Final candidate assessment

Final candidate assessment

How do we choose the most suitable candidate for the position when we are left with several good candidates? The importance of distinguishing between which factors are most important for a particular role and measuring and examining candidates with objective and scientific methods can sometimes be the difference between success and failure. Often this can make the difference between who can do a decent job and a very good job.

Final candidate assessment

Final candidate assessment

How do we choose the most suitable candidate for the position when we are left with several good candidates? The importance of distinguishing between which factors are most important for a particular role and measuring and examining candidates with objective and scientific methods can sometimes be the difference between success and failure. Often this can make the difference between who can do a decent job and a very good job.
What characterizes the best candidates? What should we emphasize in the final candidate process?

In today's society, what characterizes the best candidates? Who delivers the best results? Who is best to lead an organization? Who is best at leading people? We support Robert Hogan - one of the world's leading researchers on effective leaders and personality - in what characterizes successful leaders today.read more here. However, it is also incredibly important to take into account what is unique about your organization. What does it take for you to be successful? read more here about Organizational culture and more here about Talent Management.

It is critically important in recruitment to focus on the criteria that are most important in the position to be recruited for, and to lower the importance of any other talents the candidates may have.

"How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal". 
Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't 
Ram Charam

Which methods should we use?

It is not enough to know what to look for. It is equally important to use good, objective methods to identify the candidates who will be the best match for your organization in various roles. In the final candidate assessment, you should link the test results and interview and reference interview questions to the criteria in the requirements profile. This way you can prevent selecting candidates who only appear to have leadership potential without actually being able to become effective leaders. In addition, this method helps us to identify candidates with high potential who, unfortunately, are all too often not chosen for leadership roles because they do not show themselves enough to be noticed. If you are not focused and structured enough in this process, even experienced recruiters will easily be charmed by candidates who are outgoing and good at selling themselves.
"How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal". 
Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't , Ram Charan

A myth in the selection of top managers:
"You don't need to test their analytical and logical abilities"


You both should and must do it!
Many managers will try to tell you that they are too senior to be analyzed and tested - "look at what I have achieved in the past, isn't that proof enough!" But fFor some, success has come easily. They may have been lucky, been in the right place at the right time and had good people around them. If you want to be sure that your selection of top management is correct, test them with a good aptitude test that measures general intelligence.
Why is it so important to test intelligence?

What you score on an analytical test cannot alone predict whether you will be successful as a manager, but it shows who has the best potential for success in many different roles and contexts. For the simple reason that smart people make fewer mistakes and learn faster. In today's society, where change is happening faster than ever before, even higher demands are required for learning and making quick decisions.

"Failing prey to leadership vanity is a mistake investors would do well to avoid. If you want to be sure your investement is in safe hands, ignore the vanity cries and test for ability." 
Alison Gill and Peter Sanders, 
CRELOS 2009

"Failing prey to leadership vanity is a mistake investors would do well to avoid. If you want to be sure your investement is in safe hands, ignore the vanity cries and test for ability." 
Alison Gill and Peter Sanders, CRELOS 2009

The process for Final candidate assessment
The process for Final candidate assessment
The process for final candidate assessment
  • We link the requirement profile for the position to tests and interview and reference check questions.
  • We send out recognized ability and personality tests to the final candidates, see more about the tests below in the next section.
  • We give test feedback to the candidates and conduct a structured final candidate interview, where the main focus is on personal suitability and motivation for the position. The candidates will be challenged on their "darker sides".
  • We carry out a structured reference check.
  • We analyze all information against the requirement profile for the position and meet with you for an objective review of the candidates' strengths and development needs related to the content of the position.

Which psychometric tools do we recommend?

It depends on the type of position and level you are evaluating candidates for, but we always recommend a normal personality test (big 5). Read more here about which other tests we recommend for final candidate assessment.

read more here

Reference check is important

But if they are not carried out in a structured and methodical way with questions related to behavior that will be important in the position to be filled, it can sometimes be better not to.
read more here