Assessing for Talent that will Thrive

Is “thrive” the latest marketing buzzword describing talent attraction and retention strategies? Thrive is defined as “to grow or develop well or vigorously, to prosper or flourish”. This post explores the topic of how can HR and business leaders leverage talent assessment and career development tools to match the individual to jobs or career paths where they will thrive. 

First, evaluate what pain points are being solved and what value is being generated. Look for talent vs. recruiter generated value.

Pain Points

• Recruiting inefficiencies: time and cost related to resume review, filtering, and pre-screening, low candidate-to-interview yields, poor candidate experience
• Sourcing talent: unconscious bias, narrowly defined talent pool, improving diversity

Value 

• Improve recruiting efficiencies: faster time to hire, lower cost per hire, higher candidate yields, and better candidate experience)
• Source quality hire: faster time to competency, job performance
• Surface hidden talent: mitigate bias from hiring, employ a more diverse workforce, identify internal talent

Second, understand what the assessment is measuring and what are the predictive claims. Individuals who thrive at work are in synch with workplace culture, feel like they belong versus just trying to fit, their personality, preferences, and abilities are aligned with the demands of the job.

Measurement

• Technical or hard skills
• Soft skills
• Culture
• Personality traits
• Cognitive traits

Predictive Claims

• Employee engagement
• Retention
• Time to competency
• Diversity of hires
• Applicant engagement
• Job success based on performance indicators as defined by the employer - sales goals, customer service ratings, etc. or personality

Third, look for solutions that not only rank candidates but provide insights that allow you to dial-up or down attributes that are revealed based on importance to the job role or work environment.