This is the final article of the 5-part series on HR trends and industry insights. Each article has focused on key areas affecting HR professionals and senior executives. This series of articles has highlighted key industry data which will hopefully allow readers to benchmark their own company and be in position for success going forward.
In this article we are going to share a snapshot of a cross-functional view of a distributor’s interview process. We will focus on trends and what we see and hear amongst our candidates and clients.
Survey data clearly showed that depending on the level of role, the number of actual interviews increases as the role increases in complexity and stature. At GRN Coastal we see a lot of testing and pre-employment assessments (especially with senior level positions) early in the process. Most companies have models in place of testing criteria that are important for their company culture. Therefore, candidate testing is becoming more common practice. However, only 45% of respondents utilize testing tools and 30% test after the first interview. We believe that everyone should utilize some sort of pre-employment assessment(s) to help supplement the interview process and improve the hiring decision. For those who do use assessments/testing, our survey showed that there isn’t really a clear-cut vendor of choice; many different flavors of testing are being utilized.
Efficient interviewing is an important piece of the puzzle. At GRN Coastal we see ourselves using digital interviews more often. The technology allows you see the candidate in action answering questions. In addition to the quality of the candidate’s answers, you can see their body language and other visual cues that you wouldn’t get from phone interviews. 62% of responders expressed an interest in digital interviews. Thus, candidate elimination or selection can be accelerated via this technology.
Lastly, it is very important that new employees, whatever level they are at, get off to a good start. But it was surprising to see that distributors do not really put a big effort into onboarding. Onboarding is a short-lived experience, and then typically after 90 days very few companies are focused on the new hire. We believe this negatively impacts employee and retention. Our 2019 survey of candidates showed that only 25% of responders felt that their company did enough in the area of onboarding, which consists of a formal company overview and introduction, an assigned coach or mentor, and ongoing company information sessions and training. Best practices show that ongoing mentoring and coaching are important regardless of the new hire’s experience.
We feel that retaining top talent is so important that companies need to get off to a great start with every hire – and having an internal mentor, regardless of the stature of the position, will truly have a lasting, long term impact on the new hire.
This concludes our series on distributor best practices. Watch for our next survey of candidates which will disclose hot topics affecting HR departments in the recruitment world as it relates to actual candidate feedback on their wants, needs and desires in selecting their next employer.
About the author: John Salvadore is the founder and Managing partner of GRN Coastal. GRN Coastal is a full-service recruitment company. You can reach John at Jsalvadore@grncoastal.com
