitepaper here and stay one step ahead of the inevitable graduate recruitment changes ahead.

Download our Graduate Recruitment Guide >>

If there is one thing that we can be certain of, it’s that the recruitment landscape is constantly changing and evolving. The pandemic has forced organisations to face challenges they weren’t yet prepared to. We have analysed the emerging recruitment direction, and it is evident that technology will shape most of next year’s recruitment trends, just like it did this year. In an ever-evolving and tech-driven world, recruiters will inevitably rely on virtual support to successfully manage recruitment processes.

In an industry landscape that’s moving at breakneck speed, it’s easy to be anxious about technology and the role it will play in an uncertain future. These trends point to a future of work that’s tech-enabled and automated, but that also uplifts the human aspects of Human Resources. Download the complete guide to 21/22 Recruitment Trends here and stay one step ahead of the inevitable recruitment changes ahead.

As part of our Remote Working series, we have been looking at how companies responded to the pandemic by being forced to setup for remote working almost overnight and how to assess candidates to identify hires that will thrive in a remote working model.

In this article we will go through the key working from statistics, challenges and benefits, employer and employee preferences and provide some solutions you can implement to support your staff when remote working.

According to the ABS, back in 2015, working from home even as a flexible work model represented just 13% of the Australian workforce. Now in 2021, 64% of employees working for a small or medium-sized business in Australia are working remotely, with 47% of employees only being introduced to the concept due to the pandemic (Capterra survey).

Working from home statistics are naturally much higher for businesses whose employees typically worked in offices, led by finance and insurance (58%), public administration (51%) and communications (47%) (Roy Morgan Research).

So, the stats are in and it’s safe to say that remote working is here to stay. The onus is now on HR managers to create an environment that accommodates and enables this new way of working.

There are many pros and cons when it comes to WFH. Our research has found that the majority of employees prefers to work from home and 78% stated in a recent Capterra survey that they are more productive working from home. This is compounded in a November 2020 survey conducted by Hays, that looked at 2500 “working professionals” and uncovered that 61% believed hybrid working was the most productive model.

With remote working becoming the new norm after all, it has become the preference for many employees to log on from home or set up a hybrid agreement over traipsing into the office every day.

Hays’ research also discovered that 47% of employers were open to retaining working from home as part of their workplace mix. So, with remote working being the preference for employees and this being met by employers’ growing openness to accommodate this model, companies now need to think about how to hire for effective remote working.

You may also want to read our blog on hiring for remote working here.

The model may be employee preference but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any drawbacks. Our research reviewed the ups and downs associated with remote working discovered the benefits and challenges below.

The Testgrid team are advocates of the well-being and nurturing of mental health. Putting the benefits of remote working aside, let’s not forget that Covid-19 has decimated peoples’ lives by taking loved ones and has forced people inside their own homes. There are many challenges people face in the workforce, from isolation to managing work while having to home school children.

Below are some of the key findings around mental health:

• 104% increase in employees seeking professional help for stress, anxiety and depression (Medikeeper)
• 28% increase in workers who have trouble sleeping (Medikeeper)
• Adults ages 18-24 are almost twice as likely as all adults to report new or increased substance use (25% vs. 13%) or recent suicidal thoughts (26% vs 11%);
• Cognitive functioning reduced, including fluid intelligence, working memory and cognitive control (Bogliacino et al., 2021).

Below are some keys stats from our research showing the steps employers are taking to manage mental health concerns:

• 51% provide, or plan to provide, manager training to recognize anxiety and depression and to understand available referral resources such as an EAP
• 85% have increased videoconferencing for work and non-work purposes
• 73% offer flexible work hours to accommodate work/home challenges

Remote working is harder for some than other but ultimately regular contact and support helps people feel more included and engaged at work.

An article published by the Harvard Business Review, refers to a study into leadership behaviours where 44% of participants stated that being recognised and praised are the most common forms of how managers show appreciation.

Other acts included:

• Recognising a person’s work, dedication, effort, and contributions
• Acts of affirmation – saying thank you for a job well done or sending an email acknowledging their efforts
• Mentioning an employee’s accomplishments during team meetings
• Mentioning their work in conversations where managers are present
• Provide opportunities to work more closely with senior leadership
• Check in with staff from time to time

If you are unsure about whether you are set up for remote working success, sing up below or contact our team at hello@testgrid.com for a free Remote Working Gap Analysis, where one of our specialists will analyse your development and recruitment frameworks, highlight gaps and advise you can hire and development staff into efficient remote workers.

We are all talking about workplace diversity but not a lot is being done about it. This much is evident in the facts, and specifically PwC’s recent research that showed Australia has stagnated in 2015 on women’s economic empowerment, namely in closing the pay gap and increasing the number of females in paid work.

Some organisations have a pretty clear idea on what needs to be done, and a solid strategy in place, yet even they come up against barriers in seeing any real and fast change in this space. Our research into the literature, social discourse and client feedback in this area has showed very clear trends on what the biggest obstacles to success are:

1. Merit System

There is a false belief that a fair, equitable and robust merit system exists within each organisation, which measures and compares candidates against objective performance only. It doesn’t. The current ‘merit’ system discriminates on gender, race, social status and even more specific criteria like universities and schools. It is not a system that promotes equal accessibility to every candidate. It’s essential to audit the recruitment and performance systems in your organisation to ensure merit is objectively defined and implemented.

2. Talent Pipeline

Many organisations complain about the lack of a female or culturally diverse pipeline of talent. More than 55% of graduates in Australia are female so something doesn’t add up here. If you still can’t find diverse candidates, you are doing something wrong. Re-think and re-design your recruitment process, from attraction onwards, to make it more appealing to diverse candidates and more accessible to everyone who isn’t called John Smith. One way to achieve this is to start recruiting on value-alignment as opposed to the outdated concept of ‘years of experience’.

3. Ignorance

‘We don’t have a diversity problem, it’s grossly overstated’ – say many. Yet facts show only 10.1% of executive roles in Australia are held by women, and only 12 out of the top 200 CEO’s, are women. Many don’t believe that they are exercising recruitment and promotion in a ‘like me’ fashion but the unconscious bias struggle is real! Refer back to point one above. Isn’t it time you become educated in how bias operates, how it affects your recruitment team and how you can manage the adverse impact it has?

To paraphrase the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – It’s 2016 Australia – a lack of progress on diversity in the workplace is just not acceptable anymore. Now what are you going to do about it?

Contact our consultants to help you determine the best approach for your organisation.

The idea of “diversity and inclusion” pops up as a regular topic of discussion in business circles for a good reason. We no longer live in an era in which diversity is a box that needs to be ticked. Rather, diversity and inclusion, today, are recognized to make workplaces healthier, more productive, more progressive and more forward-thinking. A lot of companies now realise that diversity and inclusion not only benefit employees, but they also benefit the companies themselves. An inclusive culture that doesn’t discriminate against gender identity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, race, religion, age and disability and, instead, expresses a commitment to diversity is one that thrives.

Except, not all companies are there yet. Some still need some work in that department. Fewer large Australian companies are run by women than are run by men named John. Or Peter. Or David. The number of women in leadership is in fact falling since that statistic was first reported in 2017 (Conrad Liveris, To Be Meritorious, Gender Equality At Work In 2017.)

It gets a little better if we take a step down from the C-Suite to the executive level. 40 per cent of executives in the Commonwealth public service are women, relatively close to the 50 per cent level of overall staff numbers (ABS). The reality however is, that we still have a lot of work to do before we can allow ourselves to become complacent.

“Women and minorities no longer need a boarding pass, they need an upgrade,” said R. Roosevelt Thomas

“The problem is not getting them in at the entry level; the problem is making better use of their potential at every level, especially in middle-management and leadership positions. This is no longer simply a question of common decency; it is a question of business survival.”

Thomas made this statement back in 1990 for an article in the Harvard Business Review. Thirty-one years later, effectively managing diversity and inclusion in companies continues to be a critical topic

• Making efforts all about the numbers: If your company’s leadership is solely focused on increasing diversity numbers through recruiting initiatives, but not identifying ways to create an inclusive environment, they are operating in the past.
• Diversity and Inclusion is not well defined: If your company approaches diversity and inclusion with a vague statement then you may have a situation in which no one knows what diversity and inclusion means. Instead, the company should explicitly define them and broadcast that message internally within the company and externally within the community
• There’s diversity but exclusion: You can’t have diversity without inclusion, and you can’t have inclusion without diversity. For example, do you feel like others (regardless of how similar or different they are to you), treat you with respect, kindness and aim to understand you? When you’re in a meeting, does everyone pay attention to the loudest person in the room or do your colleagues make an effort to encourage participation from everyone?
• The leaders at the top look the same: Who are the executives in your organisation? What types of people are usually getting promoted in your department or company? Do they resemble the leaders who are promoting them or do they have a diverse background, skill or experience? If the former, there may be a problem in how people advance into leadership.

Diversity remains a top priority as organisations attempt to meet age, gender and cultural diversity requirements. But which diversity strategies are the best fit for your organisation? There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

Testgrid are experts in psychometric testing and talent management—we know the best way to assist with developing and enhancing your diversity strategies.
We have over 20 years’ experience in the assessment and testing industry, plus in-house experts in custom process design to ensure you achieve your targeted outcomes.

If you want to talk to one of our experts about how we can help drive your success with the right people, we are offering a gap analysis with on of our expert team. Simply sign up and book a time or contact hello@testgrid.com.

For better or worse, remote working is here to stay, so to kick off our remote working series, we take a look at hiring remote workers to succeed and thrive in the environment.

Below are the competencies a candidate should possess to successfully work from home.

COMMUNICATES CLEARLY

Initiates contact with colleagues and maintains open communication, checking for understanding. Adapts communication style and technologies used to suit situations.

EMBRACES NEW TECHNOLOGY & PROGRAMS

Adapts to use of remote working technologies, adopting a curious attitude when approaching challenges. Asks for help when needed and manages shortcomings when dealing with technology issues.

MOTIVATES SELF & TAKES INITIATIVE

Keeps to a schedule, is proactive and sets clear goals. Does not give up or allow the distractions of remote working to affect productivity.

ORGANISES SELF & MAKES PLANS

Sets clear timelines and breaks down tasks into manageable steps. Plans for changing circumstances and adjusts timelines, as necessary.

EMBRACES CHANGE AND UNCERTAINTY

Readily adjusts approaches to suit changing environments. Copes well with ambiguity.

MAINTAINS WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Balances professional and personal commitments, creating boundaries when necessary. Engages in activities to relieve stress and energise self.

WORKS COLLABORATIVELY AND SHOWS TEAM UNDERSTANDING

Maintains a team mindset despite physical distance. Shows understanding of team goals, works collaboratively, and involves others in decision making.

DISPLAYS INTEGRITY AND RELIABILITY

Uses work hours effectively and demonstrates reliability and honesty, working productively without close supervision. Submits work on time.

Recruiters and HR managers can use these competencies to create a candidate profile and then utilise behavioural testing to identify the right behavioural traits in candidates. These can then be mapped back to the competencies above to find the right people or person for the role.

Understanding the right competencies for a successful remote worker is the first piece of the puzzle. Utilise behavioural testing to identify the best candidates for the role or develop talent to reach the requirements.

SCORING

Use behavioural testing to assess candidates’ and gain the data you need to find the right fit before hiring remote workers.

GAP ANALYSIS

Utilise Testgrid’s reporting tools and programs to understand the preferences of how people want to work to enhance communication, collaboration, and engagement. Then compare these to the competencies above to determine how the candidate will fair in a remote working setting.

HIRE/NO HIRE OR DEVELOP

Once you have a 360 view of the candidate, or pool of candidates, you now know whether they are going to succeed in a remote working model. You can create a shortlist of candidates or decide to hire or not. But finding gaps doesn’t mean the candidate/s will not be able to work remotely. Now that you understand the candidate/s ability to WFH and any gaps, you can decide if you think you can fill those gaps through support, development, and training.

Emotional intelligence is a crucial skill for most employees these days but remote working can put a strain on employees. Knowing that a candidate has a high EQ and can manage their own and be mindful of others’ mental health should be high up on your list of criteria.

We have been closely monitoring our customers’ needs throughout the last 12 months, and our reports show that companies seeking Emotional Intelligence assessments have increased by 7.5 times since last year. This indicates that employers are applying more emphasis on EQ than ever before and that it is imperative for employee mental health that hires in people-facing roles can empathise with, and navigate mental health matters.

If you are unsure about whether you are set up for remote working success, sing up below or contact our team at hello@testgrid.com for a free Remote Working Gap Analysis, where one of our specialists will work with you to determine where you sit on the scale, and how you adapt your process.

Verbal, Numerical and Mechanical Reasoning assessments are fairly self-explanatory, in terms of what they measure and the types of questions we can expect to be presented with. Abstract Reasoning, however, can be a little trickier to get one’s head around (because, well… it’s abstract!). To clear up any confusion, let’s take a look at exactly what it is, and why it’s useful.

Abstract Reasoning items involve shapes and patterns. You may also hear these tests referred to as ‘Logical’ or ‘Inductive’ Reasoning assessments.

 They generally involve figuring out the ‘underlying rule’ in a given sequence or pattern and then applying this rule to solve a problem. (This is more challenging than Diagrammatic Reasoning, where the rule is already given and the individual just needs to apply the rule.) It does not really matter whether the given pattern is made up of symbols, shapes, or numbers; it is just ‘new data’ to be interpreted.

Verbal, Numerical, and Mechanical Reasoning assessments are fairly self-explanatory, in terms of what they measure and the types of questions we can expect to be presented with. Abstract Reasoning, however, can be a little trickier to get one’s head around (because, well… it’s abstract!). To clear up any confusion, let’s take a look at exactly what it is, and why it’s useful.

Abstract Reasoning is important in most workplaces, where we are required to think on our feet, rapidly learn new information and acquire new skills, form new strategies, and solve new problems on a regular basis. We can’t always rely on past experience, particularly in our constantly changing work environments.

A candidate who obtains a very low Abstract Reasoning score may struggle to see the ‘big picture’, conceptualise complex problems, detect relationships between ideas, or learn new skills quickly. For these reasons, we have some clients who consider Abstract Reasoning the most important of the various cognitive assessments.

Abstract Reasoning assessments are also gaining popularity as diversity-centric cognitive tests, as they are language-free (and acultural), and therefore cannot discriminate on the basis of English language. Performance on these tests is also less affected by socio-economic factors and educational circumstances.

To learn more about abstract reasoning assessments and other tests, head over to our psychometric assessments page or reach out to our team!