New Hire Retention – Improving the Selection Process Utilizing Assessments

There is nothing more frustrating than having a new employee resign or fail during their initial period of employment.  The cost associated with turnover is staggering to an organization.  Yet retention statistics indicate nearly two thirds of all turnover occurs in the first year of employment.  Two often, a thorough cause and effect analysis for the reason behind each occurrence is a problem that should have been detected during the selection process.  Given the current shortage of qualified people (3.7% unemployment rate), the need to make the right hiring decision is critical issue.

Most organizations today rely on a process of accurate job descriptions, honest and complete information in the job announcements, careful resume and application review, thorough interviewing, background and reference checking, and often drug and alcohol screening.  How well an organization accomplishes these activities helps to ensure a correct match between company’s and employee’s needs and desires.  However, less than 25% of employers utilize assessments as part of their process.  They are overlooking a very effective tool that will impact the success rate of new employees.

Selection assessments were developed and first used during World War II by the Armed Forces.  They have come a long way since.  Assessments can be used to identify job candidates Skills and Knowledge, Personality, Situational Judgement, Cultural and Job “Fit”, Cognitive Ability and Critical Thinking.  Assessments are more objective and can fill in the gaps not discovered in other steps of the selection process.

As there is an increasing and vast amount of assessment alternatives, which assessment should be utilized is an important decision.  They vary greatly in quality and cost.  It is important to remember that the assessment must be legal, properly validated and should be specifically related to the job and cultural requirements.

The results for organizations utilizing assessments are significant:

• Companies report almost a 40% reduction in turnover
• Hiring managers report a 36% increase in their satisfaction with the selection process
• Organizations are 24% more likely to have employees who exceed performance objectives.

These results more than overcome the incremental cost and potential time delay in utilizing this effective selection tool.