Forget traditional resumes; leverage assessments to find high potentials.
By Zee Johnson
There’s lots of power in hiring for potential, says Ian Blake, global technology strategy director at Allegis Global Solutions. In this ever-changing talent market, TA leaders need every strategy to succeed. It’s been proven that companies that create growth pathways for high potentials will keep them twice as long; so, organizations should hire with the future in mind, and this requires a meaningful look at a candidate’s potential.
The key to “potential hiring” is having a model that enables the acquisition of high-performing candidates. This translates to thinking outside of the box. “Look past those resumes and add in alternative assessment methods,” says Blake, adding it’s much more beneficial for recruiters to value a candidate’s preferences and potential to succeed, as well as their cognitive and behavioral assessment measurements, rather than a piece of paper.
Blake also says the assessment framework is where organizations should work in their core values and competency performance 
models to avoid any bias. “By basing the questions or the tests on your competency frameworks, you can ensure an unbiased outcome, meaning that you have a better chance of hiring a more diverse candidate slate and making sure that you have the stronger overall hire at the end of the day,” he says.
Another consideration when hiring for the future is career pathing. Having a great hiring model is important, and so is building on a candidate’s attributes. “Training, mentoring, and career pathing are essential to making sure that you have quality and high-performing employees in the future,” he says. “The career path options need to be planned out when people join an organization. They want to understand what the future road map looks like.” This process, he says, is continual as it outlines what could happen years down the line and ultimately positions companies for longstanding success.
At his company, leaders have been intentional about working development into their clients’ processes, which has allowed them to strengthen and increase workers’ skillsets from the very beginning. “At AGS, we’re already using technology with our clients to do personality assessments. We use it to try and identify development areas for new hires from day one so that we can understand that person’s journey and understand where they are going to be most valuable,” he says.
Blake says personality assessments can help leaders:
- Look at where a hire will succeed;
- Plot a career path for new hires to grow with the business in the future;
- Determine what their ideal career looks like; and
- Determine what additional value they can add.
By looking at potential and helping new hires elevate, companies have a better chance at making that person a long-term hire with a bright career path in the business.
