Making the Business Case for Assessments

The following is an excerpt of Making the Business Case for Assessments by Ron Tepner and Dan Lezotte in Human Resource Executive Online.

The authors argue that, especially in a poor economy, assessments will show a positive link to the bottom line. They relay several arguments they needed to overcome when rolling out and generating buy-in for their company's plan.

It is particularly important to "make the case" for assessments in a down economy where we have the unusual luxury of more applicants than openings, and the opportunity to be very selective in our new hires.

And, we can ill afford hiring mistakes, or failing to maximize our selection effectiveness, in an economy where productivity and customer service are critical to overcoming the economic challenges that have created a very fine line between success and failure.

As a human resource function, it is our objective to provide our field managers with tools to help them grow their businesses. However, we must first overcome perceived and real obstacles by demonstrating the value of the tools we are offering before we can expect our field managers to fully buy-in.
 
I'll post these additional parts of this article, along with the corresponding responses, over the next few days:
  • There is a shortage of available talent for our open positions and we can't let anyone "get away;" we don't have the luxury of being selective.
  • Our applicants will not put up with an involved, time-consuming selection process -- they'll just go somewhere else
  • It's too inconvenient and time-consuming to ask an applicant to drive to a district office or testing location to take an assessment. We need them to start right away.
  • The assessment will take control away from me in making hiring decisions. What if I really want to hire someone but the assessment says I can't?
  • Does the assessment really work? I'm pretty good at reading people and generally know who I should and should not hire.
To that end.....

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