Human resources managers work hard at finding the right applicant for an open position. Between crafting an ideal job posting reviewing resumes and performing initial interviews, finding the right candidate is a time-consuming process. More and more employers are focusing their time on understanding the soft skills that an applicant brings to the organization.
Treating the onboarding process as a marketing strategy, helps you develop the best hiring practices for your business.

One of the most effective ways to guarantee long-term employees is to make sure the employee fits into your company’s culture. Personality tests help you identify the soft skills of applicants. The results help you predict how the candidate’s character will fit in with the rest of the company. Here are some ideas on implementing personality assessments.

Test Current Employees

Marketing analysis asks you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your company as a whole. When you apply this concept to the skills and talents of your staff, you can build more effective teams. Ask all employees to take the personality assessment and determine what soft skills are needed for each role in the company. With this information, you can re-organize teams based on the employees’ strengths and the manager’s management style.

Screen All Applicants

All applicants should complete the personality assessment test early in the screening process. Prioritize interviews based on applicants’ scores in defined skill categories. Develop interview questions based on the talents needed for the position. For example, if time management is a critical skill, ask applicants how they prioritize and schedule their workday.

Tailor the Job

Personality assessments should not be used to build a cookie-cutter staff. As you understand the personality, learning style, and motivation techniques of each applicant, you may find the candidate is a better fit in a different department. For instance, you may find a candidate that prefers variety in their workload. Perhaps cross-training them between the marketing and bookkeeping departments helps them to be a more successful employee.

Motivate Your Employees

Upon hiring the candidate, review personality assessment information to better understand the employee. Properly motivating employees and job satisfaction will soar. For example, understanding that an employee prefers verbal praise over written praise allows you to build a stronger relationship with them.

Implementing personality assessments and incorporating them into the hiring process can be a time-consuming endeavor. However, once you have a system in place, you will see the benefits of adding this tool to your hiring process.