3Three Ways to Improve Your Employee Screening
CrainWFM-LTW_03-09_EmpScr
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 26
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
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EMPLOYEE SCREENING
3
Three Ways to Improve Your Employee Screening With a growing number of applicants pursuing a shrinking number of jobs, effective employee screening is more important than ever. Organizations that can identify top talent amid a pile of applications are in a position to gain competitive advantage and achieve their goals even during difficult economic times. Here’s how to make sure you’re one of these companies.
A
BY ADRIENNE HEDGER
ANY TIME YOU HIRE A NEW EMPLOYEE, you take a gamble. “Finding the right talent is relatively rare, and usually the odds are stacked against you,” says Michael Goldman, director of consulting services at Assess Systems. “It’s like trying to find the sole ace in a deck of Jokers.” The good news: There are actions you can take to stack the deck in your favor. As Goldman puts it, “by designing a good screening program, you can increase the number of aces in your deck. You improve the odds that you’ll make a smart hiring decision.” As every HR professional knows, the damage caused by a bad hire can be significant. One estimate places the cost of turnover at 25 percent of annual salary plus 25 percent of benefits1; another says it costs $140 per $1,000 compensation.2 Either way: not good. 1 2
26
Workƒorce
MANAGEMENT
According to Saratoga Institute, www.saratogainstitute.com According to Human Capital Metrics Consortium, www.hcmetrics.org
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
march 16, 2009
workforcepage.qxp
3/10/2009
1:39 PM
Page 1
She nose her background. Do you? Intelius makes it easy to know if your job candidates are telling the truth. Wish it was this easy to identify unsuitable applicants? It is with Intelius. With customized pre-employment screening solutions to suit your industry, Intelius delivers accurate, timely and affordable information about applicants. Intelius fully integrates with other talent management technology solutions. And comprehensive reports, delivered via our secure online dashboard, make it easy to discover whether or not applicants are telling the truth. Best of all, your dedicated account manager is there whenever you have questions.
Contact Intelius today! Email: [email protected] Call: (877) 974-1500 Visit: hr.intelius.com
CrainWFM-LTW_03-09_EmpScr
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 28
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING But what sometimes gets overlooked is the impact of a great hire. The right talent will be more productive from the beginning, and their positive effect on the organization will only increase over time (see box). These employees are usually easier to work with, easier to manage and go on to advance to higher levels of the organization. How can you stack the odds in your favor and avoid bad hires? Start by making sure you understand: 1. When to assess candidates 2. The impact that technology has had on employee screening 3. How to get the right service for the right price “You’ll never achieve 100 percent perfection,” says Goldman. “But if you put the right screening processes in place, you’ll see your quality of hire climb over the long term. And your company will be stronger for it.”
As a candidate moves deeper into the hiring process, other more in-depth assessment tools can be used to predict which applicants have the best chance of succeeding. “If you’re working to fill a leadership role, you can assess the candidate’s capabilities and behaviors as they relate to the entire leadership team,” says Goldman. “You can also assess the fit between the applicant and the company’s culture, which is a critical element that is sometimes overlooked.” The information gleaned from assessment tools is not only valuable on its own, it also helps create a more valuable interview. Managers can conduct “dynamic” interviews, which are similar to behavioral interviews, but more customized to the interviewee. For example, if the assessment results indicate that a person has a hard time making decisions, the interviewer can
1: Understand when to assess candidates. Candidate assessments can take many forms and happen at different times during the selection process. Most of the tools are online and can be customized to meet specific needs. One good strategy is to use a simple assessment early on to weed people out. For example, if a company is trying to fill sales jobs, they can use an assessment to determine which candidates have a talent and interest in sales. Then they know that the people they interview are already more likely to succeed in the role. Some companies may underestimate the value of this step. Consider a company that hires sales reps and pays them 100 percent commission. They may be inclined to skip the assessment step, assuming that it won’t cost them anything if the employee fails. “Not true,” says Goldman. “It costs them quite a bit. It can damage the company’s brand, burn up valuable sales leads and waste time and energy in the interview and onboarding process.” By conducting a quick assessment before scheduling interviews, the company would be able to stack the odds in its favor and hire people who will add value to the organization. This strategy works with any type of role— from hourly workers to senior leadership positions. 28
Workƒorce
MANAGEMENT
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
devote more time to questions that get to the heart of this issue. In the current economic climate, most companies are able to select from a larger applicant pool, and this is good news. The bad news is that candidates are less willing to remove themselves from the selection process—even if they recognize that the job is not a good fit for them. It’s up to the company to assess if the fit is right. And in tough times, this is more important than ever. “In good times—when demand is high and business is healthy—you might be able to hire someone who is not as qualified,” says Goldman. “But in difficult times, you need truly skilled employees who have the talent to get the job done. Not every company survives, but the right talent can put you at a clear advantage.”
The Long-Term Effects of a Good Hire
How does hiring the right person affect companies in the long term? This chart takes a 16-month view of hourly retail employees. The X axis shows the number of months the associate was employed, and the Y axis charts the average amount of sales generated in one hour during that same month. The red line indicates employees who, according to assessments, were not a good fit for the job; the green line represents people who were determined to be a good fit. As shown, the “good fit” employees started off more productive and this trend continues. The “bad fit” employees, meanwhile, never catch up. Both do better over time (which is to be expected as they gain more experience), but overall the “good fit” group delivers the best performance and greatest value for the company. Source: Assess Systems
march 16, 2009
CrainWFM-LTW_03-09_EmpScr
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 29
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING 2: Understand the impact that technology has had on employee screening. “Historically, small to medium sized companies have been underserved when it comes to HR technology,” says Todd Owens, general manager of Intelius Screening Solutions. “But with the growing trend of technology solution providers being able to deliver HR technology solutions using a lower-cost software as a service (SaaS)-based delivery model, more small businesses can afford the same technology solutions that larger companies have been using for years.” From applicant tracking systems to online assessment tools and more, organizations of all sizes can take advantage of the efficiency that technology offers. This allows for a more comprehensive selection process and faster decision making—two elements that help stack the odds in favor of making a good hire. One way to understand the impact that technology is having is to look at the world of background checking. Historically, this has been an area burdened with paperwork, data entry and re-entry, difficult-to-understand court records and other complications. Companies may experience slow turnaround when they are waiting anxiously to secure a hire. And it can be frustrating to receive information in bits and pieces or in a format not easily understood by HR managers or recruiters. “From end-to-end, a background check can include dozens of components,” says Owens. “There’s not a lot of magic to providing the individual components; the magic is how you tie them all together.” Technology plays a big role. Consider Intelius Screening Solutions, which began providing employment background checks four years ago. The company set out with a goal to provide online access to public records, as well as an on-demand portal interface for customers. “There are so many manual tasks in a traditional background check,” says Owens. “We saw an opportunity to bring more automation to the process.” Court runners are able to submit information electronically instead of turning in hard copy reports. Cus-
march 16, 2009
tomers are able to check information and status updates on a web portal, and information is updated in realtime. HR managers also receive e-mail progress updates and alerts. Technology doesn’t solve everything, of course. To prepare a user-friendly report, a service provider still needs to translate court records and legal jargon —and figure out how to present disparate information in a standardized way. But this knowledge, combined with technology, can deliver powerful results. “When you have the right technology you can automate the time-consuming, complex processes that go into a background check,” says Owens. “This not only means faster turnaround times, it also means HR Managers and recruiters can devote more time and energy to providing good customer service to their internal and external clients.” Even drug screening, an especially paper-intensive, time-consuming process, is being transformed using technology. Now solution providers are able to offer electronic, paperless solutions that can be integrated into other HR business applications like applicant tracking systems (ATSs) or background screening solutions—and the results can be delivered near instantly. Assessment tools have harnessed the power of technology as well. Most assessments are delivered and administered online, with user-friendly web interfaces for clients. As these tools have moved online, they’ve become readily accessible to small and medium sized companies. As with background screening, assessment data can be seamlessly integrated into an ATS, giving companies of all sizes a central location for applicant information.
3: How to ensure you get the right service for the right price
C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E
Intelius Screening Solutions is a leading, on-demand employment and drug screening solutions provider that delivers highly configurable and comprehensive screening services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) throughout North America. Our mission is to deliver affordable, customer-driven solutions that help SMBs lower cost, increase efficiency and reduce risk. We offer a variety of integrations with other on-demand HR business applications from leading solution providers
Slower economic times provide a good opportunity to review the services you receive from your HR technology solution providers and make sure they are meeting your needs. This is especially true with employment screening, since it is a critical piece of the staffing process, even in a down economy. “Ask your vendor for a benchmark report,” advises Owens. “For back-
including: Taleo Business Edition, eScreen, and KMS Software Company.
Workƒorce
For more information, visit http://www.hr.intelius.com or call (877) 974-1500.
MANAGEMENT
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
29
WorkForcePage.qxp
3/10/2009
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Page 1
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EMPLOYEE SCREENING ground screening, you want to find out your average hit rate, the average turnaround time on reports and the average fees per applicant screened. You can share that information with peers at different companies and see how it measures up.” If you’re looking to reduce costs, you can explore different ways of conducting screening. For example, some companies are taking advantage of progressive screening. With this strategy, assessments are conducted in different stages, with more in-depth tools only used for serious candidates. In addition,
companies offer “pay as you go” models, so customers don’t need to worry about large capital expenses or hefty set-up fees. “Assessment doesn’t have to be costly,” says Goldman. “There are many good off-the-shelf assessment tools, as well as tools that can be customized at a reasonable cost.” “It’s a matter of taking a look around to see how technology has changed in the past few years—and see what vendors are offering,” says Owens. “You may be able to significantly improve your return on invest-
ment while also improving the service you receive as well as the service you can provide your clients.” Bottom line: If you haven’t evaluated your screening process in a few years, it’s probably time. From flexible assessment tools to faster background checking, there are many easy ways to improve the way you select candidates. Over time, this tilts the odds in your favor, and improves the overall quality of your workforce. The result: Your company acquires the talent it needs to weather the storm—and emerge even stronger when the economy recovers. I
Access Ad
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| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
march 16, 2009
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 26
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING
3
Three Ways to Improve Your Employee Screening With a growing number of applicants pursuing a shrinking number of jobs, effective employee screening is more important than ever. Organizations that can identify top talent amid a pile of applications are in a position to gain competitive advantage and achieve their goals even during difficult economic times. Here’s how to make sure you’re one of these companies.
A
BY ADRIENNE HEDGER
ANY TIME YOU HIRE A NEW EMPLOYEE, you take a gamble. “Finding the right talent is relatively rare, and usually the odds are stacked against you,” says Michael Goldman, director of consulting services at Assess Systems. “It’s like trying to find the sole ace in a deck of Jokers.” The good news: There are actions you can take to stack the deck in your favor. As Goldman puts it, “by designing a good screening program, you can increase the number of aces in your deck. You improve the odds that you’ll make a smart hiring decision.” As every HR professional knows, the damage caused by a bad hire can be significant. One estimate places the cost of turnover at 25 percent of annual salary plus 25 percent of benefits1; another says it costs $140 per $1,000 compensation.2 Either way: not good. 1 2
26
Workƒorce
MANAGEMENT
According to Saratoga Institute, www.saratogainstitute.com According to Human Capital Metrics Consortium, www.hcmetrics.org
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
march 16, 2009
workforcepage.qxp
3/10/2009
1:39 PM
Page 1
She nose her background. Do you? Intelius makes it easy to know if your job candidates are telling the truth. Wish it was this easy to identify unsuitable applicants? It is with Intelius. With customized pre-employment screening solutions to suit your industry, Intelius delivers accurate, timely and affordable information about applicants. Intelius fully integrates with other talent management technology solutions. And comprehensive reports, delivered via our secure online dashboard, make it easy to discover whether or not applicants are telling the truth. Best of all, your dedicated account manager is there whenever you have questions.
Contact Intelius today! Email: [email protected] Call: (877) 974-1500 Visit: hr.intelius.com
CrainWFM-LTW_03-09_EmpScr
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 28
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING But what sometimes gets overlooked is the impact of a great hire. The right talent will be more productive from the beginning, and their positive effect on the organization will only increase over time (see box). These employees are usually easier to work with, easier to manage and go on to advance to higher levels of the organization. How can you stack the odds in your favor and avoid bad hires? Start by making sure you understand: 1. When to assess candidates 2. The impact that technology has had on employee screening 3. How to get the right service for the right price “You’ll never achieve 100 percent perfection,” says Goldman. “But if you put the right screening processes in place, you’ll see your quality of hire climb over the long term. And your company will be stronger for it.”
As a candidate moves deeper into the hiring process, other more in-depth assessment tools can be used to predict which applicants have the best chance of succeeding. “If you’re working to fill a leadership role, you can assess the candidate’s capabilities and behaviors as they relate to the entire leadership team,” says Goldman. “You can also assess the fit between the applicant and the company’s culture, which is a critical element that is sometimes overlooked.” The information gleaned from assessment tools is not only valuable on its own, it also helps create a more valuable interview. Managers can conduct “dynamic” interviews, which are similar to behavioral interviews, but more customized to the interviewee. For example, if the assessment results indicate that a person has a hard time making decisions, the interviewer can
1: Understand when to assess candidates. Candidate assessments can take many forms and happen at different times during the selection process. Most of the tools are online and can be customized to meet specific needs. One good strategy is to use a simple assessment early on to weed people out. For example, if a company is trying to fill sales jobs, they can use an assessment to determine which candidates have a talent and interest in sales. Then they know that the people they interview are already more likely to succeed in the role. Some companies may underestimate the value of this step. Consider a company that hires sales reps and pays them 100 percent commission. They may be inclined to skip the assessment step, assuming that it won’t cost them anything if the employee fails. “Not true,” says Goldman. “It costs them quite a bit. It can damage the company’s brand, burn up valuable sales leads and waste time and energy in the interview and onboarding process.” By conducting a quick assessment before scheduling interviews, the company would be able to stack the odds in its favor and hire people who will add value to the organization. This strategy works with any type of role— from hourly workers to senior leadership positions. 28
Workƒorce
MANAGEMENT
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
devote more time to questions that get to the heart of this issue. In the current economic climate, most companies are able to select from a larger applicant pool, and this is good news. The bad news is that candidates are less willing to remove themselves from the selection process—even if they recognize that the job is not a good fit for them. It’s up to the company to assess if the fit is right. And in tough times, this is more important than ever. “In good times—when demand is high and business is healthy—you might be able to hire someone who is not as qualified,” says Goldman. “But in difficult times, you need truly skilled employees who have the talent to get the job done. Not every company survives, but the right talent can put you at a clear advantage.”
The Long-Term Effects of a Good Hire
How does hiring the right person affect companies in the long term? This chart takes a 16-month view of hourly retail employees. The X axis shows the number of months the associate was employed, and the Y axis charts the average amount of sales generated in one hour during that same month. The red line indicates employees who, according to assessments, were not a good fit for the job; the green line represents people who were determined to be a good fit. As shown, the “good fit” employees started off more productive and this trend continues. The “bad fit” employees, meanwhile, never catch up. Both do better over time (which is to be expected as they gain more experience), but overall the “good fit” group delivers the best performance and greatest value for the company. Source: Assess Systems
march 16, 2009
CrainWFM-LTW_03-09_EmpScr
3/9/09
10:34 PM
Page 29
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING 2: Understand the impact that technology has had on employee screening. “Historically, small to medium sized companies have been underserved when it comes to HR technology,” says Todd Owens, general manager of Intelius Screening Solutions. “But with the growing trend of technology solution providers being able to deliver HR technology solutions using a lower-cost software as a service (SaaS)-based delivery model, more small businesses can afford the same technology solutions that larger companies have been using for years.” From applicant tracking systems to online assessment tools and more, organizations of all sizes can take advantage of the efficiency that technology offers. This allows for a more comprehensive selection process and faster decision making—two elements that help stack the odds in favor of making a good hire. One way to understand the impact that technology is having is to look at the world of background checking. Historically, this has been an area burdened with paperwork, data entry and re-entry, difficult-to-understand court records and other complications. Companies may experience slow turnaround when they are waiting anxiously to secure a hire. And it can be frustrating to receive information in bits and pieces or in a format not easily understood by HR managers or recruiters. “From end-to-end, a background check can include dozens of components,” says Owens. “There’s not a lot of magic to providing the individual components; the magic is how you tie them all together.” Technology plays a big role. Consider Intelius Screening Solutions, which began providing employment background checks four years ago. The company set out with a goal to provide online access to public records, as well as an on-demand portal interface for customers. “There are so many manual tasks in a traditional background check,” says Owens. “We saw an opportunity to bring more automation to the process.” Court runners are able to submit information electronically instead of turning in hard copy reports. Cus-
march 16, 2009
tomers are able to check information and status updates on a web portal, and information is updated in realtime. HR managers also receive e-mail progress updates and alerts. Technology doesn’t solve everything, of course. To prepare a user-friendly report, a service provider still needs to translate court records and legal jargon —and figure out how to present disparate information in a standardized way. But this knowledge, combined with technology, can deliver powerful results. “When you have the right technology you can automate the time-consuming, complex processes that go into a background check,” says Owens. “This not only means faster turnaround times, it also means HR Managers and recruiters can devote more time and energy to providing good customer service to their internal and external clients.” Even drug screening, an especially paper-intensive, time-consuming process, is being transformed using technology. Now solution providers are able to offer electronic, paperless solutions that can be integrated into other HR business applications like applicant tracking systems (ATSs) or background screening solutions—and the results can be delivered near instantly. Assessment tools have harnessed the power of technology as well. Most assessments are delivered and administered online, with user-friendly web interfaces for clients. As these tools have moved online, they’ve become readily accessible to small and medium sized companies. As with background screening, assessment data can be seamlessly integrated into an ATS, giving companies of all sizes a central location for applicant information.
3: How to ensure you get the right service for the right price
C O M PA N Y P R O F I L E
Intelius Screening Solutions is a leading, on-demand employment and drug screening solutions provider that delivers highly configurable and comprehensive screening services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) throughout North America. Our mission is to deliver affordable, customer-driven solutions that help SMBs lower cost, increase efficiency and reduce risk. We offer a variety of integrations with other on-demand HR business applications from leading solution providers
Slower economic times provide a good opportunity to review the services you receive from your HR technology solution providers and make sure they are meeting your needs. This is especially true with employment screening, since it is a critical piece of the staffing process, even in a down economy. “Ask your vendor for a benchmark report,” advises Owens. “For back-
including: Taleo Business Edition, eScreen, and KMS Software Company.
Workƒorce
For more information, visit http://www.hr.intelius.com or call (877) 974-1500.
MANAGEMENT
| w w w. w o r k f o r c e . c o m
29
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3/10/2009
11:12 AM
Page 1
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
L E A D I N G T H E W AY I N
EMPLOYEE SCREENING ground screening, you want to find out your average hit rate, the average turnaround time on reports and the average fees per applicant screened. You can share that information with peers at different companies and see how it measures up.” If you’re looking to reduce costs, you can explore different ways of conducting screening. For example, some companies are taking advantage of progressive screening. With this strategy, assessments are conducted in different stages, with more in-depth tools only used for serious candidates. In addition,
companies offer “pay as you go” models, so customers don’t need to worry about large capital expenses or hefty set-up fees. “Assessment doesn’t have to be costly,” says Goldman. “There are many good off-the-shelf assessment tools, as well as tools that can be customized at a reasonable cost.” “It’s a matter of taking a look around to see how technology has changed in the past few years—and see what vendors are offering,” says Owens. “You may be able to significantly improve your return on invest-
ment while also improving the service you receive as well as the service you can provide your clients.” Bottom line: If you haven’t evaluated your screening process in a few years, it’s probably time. From flexible assessment tools to faster background checking, there are many easy ways to improve the way you select candidates. Over time, this tilts the odds in your favor, and improves the overall quality of your workforce. The result: Your company acquires the talent it needs to weather the storm—and emerge even stronger when the economy recovers. I
Access Ad
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march 16, 2009
