Recruiters need to rethink the way they sift and select graduates, says Talent Q

March 15, 2012 - PRLog -- Recruiters can improve the speed and efficiency of their graduate selection process and save money by rethinking the way they sift and select candidates, according to Talent Q, the talent assessment specialist.

The company is calling for organisations to ‘front-load’ their hiring process with job-relevant assessments, in order to put a higher proportion of appropriate candidates through to an assessment centre and avoid the costly mistake of short-listing the wrong people.

“Large companies need to find suitable candidates from tens of thousands of applicants,” said Steve O’Dell, CEO of Talent Q UK. “Those that aren’t making use of the combination of technology and assessment need to rethink their selection process now. The old assumptions that assessments are expensive and difficult to implement don’t hold true anymore. Assessments offer an objective and valid way to screen out unsuitable applicants, allowing only those who closely match the specific competencies of the role to proceed.”

According to Talent Q, some graduate assessment centres have a 6:1 ratio, which means that for every six people being assessed, one gets recruited. Other centres operate with a more cost effective ratio of 2:1.

“Robust assessment will reveal the best candidates, enabling you to run more productive assessment centres,” said Steve O’Dell. “Best practice is to be clear about the requirements of the role at the outset and to deploy the right mix of assessments. At Talent Q, we’re seeing a rise in the number of organisations using our adaptive ability tests to screen their graduate candidates. These ‘adapt’ in complexity according to the ability of candidates as they progress through the assessment and produce quicker and more accurate results. Personality questionnaires should also be deployed because aspects of personality can have a considerable bearing on whether or not an individual will be successful at work.”

Talent Q stresses that psychometric assessments must be linked to the right technology if organisations are to effectively process the thousands of graduate applications they receive.

“Smart recruitment functionality can streamline the hiring process,” said Steve O’Dell. “By using the right technology in combination with cutting-edge assessments, organisations can not only make their graduate recruitment process better, faster and cheaper, they can also enhance the candidate experience and the employer brand.”

For further information, please call Talent Q on +44 (0)1844 218980 or visit:
http://www1.talentqgroup.com/rethink


Background notes: Talent Q provides personality, ability and competency assessments that support recruitment, development, the identification of high potential, team building, coaching and talent management. The company also provides assessment training and consultancy services to help organisations select the best people and develop and retain their staff.

Talent Q works with over 500 clients worldwide, including household name organisations such as B&Q, Carlsberg, Citi, Royal Mail Group and Santander. With operations and partners in 23 countries, it provides assessments in 40 languages.