Upgrading Candidate Assessment: Proven Frameworks for Staffing Teams

Tired of bad hires that set your business back thousands?

Recruiters and staffing firms are hiring for performance. They know great hires lead to:

• Stronger teams
• More revenue for your business.

But one big problem is holding teams back.

Traditional interviewing hasn’t evolved in decades, which means staffing teams aren’t finding the right candidates.

Hiring without a proven assessment process is like taking shots in the dark.

Luckily, there are plenty of assessment frameworks that leading staffing teams swear by. We dive into four of them below.

Ready to upgrade candidate assessment? Let’s go.

What you’ll learn:

• Why Traditional Interviews Fail
• How Topgrading Assessment Works
• 4 Proven Hiring Frameworks To Land A Players
• 5 Quick Wins To Improve Your Hiring Process Today

Why Traditional Interviews Fail

Here’s a hard truth…

Traditional interviews don’t work.

Whether it’s asking instinctual questions or sizing up candidates “based on a feeling.” Good ole fashion interview practices are broken.

In fact, according to CareerBuilder, 74% of employers have admitted to hiring the wrong person.

Can you imagine purposely hiring the wrong person for your business?

Most employers are. Every year.

Making matters worse…

A bad hire can set your business back by as much as 30% of a candidates first year salary. That’s $21,000 for a $70,000 position.

Let’s dive into the biggest problems with traditional interviewing.

Interviews Aren’t Structured

When candidates walk into most interviews, they never know what questions to expect.

Sure, interviewers may have a list of questions, but they fail to quantify what an ideal answer is. After each response, the interviewer makes an automatic judgement based on a “good vibe”.

And guess what happens at the other interview?

More useless questions are asked. Over and over.

Interviewers Are Biased

Bias in staffing and hiring causes tons of problems.

When employers interview candidates, they unknowingly form opinions in their head that steer their decision-making process.

Here’s an obvious example…

Say you’re hiring a candidate that went to your alma mater. It’s only natural that you would have a good “feeling” about them before you even enter the interview room.

That’s bias.

Candidates Stretch The Truth

Everyone bends the truth on their resume.

Whether it’s exaggerating responsibilities or faking skills.

When employers interview candidates, they rarely fact check their stories.

And candidates know it.

Instead of asking questions that expose lies, recruiters stick to basic questions that sound good on a podcast.

How about we skip the nonsense and get into some proven hiring frameworks that actually work?

How Topgrading Assessment Works

Are you familiar with Topgrading?

Topgrading is a structured interview process that zeroes in on a candidate’s previous work experience. Candidates are asked topgrading interview questions that dive deep on each position they’ve ever held.

Let’s break down Topgrading…

With Topgrading, recruiters dive into the candidate’s career history. They conduct what is called a chronological interview.

Here’s how it works:

Recruiters ask candidates questions about their previous roles. What they liked, their boss, challenges they faced and why they left.

But there’s a catch…

During the interview, the candidate agrees to contact former managers for a reference call. Knowing they’ll be speaking with their boss encourages the candidate to be honest.

When we say structured, we mean it.

Staffing teams using topgrading interview questions dig deeper into a candidate’s past than any other interviewing method.

Here’s a cheat sheet of Topgrading interview questions every staffing team should ask.

Why Structured Interviews Are Better

Think about the last interview your team conducted.

Did every interviewer ask the same questions? Were they scored on objective criteria?

If you answered no to either of these questions, your interview process needs structure.

“Framework” is a buzzword these days, but there’s a good reason structured interviews dominate the highest performing staffing teams.

They work.

Any type of interview that holds recruiters accountable to the same set of standard questions is far superior to asking questions based on “energy” in the room.

Stick to a proven formula and watch your team land better hires.

4 Proven Hiring Frameworks To Land A Players

With that being said, let’s take a look at some hiring frameworks that have proven results.

These hiring methods used alongside topgrading interview questions will help you land better talent, every time.

Behavioural Interview Questions

This type of interview revolves around one concept:

How someone behaves in certain situations.

Behavioural interviews ask candidates about their past behaviours in specific situations. The way these questions are framed follows the STAR method.

Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Instead of asking “what would you do if…” you ask “tell me about a time when…”

“Tell me about a time you had a difficult coworker.”

A behavioural candidate will respond with a detailed answer that covers a specific situation. They’ll talk about what happened, what their goal was, what actions they took and what the result was.

This forces the candidate to provide a real answer based on their past behaviours.

Scorecards

Scorecards may seem like common knowledge, but you’d be surprised at how many staffing teams skip this step.

Before the interview even takes place, hiring managers build a scorecard that the candidate will be measured against.

A good scorecard looks like this:

• Position-specific skills
• Competencies
• Cultural fit
• Leadership ability
• Communication skills

Note: include a scoring system.

During the interview, every interviewer completes the scorecard independently. Recruiting managers discuss their findings before finalizing their decision.

Work Sample Tests

Showing don’t always equal telling.

Work sample tests allow employers to “give a candidate a sample of the job.” Especially useful for technical positions, work sample tests let the candidate’s skills speak for themselves.

Evaluate Your Hiring Process

Check your staffing team’s interviewing process against these 4 frameworks. If any of these aren’t being used, you could be missing out on A players.

5 Quick Wins To Improve Your Hiring Process Today

Some of you are reading this thinking:

“We can’t adjust our entire interview process overnight.”

That’s ok.

Bringing your team up to speed on these proven hiring methods will take time.

But there are small adjustments you can make today to better your team’s chances of landing great candidates.

Write detailed job descriptions.

You want to hire for performance, right?

Then stop accepting candidates who only kind of meet your requirements.

Create a job description that outlines every skill and competency needed to excel at the position. Watch as only qualified candidates start applying.

Ask each interviewer the same set of questions.

Interview questions should be standardized across your entire organization.

Not only will this provide a better candidate experience, every interviewer will walk away with the same set of information to evaluate.

Score each interview.

Interviewers should score every candidate they speak with.

Don’t worry about making it complicated. A simple scoring system of 1-5 on key competencies is enough to make an informed decision.

Follow up with references.

Why waste your time interviewing someone that’s going to bail on you on day one?

Take the time to call a candidate’s references. Learn about their work ethic and attitude on the job.

Debrief with your team.

At the end of every interview, compare notes with your team. Make sure everyone is on the same page before you move forward with a candidate.

Upgrade your assessment process.

Start using these frameworks today to hire better candidates.

Bonus: here’s a candidate assessment checklist every staffing team should follow.

The Bottom Line

Upgrading your candidate assessment process isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s required.

Staffing firms and recruiters that don’t have a solid process in place are firing blind.

Use these hiring frameworks to guide your team toward landing great candidates.