Hiring managers are beginning to see the expanding importance of Personality Assessments when Hiring for Fit.
Finding and keeping top performers is more than just finding the right person with the right skills; it also involves finding the right “fit”. When searching for candidates, hiring managers need to ask themselves “how will this person mesh with others in the company? Will they fit in with the culture?”
Hiring for fit has become one of the most important objectives due to the fact that most failed hires are a result of a poor culture fit, rather than individual performance. A poor fit can result in conflicts of personality, communication issues, and social miscues. These issues rarely appear immediately; they will slowly manifest over time, which will affect the morale of other employees and costs the organization a significant amount of time and money in lost productivity.
Hiring the Right Candidate
To better manage what has become a sprawling search process, many hiring managers are leveraging personality assessments to identify candidates with the right “fit” for their company. A survey by the American Management Association has highlighted that one third of the 2,100 human resource managers poled have integrated personality assessments into their hiring process.
The reason personality assessments are gaining traction when hiring for fit is the fact that resumes and in-person interviews can only tell so much about an individual's workstyle, interpersonal style, and integrity. Assessments allow hiring managers to predict how a candidate will fit in with the team and company should they be selected. Advance assessments such as Workstyle & Performance Profile can even provide personalized interview questions and coaching tips to train a strong candidate to be an even better employee.
For example, should a company require someone to manage a workforce spread across the world, strong communication skills, cultural sensitivity, and an adaptive personality would be required for success. Even the most experienced interview may experience challenges uncovering these traits, while a personality assessment would not.
Training Current Employees
While personality assessments are a great tool for hiring, they can also be leveraged by HR managers to coach their current workforce. Having an understanding of each employees strengths and weaknesses ensures that they are being put to good use in the company, and can be coached to become top performers. With a better understanding of their team, managers can become better leaders and great motivators.
The main thing to remember is that personality assessments helps companies not only hire the right employee, but also keep them. Better retention saves a significant amount of time and money due to increased productivity and decreased hiring costs. You can begin hiring for fit with a 30 day unlimited subscription of WPP by clicking the button on the right!
