Decoding a Client’s Candidate Assessment

A few weeks back, we attended a webinar by Dave Baker of the Palmetto Leadership Center called “Human Resources & Corporate Recruiter Relationships,” which was an overview of assessments, effectively coaching clients and candidates, and tips for recruiters from a corporate HR manufacturing perspective.

Working with HR people in the field can present several challenges – one of which Baker noted is having an objective assessment to remove the interviewing bias.

Your clients assess hard skills and cognitive abilities, like technical knowledge/competence, to ensure a candidate can handle the tasks and responsibilities of a position.

They also look at soft skills or behavioral traits like personality, communication and leadership style – these skills are often looked at through things like Myers-Briggs, and other assessments – to make sure the candidate would be a good fit in the role (such as if it requires teamwork or working independently, leadership or the ability to learn, etc.) and whether their personality would be a “fit” with the company culture and those they will be working with.

In addition, clients put emphasis on work record and experience – leadership, customers served, industry, longevity – someone who can jump right into a role without too much hand-holding. Also important is a candidate’s interests and motivations, to make sure the candidate would enjoy the role and not be too overwhelmed or get bored.

All of these pieces are important to help determine whether or not a candidate is a fit for the job. The candidate’s thinking style with help you determine if he/she can cope with the mental demands of the job; their behavioral traits will predict whether or not he/she will be comfortable in the job environment; and their interests will show if they are motivated by this kind of work. But not all these factors show up in a resume, and they definitely aren’t all addressed in a job order.

A way to address this is to ‘coach’ your clients and candidates – something you do every day, whether you realize it or not. For candidates, recruiters are more of an advisor/consultant – advising them on resume format, interview techniques, etc. A way to coach is to ask open-ended questions, such as “how will you know you’ve identified the right candidate?” or “what information are we missing?”

Good candidates do not hang around long, so it’s important to have this objective data to help your client make a timely, informed decision.