Pro Tip: Test Drive Candidates Before Hiring

When purchasing a vehicle – whether it's your first ride or the new family wagon, everyone will tell you it's a "rookie mistake" to invest in a decision before taking a test drive.

Would you believe that Veteran HR Managers are still making the same mistake when hiring new employees?

It's not exactly like standing on the side of the interstate with a smoking vehicle – but it's a manager's worst nightmare...

The candidate they’ve recently hired who had the perfect resume, an exceptional interview, and flawless list of references –  is sitting at their new desk confused and can’t perform the daily assignments they were "qualified" for. What’s next – find a new role for them to fill within the company, or cut your loses?

With the use of Job Simulation in the hiring process, HR managers have the ability to avoid this headache. Observing what candidates can do and how they react in real-life job situations is more accurate than asking candidates to describe their particular skills during an interview.

Here are 4 reasons Simulations aid in the hiring process:

1) The most valid predictors of job performance!

Measuring a candidate’s skills at performing necessary functions of the job beforehand, you will examine their aptitude for learning, critical thinking, verbal, numerical and logical reasoning. Personality tools can also help determine if the applicant’s personality, motivation, or typical behavior tendencies are suited for the job. Having the desired skills and abilities to perform, doesn’t always matter. Personal characteristics play an equally significant role.

2) Simulations provide candidates with the most realistic job preview.

A contact-center simulation’s value depends in large part on its ability to completely immerse a candidate into the job. The best contact-center simulations are intuitive and easy to use, measure relevant skills accurately, and resemble the job for which they are intended to forecast performance.

Here are four common job-specific types of contact-center simulations: 

• ·        Customer-service simulations: The most common type of contact-center simulation – these simulations usually require applicants to respond to general customer inquiries using a variety of databases while dealing with different types of customers, distractions, and time pressure.

• ·         Sales simulations: Embed applicants into an inbound or outbound contact-center environment to measure core contact-center and sales skills. Scenarios allow applicants the opportunity to position an offering to a variety of customers. In addition to foundational contact-center skills (e.g., keyboarding, computer navigation, and multitasking), these simulations may measure an applicant’s effectiveness probing the customer to understand needs, positioning a sales offering, and overcoming resistance, as well as the skill to close a sale.

• ·         Collections simulations: Evaluate a candidate’s skill managing a potentially emotionally charged customer encounter to secure payment for a past-due debt. These simulations may require applicants to establish personal credibility, create rapport, gain agreement on the debt that is owed, negotiate a payment plan, overcome resistance, and secure a payment plan and schedule.

• ·         Digital-engagement simulations: One of the newest types of tools to enter the market – these types of assessments evaluate an applicant’s skill to perform functions required by customer chat and e-mail-based programs. Digital-engagement simulations might measure applicants’ skill communicating with customers via written media, customer-service orientation, sales skill, and basic contact-center skills. 

3) Simulations cause less adverse impact than other types of assessments.

•  Predict important work outcomes (e.g., job performance and turnover) accurately.
•  Create a positive candidate experience (e.g., face valid, job related, engaging).
•  Produce a fair outcome that is unaffected by demographic characteristics.
•  Reflect cost effective methods.
•  Administer easily, particularly when hiring volume is high.

 
4) Save Money!

Sometimes – when hiring a new employee, going with your “gut instinct” can be your initial approach. The absence of a job-related and data driven simulation during the hiring process is a notorious mistake made by hiring managers today. The advantages of using work samples while hiring can help eliminate the possibility of rejecting the right candidates and hiring the wrong ones. 

While technology does the 'heavy lifting,' hiring managers can accurately, and reliably predict a candidate's likelihood of on-the-job success. With the company’s time and resources focused on ONLY candidates who have been “pre-qualified,” via the use of such tools, hiring costs are cut, and achieving ROI on your company’s most important investment, your employees – is achieved.


– Have you, or your company ever used job simulation to aid with hiring? Please submit your tip in the comment section below.

All information compiled in this blog post was gathered from "How to Measure Contact Center Skills Using Multimedia Simulations." – compiled by FurstPerson.

To read the full text and discover more solutions that help candidates find a job they will love and enable clients to hire people that will perform well, be satisfied, and stay with the company – visit www.furstperson.com.

Hire Furst, Hire Right – FurstPerson