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Work sample tests in recruitment and selection
Written by John Berry on 2nd May 2017. Revised 16th November 2020.
4 min read
Many recruitment consultants and recruiting managers conduct interviews. But few optimise the selection process. This blog sets out the role of a very special selection instrument – the work sample or skills test. 'Work samples' is one of four tools, which when used together provide the highest predictive validity of all staff selection methods.
Talent is a thing – a very measurable, valuable thing
Written by John Berry on 15th January 2018. Revised 16th November 2020.
8 min read
On BBC Radio 4, Margaret Heffernan, the writer and entrepreneur, mounts an attack on the idea that talent is a good predictor of future performance - and hence it should not be used in recruitment selection. Her article is a good listen but a bit muddled. Here we clarify and suggest that talent is not the useless thing that Margaret Heffernan suggests, but a multi-dimensional set of characteristics about each candidate that need to be known before making a job offer.
Recruiting when there's a skills shortage
Written by John Berry on 2nd January 2018. Revised 16th November 2020.
8 min read
The UK’s academic institutions are not turning out enough software engineers. Demand dramatically exceeds supply. This exemplifies the problem in many domains in the UK. So how do hiring managers find specialists? The key thing is to hire those with the right profile to contribute and learn. Profiling of personal characteristics and search for those must take precedence over high-level statements like ‘must be proficient in coding in MS.NET’. Coding and other specialist competencies can be learned.
Bringing gamification to recruitment
Written by John Berry on 23rd August 2017. Revised 16th November 2020.
4 min read
Online gaming can be used as part of a selection process. If you play the game well, you get to make a job application. It’s a way of testing the applicant whilst promoting the organisation and informing the applicant about the job. TimelessTime's web-delivered customised assessment delivers quality in selection. It’s not America’s Army but it’s pretty close to CanYouCrackIt. Ultimately it is for that manager to validate what the automated systems are saying. What can gamification offer your firm?
Recruitment Game: The route to achieving the right employee/employer match
Written by Sue Berry on 31st May 2017. Revised 13th November 2020.
34 min read
Recruitment is a game. In this game a firm tries to hire someone to do a job. On the other side is a person who wants to find an employer who will exchange money for labour in order to achieve their life’s ambitions or just simply to make ends meet and feed their families. The firm aims to exploit the person and the person aims to get as much as possible in return. In recruitment there is a meeting of two minds, the future employer and would-be employee. [Published December 2010]
Determining candidate suitability through pre-employment checks
Written by John Berry on 31st May 2017. Revised 13th November 2020.
3 min read
Managers would often like to know if the person they intend to hire would at some stage in the future be a threat to the hiring company. Managers may therefore be keen to vet candidates before they employ them. But vetting is complex, shrouded in mystique by many firms supplying vetting or pre-employment checks. And statute constrains what's possible. Here’s some outline information on vetting.
