In an industry defined by the experience, each touchpoint is paramount. Learn how to maximize assessment tools for hiring to streamline your recruitment process and attract high potential candidates in the hospitality sector.
Hiring Assessment Tools for a New Generation
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Hiring assessment tools maximize efficiency and the candidate experience
Evidence-based hiring assessment can transform the nature of your hiring process. They can widen the applicant pool beyond what was possible by simply considering experience. By focusing on the specific skills, traits, and values that support the demands of the role and strengthening the organization's culture, hiring managers and recruiting teams can recruit from new populations. Additionally, intentionally tailored and selected assessment tools will educate candidates on the culture, core expectations, and the demands of the position. Both of these support more effective and positive interviews for both sides. Solutions, like realistic job previews, create a more supportive onboarding process as well as resonate with Generation Z's connection to technology. All together they support and develop a robust employer brand that attracts talent that will perform and stay long-term.
Debunking Misconceptions: Hiring Assessment Tools and the Candidate Experience
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
Unfortunately, some prominent voices still insist that hiring assessment tools create a negative candidate experience and are the absolute last thing we should be doing to address a looming shortage. However, when properly implemented, the exact opposite is true. Modern hiring assessment tools can actually improve the candidate experience in several ways. Validated assessments evaluate candidates based on job-related criteria, eliminating bias and subjectivity from the hiring process, ensuring fairness and consistency. When part of a productive hiring eco-system assessments will deliver-
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Enhanced Communication: Assessments provide candidates with valuable insights into their strengths and opportunities, helping them to understand their potential fit for the role.
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Increased Efficiency: Assessments streamline the hiring process, reducing time to hire and allowing recruiters to focus on building relationships with top candidates.
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Transparency: Realistic job previews, often integrated with assessments, set clear expectations about the role, reducing turnover by ensuring candidates understand the challenges and potential drawbacks of the position.
Additionally, assessments provide candidates with self-awareness, helping them to understand their potential fit for the role. Realistic job previews, specifically, communicate clear expectations about the role, and inform the candidate how their preferences and strengths meet those challenges, reducing turnover by ensuring candidates understand the challenges and potential drawbacks of the position. All of this streamlines the hiring process, reducing time to hire and allowing recruiters to focus on building relationships with high potential candidates.
Hiring Assessment Tools: Ensuring Legal Defensibility and Inclusivity
Inclusivity and legal defensibility are core to any hiring strategy. Hospitality leaders are often managing a high volume of candidates. This makes hiring assessment tools, when administered correctly, are a powerful tool for promoting equal opportunity. To this end, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mandates that assessments are rigorously evaluated to ensure they do not discriminate against protected groups. Accessible assessments are also available for people with disabilities. For example, untimed assessments and those designed for visual impairments, like the ones developed by our team, create a level playing field for all candidates.
In this way hiring assessment tools open the aperture creating a wider pool for consideration, while keeping a precise focus on the qualities needed for delivering the intended guest experience. By providing job-related information on every candidate, assessments also mitigate biases beyond our awareness and keep managers, often dispersed geographically across service locations, focused on the core competencies that performance requires.
Hiring Assessment Tools: Aligning with Culture and Values
What often surpasses pay and compensation for candidates? Meaningful work and an attractive organizational culture. Assessment tools can be specifically designed to screen for candidates who align with an organization's culture and values, as well as inform and attract. Reports can be customized to highlight a candidate's potential for living the organization's core values, helping hiring managers identify individuals who will thrive in the environment. This connection drives meaning making contributing to higher engagement, better performance, and reduced turnover.
When we chat with leadership teams and hiring managers post-assessment implementation, they often say the biggest difference isn't the candidates' resumes, but they vibe with the company culture.
Predicting Future Performance and Potential with Assessments
Arguably, the pièce de résistance of hiring assessment tools is their validity in predicting job performance.
Different types of assessments measure unique dimensions of an individual's potential, providing a holistic view of their capabilities. Cognitive ability tests measure learning potential, problem-solving, and communication skills. Skills tests assess proficiency in specific job-related skills. Situational judgment tests evaluate a candidate's decision-making abilities in real-world scenarios. Personality and values tests provide insights into traits that drive performance, engagement, and cultural fit.
The predictive power of assessments is backed by extensive research and validation studies, demonstrate a clear link between performance on these tests and on-the-job success. We can reliably and accurately measure the ability to execute customer service, hardiness, and teamwork potential.
To be maximally effective, however, the tests must consider the candidate experience. At Corvirtus we keep three candidate perceptions front of mind when creating assessment tools -
- We want candidates to believe the assessment provided an opportunity for them to perform and share more about themselves.
- Next, candidates should believe the assessment is viewed as job related. Candidate perceptions matter. Although our HR and Industrial-Organizational Psych friends can delight in the predictive validity, to earn candidate commitment and deliver a positive experience we need an assessment that is viewed at first glance as related to job demands.
- Engaging. We push back on the idea that an assessment has to be a double edged sword. In other words, something that gives us the benefits we've talked about but damages the candidate experience.
Building a Sustainable Hospitality Workforce
With a workforce bubble, there's a limited proportion of the workforce willing to consider work in hospitality. Flipping the script means embracing a comprehensive talent management strategy that highlights the fun, exciting, and fulfilling aspects of hospitality work. These rewards resonate with younger workers (what's historically comprised half of the hospitality workforce). We've also seen dividends intentionally communicating a clear career pathway and opportunities for career progression throughout the hiring process. Delivering a clear picture of what training, mentorship, and advancement will look like can widen the scope of Gen Z and younger Millennials willing to invest in the hiring process. The online experience, as well as structured interview processes can incorporate testimonials and story-telling to earn trust and deliver social proof to this bedrock group of potential talent.
Communication about scheduling supports to Generation Z's desire for work-life integration and also ensures that new hires meet the availability that's needed. Share how you're investing in training on customer service skills and emerging technology. This informs candidates, and future employees, that they're entering a dynamic and evolving industry that prioritizes professional growth. Consider starting early: how can you earn the trust and attention of high school or even middle school age adolescents before they begin their career journey? We've seen great results from organizations building experiential programs, like internships, with these age groups. Even organizing “open days” to offer a taste of hospitality work provides potential employees with a realistic preview of the job and working conditions. Sharing success stories and testimonials showcases successful alumni to inspire and motivate potential Generation Z employees.
Building bench strength requires us to think about the unique needs of younger workers. Involving family members and friends recognizes the influence of family and friends in career decisions and leverages referral programs to attract talent. Establishing mentorship and buddy programs provides support and guidance to new employees, helping them acclimate to the workplace and develop their skills. Consider how storytelling around these programs can support recruiting and engaging applicants building a strong talent pool.
Lastly, if possible, increase transparency about the pay structure during recruiting. When we build structured hiring and interview processes candidates are asked about how much they expect to make at least once in the interview.
Hiring Assessment Tools: Creating a Future-Ready Recruitment Ecosystem
Talent acquisition, and assessments and experiences that support it, are not a one-size-fits-all solution. To maximize their effectiveness, they need to be integrated into a comprehensive recruitment ecosystem that supports the needs of all stakeholders.
Providing comprehensive training and support ensures that recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates understand the purpose and benefits of assessments. With business locations often geographically dispersed, training ensures standards are consistent building a stronger and united culture.
In addition to training, another too often overlooked area is communication. When we implement assessments, realistic job previews, structured interviews, or other hiring tools, we make sure that candidates are informed throughout the hiring process, providing timely updates and feedback.
Lastly, what about asking candidates what they think? Whether they opted out, were declined, or hired, candidate feedback is essential for continuously improving the candidate experience. If you're revisioning your hiring process, consider your plan for soliciting and acting on feedback from candidates. In addition to that feedback, we also carefully evaluate completion rates, time to complete, and time-to-fill both pre-and-post implementation. By prioritizing the candidate experience, hospitality organizations can create a positive and memorable impression that attracts top talent and sets the stage for long-term success.
Conclusion: Embracing a Data-Driven Future for the Hospitality Workforce
The potential hospitality workforce bubble is a serious challenge, but it's not insurmountable. By embracing data-driven hiring practices and competency-focused strategies, powered by hiring assessment tools, hospitality organizations can attract, retain, and develop the next generation of talent. Key insights include acknowledging the workforce shortage in the hospitality industry and understanding that Generation Z has distinct expectations and values.
The candidate experience is paramount. Every touchpoint, from the initial application to the final offer, shapes a candidate's perception of the organization. A positive candidate experience leads to higher offer acceptance rates, improved employee engagement, and a stronger employer brand.
Maximizing data-driven hiring practices is crucial for drawing in and keeping top talent, and hiring assessment tools are effective instruments for pinpointing and choosing the most suitable candidates. A positive candidate experience is crucial for building a strong employer brand. By adopting these strategies, the hospitality industry can ensure a sustainable future and continue to thrive in the years to come.
Featured image by Getty Images for Unsplash+
