Hiring is tough. But hiring right…now that’s a real struggle. And it always has been for employers who rely on the traditional interview and reference checking process to place candidates into open roles.

Finding qualified people with the right skills sets who also fit within your corporate culture requires insight that an in-person interview is unlikely to provide. And like all businesses, success, or worse, failure, starts with the people you hire.

Not only does a poor hire affect profitability, it also affects your corporate culture and market reputation. With a world seemingly brimming with internet trolls, there’s nothing worse than reading negative reviews about your company online. Especially when you’ve worked so hard—sometimes even at the expense of a personal life—to create a best-place-to-work environment for employees.

Employers need a better way to assess, interview and select the right people for their critical roles.

Allow me to introduce you to Zachary.

Zachary, a seasoned account executive with a demonstrated track record of retaining more than 95 percent of his clients every year, walks in for an interview for a leadership position. He effortlessly outperforms every other candidate who has applied for the job. His skill sets seem to match perfectly with the job requirements. And his references are stellar. Zachary is quickly offered the role, which he accepts with great enthusiasm.

But within weeks, something “feels wrong” to his direct reports, and they’re starting to voice their concerns. You notice that his energy level has dropped, and he prefers to work alone. Zachary closes his office door often, and rather than mentoring and empowering his team to manage their clients, he is doing their job for them. Everyone is frustrated, including Zachary, and morale is suffering. It’s clear he prefers being an account executive, and he’s not going to succeed in the leadership role. After six months, Zachary is regretfully let go.

The management team is now left wondering what went wrong. Was the job description inaccurate? Were the wrong questions asked in the interview process? Was Zachary less than forthcoming about his own skills, goals and job preferences? Regardless, this company is at square one and hoping that the next hire is a better fit.

Just about every employer can relate to such a story. And yet, when it’s time to find a new version of Zachary, most go right back to making hiring decisions based on “gut instinct.” But this story could have ended differently. With a modern pre-hire assessment tool, the management team would have had key insights about Zachary that indicated just how well he really fit with the position’s requirements. They would have seen where he was likely to struggle and could have offered additional coaching or not hired him at all.

Pre-hire assessments are changing the way employers interview, hire and coach employees.

Pre-hire assessments have advanced dramatically over recent years. And employers are benefiting greatly by having a proven, objective way to assess job fit BEFORE making an employment offer. Today’s top pre-hire assessment systems are easy to use, affordable, reliable and customized specifically to the company and each role.

Here are three critical elements to look for when reviewing a pre-hire assessment system:

1. Does it provide a workforce hiring strategy that your entire company can use? A reputable pre-hire assessment should be customized for all roles within the company. Do not accept a one-size-fits-all solution.
2. A top-tier pre-hire assessment should do more than just help you hire right. Does it help to develop your people into exceptional performers, while eliminating burnout, increasing engagement, and helping them find a healthy work/life balance?
3. Does the assessment you’re reviewing help to strengthen and maintain your extraordinary corporate culture, which relies on having confident and happy employees.

With the right pre-hire assessment solutions, employers can hire right the first time much more often, which will increase employee retention, and ultimately, result in better organizational performance.

Watch the video below and learn more about the PXT Select™.

A unique selection assessment that fills the gap between the resume and the interview, it includes a suite of reports that helps you to select, onboard, coach and develop employees to reach their full potential.

It humanizes the hiring process! And isn’t that how hiring people should have always been?

For more information about PXT Select™, contact Valerie Oldre at [email protected].