Pre-Employment Assessments: Valid as Hire Criteria or Inviting Bias?

With special thanks to Craig Cunningham and the staff of Job Search WorkTeam Milford.  I had the honor of presenting a Workshop on this growing trend. We know that one critical task for any organization is recruiting talent, efficiently - Lawfully. So, what role might pre-employment assessments play in this scenario?!

Some key points from the Workshop and research findings I am happy to share:

• A key activity that is crucial to firm performance is recruitment and selection, yet many practitioners (HR?) are poorly informed of the latest findings in pre-selection assessments;

• Unstructured, intuitive processes still appear to dominate HRM practices, despite the evidence in favor of more structured, rational approaches;

• One type of bias that can intrude into an unstructured procedure is the tendency for interviewers' opinions of the applicant - to the point above;

• Applicant testing is a growing trend;

• So...the burning question we actively discussed: While the lack of assessments (that "gut" feeling) may pose the potential for bias and unlawful practices - how can testing/assessments present yet another "slippery slope"?!

Contact Richard for more information about the workshop at ramphd@careerdiscoverys.com.

#assessments #employment #bias #criteria #hire