Talent Science blog series - Myth #4: Assessments are only useful for hiring

Talent assessments have become increasingly popular in the world of work as a tool for identifying and developing individuals' skills and abilities. However, despite their widespread use, there are still many myths and misconceptions surrounding talent assessments that can prevent individuals and organizations from fully realizing their potential.

In this blog series, we will explore and bust some of the most common myths associated with talent assessments. By doing so, we hope to help individuals and organizations gain a better understanding of the true value of talent assessments and how they can be leveraged to maximize human potential.

MYTH #4: Assessments are only useful for hiring

The fact is, you’ve already asked your candidates to spend time completing the assessment, you have learned quite a bit about their aptitudes and preferences, and you have identified gaps between each candidate and the job’s requirements… So why throw all that out once you make the hire? In the case of Kelly Berryman in the image below, you have an employee who took a behavioral assessment as part of her application process. Through the assessment, we learned where she falls on a variety of characteristics. We can see that she is :

• is very Disciplined
• probably has a low preference for teamwork (low sociability, low team Orientation)
• and has an average Attention to Detail.

In addition to learning about Kelly, we also learn about how well she aligns with the job she applied to – in this case, an Operations Technician. So if we look at the green bands as the ideal amount of each characteristic for success in the job, we can see where her strengths and liabilities lie. This information is very useful in building a cumulative picture of how well a job candidate fits the role, but why stop there?

TRUTH: Assessments are part of an integrated Talent Strategy

Especially right now in this job market, most companies don’t have the luxury of selecting only the best of the best. So you’re likely to end up hiring candidates with some significant gaps. Why not use what you have learned about these gaps to choose targeted learning content? Still using Kelly as an example, Kelly’s natural predisposition is probably to prefer working alone, but this job will require her to work as part of a team sometimes. To help Kelly succeed, you can present her with some targeted training content to help her function as effectively as possible in team environments.

You can also use the assessment to see if future positions could be a fit for Kelly. Let’s say the Operations Manager in Kelly’s area leaves or is preparing to retire. To find a backfill, you don’t need to limit the search to outside candidates or rely on Kelly’s performance as a Technician. Rather, we can take the same behavioral assessment information we already have on file for Kelly and compare her against the ideal targets for the Operations Manager role to see how well she fits in that role.
This is what we mean when we talk about Maximizing Human Potential. It’s about using what we can learn about people’s core preferences and tendencies and helping them thrive. Maximizing Human Potential through selection AND BEYOND: that is what we at Talent Science strive to help you do.

Blog series:

• Myth 1 of Talent Assessments: Assessments make it hard to fill open positions.
• Myth 2 of Talent Assessments: Candidates react negatively to assessments.
• Myth 3 of Talent Assessments: Assessments are biased.

Ready to try it for yourself? Take the free Talent Science Assessment and discover your behavioral DNA