Digital Innovation
Alan Bourne
Founder and CEO,
Sova Assessment
Alan leads Sova
Assessment, having
founded the business to
provide precision
assessments that are
built bespoke to client
needs, behaviours
and brand.
sovaassessment.com
Candidates have consumer-
grade expectations, so assessment
must be mobile, and the presentation
contemporary and intuitive, with
questions relevant to the job.
Candidates are increasingly looking for
more meaningful experiences of work,
so it links to that agenda.
That supports a more efficient
recruiting funnel. Improved
completion rates improve flow-through
of candidates. If you’re also sifting out
candidates early, you bring efficiency.
With graduate recruits for Zurich and
call centre staff for Royal Sun Alliance,
hiring rates soared at final assessment,
because the quality of candidates
reaching that stage was higher.
Candidates are leading
employers, ensuring they adjust how
they do things. For example, John Lewis
and Waitrose assess 400,000 people a
year, all existing or potential customers.
A bad assessment experience impacts
on brand experience.
“Traditional aptitude testing does
not help a flow of diversity”
Social mobility is a driver.
Traditional aptitude testing (which
relates closely to quality of schooling),
does not encourage a flow of diversity
through the recruiting funnel. An
assessment of the whole person looks
at how you make judgements in real
situations; your personality and
motivations; drive; resilience; learning
agility; empathy; creativity – giving a
broader sense of the whole person.
There are issues around
digital inclusion, but many older
candidates are digitally savvy and
most of the technology ubiquitous.
That said, there’s an inclusion
issue around the devices people
use. Data for millennials shows
that, in the UK, about 20% don’t
have a desktop or laptop at home,
they use a tablet or smartphone as
their primary way of accessing
the internet.
Invest in assessment, but avoid
‘shiny object syndrome’. There’s
always exciting new technology coming
through to support assessments,
but beware ‘solutions looking for a
problem’. For example, people are
only just starting to figure out how to
use virtual reality in assessment.
Be clear what problem you’re
trying to solve. What matters to you:
social mobility? Precision or quality of
hire? Driving efficiencies? If you’re
certain about desired outcomes, you
can explore the market with clarity.
Issue 2 - 2017
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