The art of recruiting and hiring isn’t perfect. Instincts and gut feelings can easily mask cognitive biases that affect the hiring process (even in the most experienced HR or talent professionals). And while resumes and interviews are an important part of talent evaluation, they tend to provide incomplete data on a candidate’s soft skills, behavioral traits and working styles. A more data-driven approach can reduce those biases and lead to better hiring decisions without completely removing the intangibles from the process.
This is important because soft skills and behavioral traits are actually more important to an employee's overall success than technical skills. The 2021 Global Hiring Outlook report from Monster found that when employers were asked to name the top skills they want in employees, they cited soft skills such as dependability, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility and problem-solving. Hiring that doesn’t take the norms and culture of the hiring organization into account can put employees into roles that are a poor fit for them and lead to low productivity or expensive rehires. A global survey conducted by LinkedIn found that 89% of mishires are due to a mismatch in soft skills.
Jeff Diana, the Chief People Officer at Calendly and a Searchlight advisor and customer, explained the issue like this: “We have reached that pivotal point in the evolution of the craft of Recruitment where we can truly bring Science into the hiring process. It’s never been more mission critical and the hiring landscape has never been more challenging then what we face today. Simply put, the companies that can hire with Science will drive better business outcomes and we as HR Leaders can be the ones leading the charge. Despite all the historical rhetoric about Quality of Hire, we all have ultimately prioritized quantity and “hitting the numbers” because that was what was measurable. Searchlight has changed all that. Their ground-breaking technology can both measure and move the needle on Quality of Hire so HR teams can recruit top talent smarter, faster and better.”
Approaching HR as a science means organizations need different, more data-driven tools. One such tool is a Predictive Talent Platform, which provides data and analytics to help companies understand candidates holistically (beyond their experience and the impression they give in an interview). This platform measures and improves Quality of Hire by connecting candidate reference and self-assessment data to post-hire outcomes. Ultimately this improves hiring efficiency and effectiveness. Important components of a Predictive Talent Platform include:
- 360-Degree Assessments
- Analytics Dashboards
- AI Processing
- Feedback Loop for Recruiting
Searchlight provides such a platform. According to Jeff Diana, “Searchlight’s AI engine allows today's HR Leaders to build a reliable and predictive recruiting engine across roles and teams based on what success uniquely looks like at your company and in your culture. Searchlight easily aligns teams upfront when launching a role, assessing candidates quickly and accurately, as well as setting people up for success so they can not only perform at their very best but stay for the long term.”
Using a more data-driven approach to hiring and recruiting that includes a mix of art and science not only improves Quality of Hire and attracts candidates more likely to stay and thrive, but it also improves the business bottom line.
