Using Assessments to Eliminate the Resume with Josh Millet of Criteria Corp

The key to successful hiring is in uncovering evidence in a person's ability to align culturally and professionally with your unique company. … None of this evidence is on a resume! How do we gather evidence? First, not short cutting the interview process. Focusing on deep behavioral questions then confirming your conclusions with data through assessments.

Our guest today: Josh Millet, Founder & CEO of Criteria Corp

Josh started the Criteria Corp in 2006 with a vision to create a SaaS-based pre-employment testing service that would make the highest quality employee assessment tools accessible to companies of all sizes. 

Criteria has over 4,000 customers in more than 40 countries across the globe. Their pre-employment tests are an efficient and reliable means of gaining insights into the abilities and tendencies of potential employees.

Today we discuss

• Assessments 
• Why and how to use them effectively
• A process to properly assess the person you want to hire

Why are assessments important?

With all the advances in HR tech in the last ten years that have transformed talent acquisition, we aren’t getting better at hiring when you look at results. 46% of all new hires are unsuccessful. The problem is we are relying on 70-year old tools, resumes and unstructured interviews, to gather info on applicants and make hiring decisions. These tools are letting us down. Why is it important?  Immense bottom line implications.

Problem with Resumes

• Poor, incomplete, unreliable information that in the end does not predict much
• 85% of resumes contain falsehoods or inaccurate information
• Inject unconscious bias into the hiring process
  • Boston & Chicago study

Unstructured interviews don’t work much better. Highly subjective, most interviewees make decision about applicants in first 5 minutes, based on highly subjective Criteria

• Evaluating for good data - using objective data to reinforce your decision
• When you think about how to gather data to make good decisions on candidates you should be focusing on:
  • Accurate, reliable info
  • Objective data not subjective impressions
  • Removing bias from decision-making
  • Being forward-looking data: how can this person learn, evolve as job does, rather than just past experience

Why are assessments the answer to resume

• Focus on good reliable data
• Things that are relevant to the job. Data that is not subjective and predicts job performance
• Ie cognitive ability (best predictor or job performance, critical thinking, attention to detail learning ability, problem solving)
• Behavioral or personality assessments - Interaction driven roles
• EQ/EI- overlapping

Rick’s Input

• Confirmation of data gathered minimizes bias

How to do it?

• Moving past the resume
• Use assessments early in the process (high applicant to hire ratio)
  • Right after the application
  • Resume submittal
  • Link to assessment in the job post
• Most common after the application has been accepted
• Passive searches (a bit later in the process) 
  • Assessment become a resume substitute

Process for Active 

• Choose assessments that are job related
  • Measuring things important to the role
  • 30-40 minutes of assessment
  • Tailor the testing for the role
• Run at the Application stage or just after (automated) 
• Use results to prioritize the people that are more likely to succeed
• Interview 
  • Assessment can generate further behavioral interview questions tailored to the individual based off their results

Process for Passive (recruits)

• Smaller number of people 
  • Lower number of people interviewing
  • Use later in the process when the candidate is more engaged
  • Assessment after the phone screen
  • During the interview or just before

Rick’s Nuggets

• Must gain a personal buy in BEFORE giving tests or assessments
• People perform better when they want something

Key Takeaways:

• Do things in your hiring process to get good data 
• Make sure everything you are using has a purpose that measures outcomes related to it