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I hope by now you are starting to feel like an assessment expert. For the past two weeks, we’ve covered quite a bit about assessments and you have a good grasp of some fundamental concepts. You know what assessments typically measure and how to evaluate them. If you missed the first two parts, here’s a quick overview:
In Online Assessments part 1, we covered the following topics:
- Why Companies Use Assessments
- Types of Assessments
- Assessment Formats
In Online Assessments part 2, we covered:
- Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for Assessments
- Evaluating Assessments’ Psychometric properties
In this final blog in the series, I will cover these points:
- Utility Analyses – Quantifying Value Through Increased Worker Productivity
- Talview's Approach to Assessments
- Providing Intelligence on Candidate Insights
Utility Analysis – Quantifying Value Through Increased Worker Productivity
You’ve learned quite a bit about assessments in this series of articles, and one final point needs to be covered. While it’s obvious that hiring employees that are more likely to succeed on the job using valid and fair assessments is beneficial to any organization – did you know that we can quantify the value, in terms of dollars gained in increased worker productivity? This process is known as a Utility Analysis.
Although the equation below is complex, the logic behind it is simple. Your employees have a given level of productivity. This level of productivity translates to a given level of revenue to the organization. Now, if we can increase the level of your employees’ productivity (which we can by selecting better suited employees with assessments) then the revenue they generate for the organization will be greater. It’s as simple as that. Now all we need to know is some salary information for the particular role, how many people are selected out of the applicant pool, and a correlation between test scores and work performance (i.e., validity evidence) for that role, and we can estimate the increase in productivity, in dollars, to your organization. Following is an example that demonstrates the tremendous utility of a pre-employment assessment program for retail sales associates.
If we assume that 10,000 retail sales workers are hired with our assessments during a given year and that the average job tenure of those workers is 1.5 years, the dollar increase in productivity is $27,209,520.00. To arrive at this value we use the equation below:
rU = ntrxySDyZ(avg)x
n = number of persons hired (10,000 – conservative estimate for full-time retail sales associates).
t = average job tenure in years of those hired (1.5 years – estimate).
rxy = validity coefficient representing the correlation between the predictor and job performance in the applicant population (.50 – conservative estimate of preemployment test battery).
SDy = the standard deviation of job performance in dollars (roughly 40% of annual wage; Schmidt & Hunter, 1983) ($12,093.12 – based on average retail sales associate rate of $14.82/hour).
Z(avg)x = the average predictor score of those selected in the applicant population, expressed in terms of standard scores (.3 – relatively low failure rate).
rU = increase in productivity in dollars ($27,209,520.00).
Talview's Approach to Assessments
Now that we’ve walked through all these points, how does Talview approach assessments?
First, we, at Talview, are experts in assessments. But not just because we are interested in the science. We are experts because we deliver these assessments to companies with high-volume hiring needs like yours. We work with you to assess and hire the most suitable candidates for available roles in your organization. We are committed to helping you hire only the best-matched candidates, thereby increasing work performance, productivity, morale, and ultimately, the bottom line for the organization. In addition, we want to ensure that you use assessments in a way that maximizes validity and fairness, which we’ve just discussed. You should know that you are in the best and safest of hands when using assessments provided by Talview.
Providing Intelligence on Candidate Insights
One of the things that sets Talview apart from other assessment providers is our belief in staying at the forefront of the state-of-the-science in this field. To this end, we are very excited about our cutting-edge Candidate Insights on Behavior (formerly Talview Behavioral Insights), an AI-based behavioral assessment which leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) to build a comprehensive, ‘gaming’ free behavioral profile based on the candidate's video/written responses. Candidate Insights is based on the established science of psycholinguistics and uses the Big 5, and Social Needs and Intrinsic Value traits model to generate profiles that provide a candidate’s standing on numerous personality/behavioral constructs as well as their suitability for numerous roles based on these profiles.
Candidate Insights generates behavioral insights from a pre-recorded or asynchronous video interview and is based on the science of psycholinguistics, the branch of study that combines the disciplines of psychology and linguistics. This science uses the relationship between the human mind and language as it examines the process that occurs in the brain while producing both spoken and written discourse. Talview Candidate Insights overcomes several shortcomings of traditional assessments.
Candidate Insights generates behavioral insights from a pre-recorded or asynchronous video interview and is based on the science of psycholinguistics, the branch of study that combines the disciplines of psychology and linguistics.
First, it is not prone to ‘gaming’ AKA ‘socially desirable response bias’ which is common when candidates try to present themselves on an overly favorable light while answering questions on traditional assessments. Since candidates simply don’t know that their behavioral/personality traits are being assessed through this interview, they do not try to game the system.
In addition, Candidate Insights is a very scalable solution for screening large groups of candidates globally as, unlike many assessments, it is available on mobile devices and doesn’t include hundreds of questions that can be tedious for the candidate to complete. So, with Candidate Insights, we can provide two outputs from a single input – recorded/transcribed responses to your interview questions AND behavioral profiles along with behavioral/personality-based role suitability recommendations and insights.
Your Assessments Journey Has Just Begun
Armed with your in-depth understanding of assessments, you can now confidently navigate this important landscape. You understand what assessments are, why we use them, and how they work. You’ve learned about both theoretical concepts and legal issues. Indeed, you are well on your way to being a true assessment expert.
But your journey is not over! Based on positive response to this series, stay tuned for a new monthly column debuting at the end of February titled – Assessment Insights with Dr. Fred. I look forward to delving into the hot topics in the industry or answering your questions. Feel free to contact me if you have suggestions or topics that you would like to see addressed.
Learn more about how Talview Assessments can benefit your company.
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