Impact on Quality of Hire

This past week I was interviewed by a reporter from a major news magazine. He contacted me about a controversial article I had written on ERE addressing the lack of forward-thinking when it comes to companies developing talent acquisition strategies. In the article I suggested that follow-the-leader seemed to be the dominant strategy of choice used by most companies.
We then got around to talking about the skills gap in the U.S. workforce, whether it was real or imaginary, and if anything could be done about it. “Plenty” was my instant comment. Here’s what came next

HR leaders tend to try to push back against the fetish in their corporations to hire from outside instead of promoting from within. A new study offers some evidence to bolster their case. 

Best-in-class organizations are using assessments not only to understand the skills and traits employees have today, but also their capacity to grow.
As companies are required to do more with less, talent decisions take on greater complexity. The mandate for greater efficiency with fewer resources draws attention to the power of assessments. The data derived from these tools can help to maximize performance and productivity while reducing the cost and risk associated with bad hires. Assessments also can inform workforce and succession planning.

I’ve never felt better about the evolution of pre-employment assessment. In this coming year we’ll see some real progress toward new levels of assessment adoption that will be based more on results then on hype. But there are some significant challenges to be faced.
As we enter this exciting new year, here are the trends that I feel are going to define the future of pre-employment assessment.

It looks like one plank of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill might actually pass Congress:  a tax break for companies that hire unemployed veterans.

In this job market, you might expect that hiring new employees would be easy. But many entrepreneurs still struggle to find good people. In a recent survey of Inc. 5000 CEOs, hiring edged out even the economy and government regulation as their top concern, with nearly one-quarter of respondents identifying it as the biggest challenge they had faced in the preceding three months.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. on Monday said it would begin hiring high school graduates for office and engineering work, becoming one of the first big-name Korean firms to break the hiring bias towards college graduates that is a scourge on the country’s economy and Koreans’ mental health.

HR is playing a more important role than ever in CEO succession. But the process often requires CHROs to walk a fine line.  Not so long ago, the issue of CEO succession was a relatively straightforward one for the head of HR.  CEOs mostly owned the succession process, and often felt that if they had one or perhaps two possible successors who could take over at the appropriate time, that was enough.  No longer.  As boards are coming under growing pressure to make sure their companies have robust CEO succession strategies, and are passing that expectation on to their CEOs, HR is increasingly being called upon to play a key role.

The quality of those not hired is the most valuable recruiting metric that you have never heard of! It informs you how often your organizations is failing to hire the highest quality applicants.

With the public sector now facing significant change, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Industry Research Unit is today publishing a practical business case to assist hiring, procurement and HR managers working in the sector to make informed recruitment choices.

Vexed that some 30% of driver candidates flunk its traditional training, United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) is moving beyond the classroom to ready its rookies for the road. In the place of books and lectures are videogames, a contraption that simulates walking on ice and an obstacle course around an artificial village.

Taking a relaxing bath last night, I found myself thinking about making an update to my Facebook page and about how I need to get going on creating an invite for an event I am having in a few weeks.

You've sent countless cover letters and resumes to prospective employers. You diligently follow up with numerous e-mails and hope for a flicker of interest from somebody. If you're lucky, a human-resource professional acknowledges receipt of your document.