The Case for Talent Assessment Strategy

In the past, companies made talent decisions that were subjective and do not rely on firm evidence. Such decisions turned out to be very costly from a financial standpoint as well as from a performance perspective. With the advancement of technology and the millennials climbing up the corporate ladders, human resources began to step up their game to provide evidenced-based talent management decisions.

Why use assessments?

In our line of business, we provide consultation to many government and private firms to support these talent decisions by assessing their employees against their defined competencies (if any). Too often, we find that such assessments are used to support short-term talent decisions and provide kind of a quick fix. There is a fundamental problem with this type of solutions. From an occupational psychology standpoint, assessment tools provide a snapshot of the individual’s preferences, motives, and drives at a specific point of time. The challenge is that, we as human beings, evolve! We run into life experiences that make us change our preferences. Therefore, a single screen shot in-time may not provide justice to your talents.

The Need for Talent Assessment Strategy

Talent Assessment Strategy refers to the well-thought out assessment plan that outlines the following:

• The Career Stages that the professionals go through during their tenure with the company mapped to the company grading system; having such high visibility on career progression is key to identifying the right assessment for the right stage.

Example Career Stages

• Type of Assessments and possible market tools used to support talent decisions at every career stage;

• Assessment Data integration into HR Systems as well as data management and Privacy policies.

Having such well-crafted plan for talent assessments removes any guesswork and ensures that the assessment data builds on each other to provide a holistic picture on the company talents at any point in time. 

Top 3 Benefits of having a Talent Assessment Strategy

Improving your company ROI by choosing the right assessment for the right career stage and talent need.Creates a repository of assessment data that can provide a holistic view on your talents over time.Provide Pre and Post data all the time in order to compare to major corporate events such as Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic Transformations.

TalentQ Dimension and your Talent Assessment Strategy

One example of the latest technology based assessments, is TalentQ Dimensions which was developed with an emphasis on combining scientific rigor, valuable information and ease of use – for the candidate, HR professional and line manager. With just a single completion of the 30-minute questionnaire by a candidate, you can interpret the data for an extensive range of applications. It provides a wide range of user-friendly reports to help make important talent decisions about your people.

Various uses for TalentQ Assessment

With multiple completions overtime, you can begin to map out the talent evolution journey for each employee to gain further insights and support development interventions.

There are twelve report options available in Dimensions. All reports have been designed, trialed and developed to be easy to understand and highly graphical – providing you with a clear illustration of results and their implications. Some examples are shown below:

1. Trait Profile: Measures 15 personality traits, plus three response style factors, designed to easily map on to commonly occurring competencies used by organisations.

2. Team Profile The individual’s report identifies their typical way of behaving in a team. Results from up to 12 individuals can also be combined to provide a Composite Team Profile, providing considerable insight into a whole team and supporting team development.

3. Sales Profile This profile applies personality styles to the context of sales. The Sales Model breaks down the sales process into eight key stages and suggests the respondent’s likely level of comfort in each area.

4. Interview Guide Based on the requirements of the job as defined in the Role Match Profile, the guide provides dynamically based interview questions to support recruitment interviews.

5. Leadership Derailer Report This report looks at eight factors known as derailers. These are intrinsic personality factors that may derail an individual in times of pressure.

Let us support you in making the best talent decisions and crafting your talent assessment strategy and help you maximize your return on investments in assessments.