Back

Talent assessments have been used in hiring processes for a long time. Funnelling the right people into the right positions can help save needless losses in employing and training the wrong people. They are also a great way to identify strengths within individuals in your team. 

By creating a talent assessment strategy, you can streamline your hiring processes through defined principles and criteria. Talent assessments help to identify certain traits that form personality and thinking processes. 

Identifying strengths within your team allows you to best position your employees. Having the right people in the right places will strengthen your team and produce optimum levels of performance. Not only that, but the synergy found in a well-structured team will benefit many other areas such as employee satisfaction and retention. 

How To Assess Employee Talent

A well-planned talent assessment solution offers a fair approach to hiring, taking skills, work samples and trials into account, all delivered through structured interviews. In taking this route, an employer ensures that the role is filled based on the applicant’s attitude, personality, skill set and ultimately, their suitability to the job. 

The more traditional routes of employment rely heavily on academic and employment credentials. This can leave the less experienced out of favour and in a predicament; without experience, how do you gain experience. With talent assessments, the naturally gifted can shine. 

Talent Assessment Beyond Traditional Methods 

Traditionally, talent assessments are conducted through knowledge tests, work trials, work samples and rigorous checking through work academic histories. Although these traditional methods have always served to streamline talent towards roles, advances in technology offer new ways to filter out the fantastic. 

Psychometric testing has played a large part in traditional talent assessment. Through psychometric assessments, working through verbal, numerical and logical assessments, participants’ aptitude, personality, motivation and core skills are recorded for comparison. 

In the age of technology, we can now, of course, go much further than simply asking how an applicant may respond to a certain situation. With Virtual Reality capability, it is possible for applicants to immerse themselves in such situations, with their responses arising in a more natural environment, revealing their authentic behaviours. 

How Psychometric Tests Help in Hiring

Analysing the candidate’s psyche through various means can give a fairly accurate understanding of their character, principles and behavioural traits. These results are obtained through tests that increase in difficulty and questions chosen to get the candidate to think outside the box. 

Psychometric tests are usually carried out as part of the hiring process. Once the initial interview process has narrowed down the selection and background checks have been completed, psychometric tests work to pinpoint an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. 

The tests don’t just work to enhance the employer’s output; they have also been shown to create a better employee experience. The tests identify strengths but also areas that can be improved. Investing in your employees’ progress is well documented as a defining factor in employee happiness and retention. Research by behavioural test specialists Cut-e (Aon) showed that 75% of the best-rated companies to work for in the world used psychometric testing. 

VR Solutions for Talent Assessments

With VR technology now readily available, employers are finding many ways to capitalise on the experience. Recreating real-time, real-life situations through VR enables employers to gain measurable results from an immersive, situational challenge in which applicants react in a more natural environment. 

Monitoring behavioural traits in such environments give an insight into how the participant will react in real-world situations. Such programs can measure and reveal authentic behaviours in response to challenging situations, collaborative efforts, crisis management, problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership. All this, within the confines of virtual reality. 

The immersive nature of the VR assessment has increased the use of SJTs (Situational Judgment Tests). Previously these tests were carried out on web-based programs, giving the options for applicants to select. With VR, they are placed in the environment and make real-time decisions based on hypothetical situations.

The Future of Talent Assessment

Modern assessments for talent such as VR, coupled with psychometric testing, allow businesses to plan ahead. Tailoring the outcomes towards skills that are essential to the role, or even skills that you need in the future, finding the perfect candidate is made that little bit easier. Through these modernised talent assessments, you can be sure that selected candidates not only align with the role and its requirements but meet your company’s standards, values and ethics. This can save the costly processes of rehiring in the case of mismatched recruitment. 

Another advantage utilised by many firms is the regular testing of current employees. Sometimes you may find all the talent you need under your own roof. With the VR assessments, generally, employees embrace the experience rather than see it as corporate red tape and governance. Using this information, you can continually shape and optimise your team for the best performance. It will also help you to identify the level at which team members are progressing. 

This all works towards higher levels of employee satisfaction. As the number one factor in employee retention, this makes talent assessments a worthwhile investment both during the hiring process and throughout the employee journey with your business.