Objective assessment of candidates - human VS machine?
Can you use a recruitment system to automatically sort candidates or do you just reduce flesh-and-blood people to a set of titles and skills? We discuss this in the following blog post.
If you think that many recruitment systems offer an overly one-sided approach to screening and that there's more to properly evaluating a good employee than education, experience and previous titles, we agree.
Candidates are people first and foremost
Our taste in clothes, music style, favorite books, role models or travel habits all give life to our unique personality, our very own style. We have reason to be proud of our personality and the way we present ourselves. Individualism is important, also in the recruitment process.
Now it's becoming more and more common to use a recruitment system that helps the recruiter with administrative tasks and, as something new, also in the first, tough selection process by screening candidates for specific skills.
Unfortunately, many recruitment systems ignore the personality that is the most important part of us and has a huge impact on both work climate and our approach to work. Instead, systems focus on competencies such as education, work experience and titles - simple, measurable attributes that can often be documented in a diploma.
Fatigue makes you blind
At Elvium, we are big believers in digitalization and automation. We know that the manual process for a busy recruiter with many applications is prone to errors. At the same time, the recruiter can risk favoring certain personal skills, a kind of 'fashionable skills' that suddenly become groundbreaking for the choice of candidate. You can forget about being true to the job description. A computer doesn't get tired and can screen thousands of applications without making mistakes.
But what about the soft values?
However, the problem can be that hard skills don't say much about the candidate's actual appearance and value. Does the candidate fit into the team? Does the candidate have the right personality profile to match the tasks? Is it even possible to screen for this without testing all candidates?
Personality also shows in your opt-outs
Many recruitment systems fail to consider candidates' personal traits, despite the fact that personality is so important to successful recruitment.
At Elvium, we call personality traits 'soft skills' and it is up to the candidate to choose 5 out of the 12-15 soft skills defined by the recruiter. It is not a personality test, but the candidate's own self-assessment, and the interesting part is probably more the link between the selection and deselection of personality traits that the candidate has made.
Did they choose 'competitive' over 'collaborative'? What does that mean to us? This way, the recruiter has a 'softer' addition to the candidate's competency profile, which can both form a more accurate overall picture and be used as material for the interview.
Equality for all
Many would argue that it should be possible to treat applicants on a completely equal footing, as even a first name will reveal possible biases such as gender or ethnicity. Recruitment systems do not consider names, gender or ethnicity, but select candidates on an equal basis.
If you can prove that you are equipped with the skills required by the system, you are ready for the next phase. It's a fair start to good recruitment.
Are the company's entry requirements locked by educational background or work experience? Or can they be sharpened with the skills that are actually needed to successfully fill the job? Then we can guarantee a first rank on equal terms.
At Elvium, we also uphold the right of all candidates to remain in the candidate queue, even if they are not a perfect match. With equal rights, there must be room for odd or quirky profiles, wildcards as we call them in the industry.
Digital AND human
Most companies are looking for that special candidate, that perfect match. They want a candidate who can make their mark and make a difference. Therefore, when choosing the supporting IT tools, it is important to choose a system that allows the use of competency profiles for both hard skills and soft skills.
