The journey from “I think” to “I know”

 

Anyone who is from the recruiting domain understands the intense workload and fast pace that recruiters must operate in. Additionally, recruiting isn’t a skill you learn once and then spend the rest of your career on autopilot, either. As a result, recruiters have always needed to be the early adopters of the HR world, passionate about finding the best tools and the hottest sources for candidates to get the job done. No sooner have recruiters begun to incorporate the latest tool (i.e. social media) into their daily practices than they come upon the new poster boy of business: Big Data.

Consider this situation. You know your company inside out. You know the specs for the vacant position. And now that you are done with the interviews, you know the applicants, too—maybe even better than their friends do. Your wise and experienced brain is ready to synthesize the data and choose the best candidate for the job. Instead, take a step back from the process. If you simply crunch the applicants’ data and apply the resulting analysis to the job criteria, you’ll probably end up with a better hire.

Let us consider a great case illustration from Xerox Corp.  Xerox had estimated the cost of training each of their call centre staff at $5000, yet many were leaving before Xerox could even recoup the training costs incurred on them

Traditionally, the business had assumed that the ones with call centre experience were more likely to succeed; however, analysis of the data proved otherwise. The data showed that lateral hires cost more, yet didn’t perform better or last longer than those who were freshers. The data also showed that those candidates who were active social media users had higher retention rates than other candidates. Another surprising insight was that creative types tended to stay with the company longer than inquisitive types. Analysing big data helped Xerox to cut the attrition rate at their call centres by over 20% – a significant and tangible financial saving, as you can imagine!

At Sears Holdings Corporation, the $36 billion retailer with more than 230,000 employees, this process did wonders at the retail sales staff and executive-level hiring

The company hires ~ 150,000 retail sales representatives each year, a large number of those brought in on a seasonal basis during holiday crushes. It receives 6 million applicants a year and meandering through the maze of applications was indeed tough. Under the new system, prospects fill out an online application, which includes a retail tech simulation test. In this video game-like simulation, an applicant encounters a real, interactive sales scenario and must sell to a variety of customer types, from the angry, impatient customer to the maddeningly indecisive shopper. Navigating through the 35-minute process is actually fun and improves the candidate’s job-seeking experience.

The company redefined the way test questions were weighted and defined.  While most retailers focus on work orientation and reliability, whether the candidate will show up on time, will not steal etc. But that is just a basic price of entry, and you won’t maintain employment if you are stealing and showing up late every day, anyway. So they shifted the weighting to be about customer orientation and digital savviness. Can you use tools like iPads and tablets to communicate with your customer? And ultimately, we focused on their selling ability.”

It is leveraging technology to see how someone does in action, how they influence that authority, how they think strategically, can they coach and develop. This goes beyond what they tell the company in an interview. Can they actually do it?

For example, in a search for a new CEO for a Midwestern industrial equipment manufacturer, an internal candidate was pitted against an external prospect. The external candidate interviewed impressively with the board and became the front-runner. But when he was put through the simulation exercises, he turned out to be an empty suit. He could talk a good game, but in action, he didn’t know how to execute. In the past, he likely would have been hired, with dire results. The internal candidate performed far better on that simulation and ended up with the job, which he performed superbly, guiding the company through difficult patches and turning around the business.

Imagine the benefits that will accrue. You can improve the time-to-fill, as well as the fill ratio: This can reduce search time, provide accurate candidate ranking that leads to matching the right talent to the right job offering.

Isn’t it time to move from reactive to proactive, from gut instinct or habit to evidence-based decision-making, from “I think” to “I know?”