95 percent. of people agree that initial impressions are crucial. And, let’s face it, there are many in the hiring space who still go with the gut instinct when it comes to hiring.

The hire may turn out to be good, but imagine, if you missed out on the better hire or that genius that could probably change the course of your company simply because of not following an objective method. There is no sure-shot way that determines the performance of a candidate in a company, but you can make sure that you get a hold of the good ones so that you won't have to pay the price of making a mishire. And a competence assessment is the best way to help you with this.

What is a competence assessment?

The application of knowledge, skills, and behaviors employed in carrying out certain job responsibilities is what is meant by the term "competency." It is typically one of the main qualities evaluated when evaluating an employee's performance. However, a competency evaluation evaluates a worker's talents in comparison to the demands of their position. The purpose of a competency assessment is to spot any performance issues with an employee and address them before they have an impact on the caliber of the work or the client experience.

Instead of listing all the duties involved in the work, a useful competence model gives an overview of the core duties and abilities that are essential for success in the position. It is possible to include this more detailed description in a conventional work task analysis.

An employee's proficiency level is determined by performing a competency assessment on the tasks and skills listed in the competency model, for which a rating is chosen depending on how successfully the employee completes the activity. Simply described, a competency assessment evaluates the behaviors that a person exhibits when they do their duties (task or skill). Employers can identify proficiency or skill gaps for each pertinent task by comparing the individual's proficiency level with the goal level after it has been determined.

Importance of competency assessments?

Measurement of Skill Gap Size.

When they are seriously hurting a company's bottom line, skill gaps can be difficult to overlook, yet most businesses are ignorant of the true scope and severity of all the potential skill gaps in their staff. They may be aware of them, but lack the tools to quantify their size or scope, making it impossible for them to use them to guide organizational strategy, plans, and priorities.

Educated future-oriented decisions

A competency assessment can assist close the knowledge gap and create a learning culture where upskilling and reskilling can occur regularly if your role is focused on learning, talent, and effectiveness. It should go without saying that everyone should have the abilities necessary to perform their present and prospective employment, but without data from skills assessments, it is impossible to navigate and then remediate any existing skill gaps efficiently.

Promoting Ongoing Improvement

A strong performance review strategy uses multiple assessment methods. The pace of organizational change is accelerating, especially in today's workplace, to the point where some newly acquired abilities may become obsolete as soon as a person gets up- or re-skilled.

What are the different types of competency assessments?

Behavioural Competencies

Behavioral competencies reflect how well a person interacts with others on a daily basis. Focus areas for this kind of competency evaluation include personality, interpersonal abilities, leadership, and analysis.

As an illustration, a behavioral competency-based evaluation would ask a candidate to give an example of how they would guide a group of people in coming up with a fresh company idea.

Cognitive competencies

When conducting a cognitive competency exam, your goal is to determine how rapidly a person can process information. An evaluation of cognitive abilities will pay particular emphasis to skills like memory, constancy of thought, and attention to detail.

Domain competencies

A domain competency is based on a certain ability or field of employment. This could pertain to IT, project management, customer service, marketing, finance, or sales.

Technical Competencies

Technological competencies share many similarities with hard skills in that they show a very specific field of technical expertise. The main distinction is that technical skills can be applied to produce technical results, like when a developer uses HTML to design a website.

How to streamline the hiring process using these competencies

maximize your job description

Make sure the keywords in your job title are clear and accessible to applicants. Candidates should be given all the information they require to determine whether they are the best fit for the position in a clear, accurate, and appealing job description. Clearly define the duties and expectations of the position to rule out candidates who don't fit your requirements. The specifics of the description can help you craft targeted interview questions and attract individuals with higher qualifications. By publishing your job listing on job boards, your company's career site, and social media, you can increase your audience.

Utilize clever hiring techniques

Prior to hiring, be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of new hires. Make sure you understand exactly how their work will support the entire expense of hiring them. By using content marketing, you may strengthen your employer brand. So that when people learn about a position at your company, they are thrilled about the opportunity and aren't unsure of who you are, you want to build a brand that the best talent in your industry has heard of and wants to work for.

Start keeping track of how long it takes you to hire. How long does it take to onboard a new employee when you decide you need one? Knowing this will enable your business to calculate the amount of lead time required for efficient hiring. Choosing the proper timing to get the timing right, provide yourself enough time to identify a quality hire rather than just someone to fill a vacancy.

Create a plan to entice candidates who best fit your culture.

Tell the truth about your company's culture and the realities of working there. You won't lose time interviewing or selecting the incorrect candidates if you provide precise information to aid individuals in determining whether they're a suitable fit.

Examine your pre-screening methods.

By conducting a phone interview, filling out a questionnaire, or using other pre-screening techniques, you can decide whether you wish to pre-screen candidates.

Pre-interview inquiries can assist you in learning details about applicants that they did not provide in their resumes. Your time in subsequent interviews may be cut short thanks to the preliminary interview questions.

You may automate a portion of the pre-screening procedure by asking applicants to complete an online questionnaire or use a skill assessment or video assessment platform likeHireQuotient that is tailored to the skill sets, information, and experience you require. Include inquiries to ascertain whether prospects fit your organization's culture. You only need to get into talks with those top candidates and lure them in with the remaining formalities.

Pre-screening will spare you the frustration of setting up interviews with applicants who ultimately prove unsuitable for the post.

But be careful not to bombard applicants with questions before you've even met them! Only 15 to 20 minutes should be allotted for a phone interview.

Make sure the interview is good.

Bring a list of in-depth behavioral and practical questions with you. Consider sending the candidates your questions beforehand. At Mac's List, we've done it successfully.

It's crucial to conduct consistent interviews and judge each applicant according to the same standards. For all candidates, ask the same questions and follow the same procedures.

Make sure you're focused on the essential abilities and duties of the position by reviewing your questions and the job description.

Make sure your inquiries are comprehensive.

Ask more questions in the event that a candidate provides a general response to a crucial question until you have the answers you require.

Avoid typical interview blunders.

Make sure you are aware of the forbidden subjects under the law. Don't, for instance, ask inquiries that might reveal a candidate's race, religion, marital status, or other personal information. You cannot inquire about past salaries in many states. Beforehand, be aware of what to avoid!

Pay close attention to classic red flags, such as when a candidate exclusively inquires about pay and perks, lacks preparation, has excessive confidence or nervousness, criticizes a previous employer, or exhibits a negative attitude.

When necessary, deviate from your plan. Both consistency and paying attention to a candidate's specifics are crucial. Follow-up inquiries that focus on a candidate's experiences should be made.

Successfully evaluate prospects

Standardize the way you do evaluations. Ensure that everyone in your organization is in agreement with the traits and specifications you are seeking in the ideal applicant. Establishing clear expectations at the start of the process will secure team consensus and enable you to choose the best candidate without argument.

Ensure that your procedure is effective

Sorting resumes into three piles—top resumes, obvious no candidates, and maybe candidates for consideration only if the top resumes are not a good fit—can speed up the hiring process.

The key is communication

Inform applicants of your progress throughout the process. Make the employment offer as soon as you decide to do so in order to avoid losing out.

Standardize reference and background checks for employees

Establish a precise, established procedure for assessing references and examining candidates' educational and criminal histories. Candidates should be told how it works! One choice is to contract out this step and work with a third party who specializes in background checks.

There is always the first step that seems more daunting, however, after the first step it's a steady move ahead, and you can always upgrade and update your methodologies based on your learnings.

A very big portion of your work can be taken care of buy using a skill assessment or a video assessment platform like HireQuotient. Get on a fifteen-minute call with our experts and you can get free advice that can help streamline your methods.

Competency Assessment: How to Streamline Your Recruitment Process