The Benefits of Using a Data-Driven Assessment With Structured Interviews

When it comes to the hiring process, every company takes a unique approach in how they source and choose qualified candidates. Some might rely on candidate experience surveys, while others might put an emphasis on diversity and equal opportunity. There are some companies that don’t even have a consistent approach! Of the many tools that companies can incorporate into their hiring process, two of the most prevalent are data-driven assessments and structured interviews.

Based on Breezy’s Diversity Hiring Report’s survey results, structured interviews and data-driven assessments are the two most frequently used hiring tools within our customers’ hiring efforts. And it’s easy to see why - the benefits of both of these methods are huge! While companies have found success using one or the other, we’ve found that companies incorporating both of these hiring practices have a much easier time finding the right talent fit while ensuring equity and diversity for every candidate.

Driving Strong Hires Through Data-Driven Assessments

Data-Driven Assessments Can Prevent Discrimination

There is a reason that nearly a third of all companies are utilizing data-driven assessments within their hiring process. Data-driven assessments are an excellent way to objectively assess candidates through science, cognitive skills and actual data without discriminating against candidates.

Some of the many benefits of data-driven assessments include reducing bias from the hiring process, performance prediction and reducing time-to-hire. These assessments don’t look at resumes or experience. Rather, they look at who candidates are and what they are capable of achieving based purely on things like cognitive ability or personality traits. Bryq, for example, uses AI talent intelligence to measure both of these things.

By relying on skills and not resumes, you prevent bias from slipping through the cracks. Because every candidate is taking the data-driven assessment, you may even be able to get real-time candidate rankings and the ability to easily compare candidates with one another.

But of course, these benefits are only available to employers if they choose the right assessment platform.

Not All Talent Assessments Are Created Equal

Incorporating talent assessments into your recruitment process has plenty of obvious benefits. But that doesn’t mean that you should choose just any random assessment tool to add to your hiring process. Not all hiring pre-employment tests are created equal. For example, some assessments are founded upon psychological theory rather than proven psychological methods. Others might not measure ability or skill. Some are more like personality tests, but aren’t skills-based, or vice versa. You want to find assessment platforms to measure your potential candidates that are based upon objectivity, data and proven science.

Be Careful With Candidate Feedback

You also want to make sure that any interview feedback given to unsuccessful candidates is meaningful and constructive. The last thing you want is to have candidates feel that you’ve wasted their time or that they have “failed” a data-driven assessment. This will only lead to poor brand perception.

Be sure to let candidates know that there are no “passing” or “failing” scores when taking a data-driven assessment. These hiring assessments are only meant to gauge a candidate’s fit for a particular role. Encourage them to apply again for different roles in your organization that they might be better suited for.

Some assessments even allow candidates to see partial results and certain strengths they displayed after they’ve taken the hiring assessment. If candidates are going to take the time to partake in a data-driven assessment, you should make it worth their time!

Structured Interviews Strengthen Your Hiring Process

So you’ve gathered up your top candidates through data-driven assessments. GREAT! Now it’s time to start the interview process with your best talent, but are you interviewing fairly and efficiently? Structured interviews help you do just this!

A structured interview is a type of systematized interview that asks a predetermined set of questions in a set order. The questions you ask in a structured interview might be scenario-based, behavioral, or skills-based. By asking the same questions in the same order in your interview guide, employers can use the structured interview to reduce bias and potential legal issues that can easily enter the picture during an off-the-cuff, intuition-led interview.

According to Breezy’s latest research, we have discovered that over 66% of all companies are using structured interviews within their hiring process. While medium and large sized businesses utilize structured interviews more, the majority of small businesses also use them to hire the best talent possible. So what makes this method of interviewing so popular amongst both small and large businesses?

Scan Candidates Quickly and Efficiently

One of the top benefits of using structured interviews throughout the hiring process is how fast it moves candidates along the hiring pipeline. Structured interviews save hiring managers time and help improve the time-to-hire ratio of a company. By creating a clear set of interview questions for a candidate’s job interview, there’s no need for hiring managers to waste time tailoring an entire set of questions to each candidate they interview.

Structured Interviews Destroy Systemic Bias

The other clear benefit of using structured interviews is that they help significantly reduce bias. When you are asking each candidate different questions in their job interviews, the possibility of bias and discrimination creep into the hiring process. If you stick to a general script of what you’ll ask candidates, you’re less likely to ask unfair or unnecessary questions.

For example, if you ask job seekers what university they attended, they might answer in a way that would either help or hurt them. If the candidate attended the same university that you did, you might have what is called affinity bias. Affinity bias is connecting with other through similar qualities, traits or experiences. Alternatively, if a candidate has graduated from a university that rivaled yours, you might view this candidate negatively when making your hiring decision.

To avoid this, stick to a clear set of questions that are skills-based or behavioral through structured interviewing techniques.

Data-Driven Assessments + Structured Interviews = High-Level Hiring

On their own, these two unique approaches to hiring strategies do a world of good for companies of all sizes. But when paired together, the effects that both data-driven assessments and structured interviews have on a business are transformative.

Data-driven assessments allow companies to dive deeper into a candidate by assessing things like their skill sets and personality traits, but remember that candidates will always try to put their best foot forward. If a candidate is presented with a self-assessment, they could try to answer the questions in a way they think the hiring manager would like them to be answered.

While assessments like Bryq do a fantastic job in mitigating this through I-O psychometrics and testing for cognitive ability, structured interviews are a great way to cross-reference the results. Bryq gives you individualized questions to ask each candidate based on their results, while Breezy allows you to take both those questions and theirs to create the ultimate interview guide for your hiring interviews.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and incorporate both of these incredible hiring strategies into your hiring process today to find the best talent possible for every role you hire for.