Assessing Candidates Through a Multi-Dimensional Lens

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There are many elements to the hiring process. While most are at the forefront, a deeper look at the human component could provide a different perspective. For example, due to the complexity of the human mind, psychology has entered the workplace. Industrial and Organization Psychology, or I/O Psychology, refers to the behavior of people within the workplace.

In regard to the hiring process, I/O Psychology can be used to assess candidates. But what exactly does that mean?

Benefits of Incorporating I/O Psychology in the Workplace

By looking at people in the workplace through a psychological lens, the results could help companies establish stronger teams, improve weaknesses, and highlight individual members’ strengths. Hiring employees is a commitment for both the employee and the company. Mis-hires often happens when companies ignore what I/O Psychology presents. Implementing that psychological perspective can help a business predict an employee’s potential behavior before actually hiring them. Essentially, this could decrease the number of mis-hires and increase productivity, among other things.

Evidence-Based Hiring

This type of hiring comes from the use of evidence that I/O Psychology provides. Like I/O psychology as a whole, evidence-based hiring is predictive. It’s designed to maximize job productivity along with other factors which combine to help companies create a hiring process that implements prediction. The goal is to use that to improve the hiring process by raising performance and retention rates. Furthermore, evidence-based hiring shows businesses the qualities of candidates that could increase job success.

Alternatively, the use of resumes and interviews has been proven to display bias. They were previously relied on heavily but, since that revelation, are slowly being replaced by automated hiring tools. Such tools incorporate evidence-based systems to evaluate candidates based on what companies are looking for. Nonetheless, interviewing candidates and reviewing their resumes should remain a part of the hiring process. They are useful tools to help evaluate the personalities, skills, and desires of candidates. Evidence-based tools should just be relied on more.

The most popular evidence-based hiring tools are online assessments. They can cover technical or soft skills and can be used together in different stages of the hiring process. Technical skill assessments are often given at the start of the process with soft skill assessments following close behind. This allows hiring managers and recruiters to weed out unqualified individuals early on. Soft skill assessments aid both sides in determining whether a candidate’s values, personality, or other qualities are a good fit for the company.

Assessing Candidates Through a Multi-Dimensional Lens

The term ‘multi-dimensional’ in the hiring process is used to describe the combination of assessments given to candidates. These assessments will cover various areas, or ‘dimensions’, to give hiring managers and recruiters a full picture of a candidate. An example of this is to give a candidate an emotional intelligence, personality, and cognitive aptitude assessment during the hiring process. Since assessments can cover all kinds of topics, the order and combination could vary based on the company, job required, or desired qualities. This is a much more effective way of predicting how a candidate might fare if hired as an employee.