Does Passing a Test Make a Good Hire?

A colleague and good friend of mine recently shared how her credit union uses a standardized test to hire tellers – a virtual teller simulation of sorts.  In the test you are given member service situations and have multiple choice answers to select from.  Our conversation surrounded the question, “Does successful completion of this test increase the likelihood of a more successful hire?” 

My answer?  No.  Let me get all academic on this.  The articulation and synthesis of prior experiences is demonstrative of future success.  Completing a standardized test (the virtual teller program in this case) may be a way to see if someone answers a tactical question correctly, but with it being multiple choice it forces an answer that does not allow a candidate to show their creativity in how they might provide service to a person or solve a problem. 

A good interview starts with the list of questions you want to ask a candidate that will reveal more information about their experience.    In this day in age any competent candidate who has done 20 minutes of research knows how to answer standard questions.  So hopefully yours are better than that.  (But creating interview questions is another topic.)  The point is these are merely ‘starting points’ in what becomes more of a dialogue.  To give an idea in what I do as follow up:  I ask candidates detailed questions based upon their response to the initial question: the challenges they faced, what they learned, or in what ways they have grown.  The ways a candidate has adapted and overcome challenges can be categorized in a framework that is useful to others throughout the company – the hiring manager, the team, HR, etc. 

Some of the best tellers I have hired come from other backgrounds:  Starbucks, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, come off the top of my head.  Because they were able to demonstrate the synthesis of their prior experiences, and articulate them well in an interview, it indicated to me they are able to learn the tactical skills necessary for the job, and also have a high rate of development. 

People who are ‘developmentally ready’ in this case have far greater engagement in their work.  Simply put, they’re excited about the new job, and are committed to being successful.  Of course, all of this has to be sustained by a manager who is able to support the new employee.  Proper on-boarding plans and development cycles must be in place, in addition to feedback channels and, of course, the requisite performance reviews.  If these are not existent, the employee will likely become disengaged and leave inside of one year.  But to encapsulate our purpose in hiring:  we seek candidates who have the emotional intelligence and commitment to do the job well.  Even if they have 60-70% of the actual skills needed for the job, if they are developmentally ready then they will likely be a ‘good hire’.