Sifting fact from fiction when recruiting

There have been some really interesting lessons from COVID-19. For one, remote working has led to the realisation for some that a strong, expensive, physical presence may not be as necessary as once thought. Others have discovered they can get by rather well with a diminished workforce.  

So what challenges does that bring to employers as we look forwards?  

Well, for a start there are now many more people in the talent pool looking for work.

As Gary Martin points out, in his article, “Many people are guilty of lying to get their dream job…,” we are likely to see a growing and disturbing trend of people stretching the truth to land a job.  

Resume spin, or “padding,” occurs even when jobs are plentiful, therefore it’s even more inevitable as candidates cover the gaps and colour their capabilities when supply is higher than demand.

While employers might be getting better at lie-detection, it still takes enormous energy to sift fact from fiction – especially when we can now expect a massive rash of applications for every position.  

Besides, who wants to waste time on an interview with someone who really doesn’t have the behavioural make-up to do the job well, long term?

Given the plethora of candidates now in the talent pool and given the likely high quality of many of them, how are you going to choose the best of the best?  

That’s where behavioural and cognitive testing comes in; and that’s where talent optimisation delivers massive value.  

An unstructured interview alone will give you about a 6% likelihood of successfully hiring the right candidate. Combine an unstructured interview with both behavioural and cognitive testing and you get a 9-fold increase in success, resulting in a 51% likelihood of successfully hiring the right candidate.

Why waste time, energy and money improving your lie-detection skills when you can simply short-list based on behavioural and cognitive alignment with the job?  

After all, most jobs have a distinct behavioural profile, and once you know what that is, it’s easy to find the right sort of candidate and match them against it.  

I have no doubt that resume “padding” will increase – but with the right tools you can cut through the BS BEFORE you waste time interviewing those who’ve intentionally stretched the truth.

You can read Gary Martin’s full article here. And if you would like to know more about The Predictive Index, and behavioural and cognitive assessments, you can reach me at [email protected].