HR Technology Toolkit for Preemployment Screenings

Use Emotional Intelligence in Preemployment Assessment

There is new science that has led to a dramatic shift from personality measurements to emotional intelligence measurements. This goes beyond a basic personality survey, such as an intelligence quotient (IQ) test or whether someone is extroverted or introverted, to actually getting inside the candidate's thinking. Emotional intelligence is the thinking that leads to behavior, which allows you to look at the past behavior of a candidate to determine future action in your company.

Reliable studies have shown that emotional intelligence competencies consist of about 80 percent of the essential competencies that correlate to successful performers in the workplace. In other words, emotional intelligence has a much higher success rate to determine the best fit for a role in your company compared to a personality test, IQ test, or other historical baseline assessment.

This is where technology comes into play—automating the process for hiring managers. Once candidates complete an online assessment, advanced technology collects pertinent data and delivers the results in real time. Smarter decisions can then be made about whether a candidate should be filtered out of a particular job opening or advance in the hiring process.

Data Analytics Has Changed Preemployment Screenings

Many businesses leave out the vice president (VP) of human resources (HR) or hiring managers when considering big internal decisions. Why? The HR department is generally viewed as the place to hire individual workers, get them in the system, move them around, and then deal with problems as they arise. It's a greatly underappreciated department.

But, technology has made it possible for HR to get a seat at the executive table. Why? The rise of data analytics has armed the HR department with relevant information that helps companies reduce turnover and risk while maximizing the productivity of key workers. Now, the VP of HR can walk into an executive meeting armed with amazing data found in an advanced preemployment screening assessment.

The key for hiring managers looking to hire the right candidate is data analytics. If every other department is using analytics to assess things such as conversion ratios and customer satisfaction, why shouldn't HR also use analytics to assess human capital? Technology has made it possible to unlock the emotional intelligence of workers, helping make the HR department a vital part of the overall organization.

The Future of Preemployment Assessments

What's the next technological step in the hiring process? Believe it or not, it's games. Gamification is the future of preemployment assessment by unlocking how candidates react in specific situations found in games.

Rather than answering questions about themselves or going online to take an assessment, candidates will play an interactive game to measure how they think or why they made certain decisions in the context of a game. This approach has been adopted by marketing companies trying to assess how customers interact with a product or service. Gamification will soon be a valuable tool in the technology toolkit for hiring managers seeking to unlock the emotional intelligence of candidates.

The goal remains the same: make smarter, more educated hiring decisions using technology to reduce the risk of turnover and maximize your human assets.