Assessing Graduates through the Graduate Recruitment Process

What methods allow me to assess a Graduate the best through the Graduate Recruitment Process?

“4 out of 5 hiring managers would not go back to telephone interviewing having video interviewed candidates”

David Dewey, Shortlister

The above is one of the stand-out figures from a survey conducted by Shortlister – one of the UK’s leading video interviewing platforms.

Video interviewing is becoming the adopted screening and assessment method for HR teams across the UK. But, why does it work so well for Graduate Recruitment?

We asked Debbie Edmondson, Talent Director at Cohesion, to share her views on typical Graduate Recruitment Processes:

• Online application form

This tends to be the first step in most Graduate Recruitment Processes. However, we know that candidates do not like to fill them out! In recent years, the Graduate market has become more candidate-driven. So, companies have had to adapt their online forms to make them shorter and simpler to use – so as not to dissuade a candidate from applying.

With the developments in technology, we’ve also seen a huge increase in candidates accessing and completing online forms via their smart phones, rather than via a laptop/PC. This has meant employers have had to update their systems to accommodate this, and adapt their forms to gather information in alternative ways.

Regardless of how simple your initial online application process is though, it cannot be used in isolation to assess a candidate – all you are ultimately doing is assessing how well they can fill out a form.

• Telephone Interviewing

This is one of the most common assessment methods for any Graduate Programme. The ability to ask competency questions and assess a candidates motivation for the role, are just two of the reasons why it’s used by so many. The benefits of telephone interviewing allow you to decide, not just if they’ll be suitable for the job, but if they’ll fit in with your company community.

One of the biggest advantages of telephone interviewing is that it allows you to probe the candidate, and ask for further elaboration on questions. This adds value by allowing you to explore the candidates’ answers in more depth.

With this method, it’s a question of whether or not the benefits justify the use of the resource. Telephone interviewing doesn’t allow you to assess the candidates’ personality, presence or body language. They tend to be time-consuming and, often, candidates’ availability to conduct a telephone interview doesn’t match with your recruitment team’s availability.

• Psychometric Testing

Psychometric testing supports other recruitment processes by allowing you to assess a candidates’ competence in a particular skill – typically verbal reasoning or numerical ability. These tend to feature timed tests, and results are assessed against a ‘norm group’ made up of people matching a similar profile.

For a specialised or technical role, e.g. finance based, psychometric testing proves a level of competence required and therefore supports the recruitment process. However, many companies are now questioning their relevance, and long-term prediction of performance.

Organisations are also now seeing the benefits of opening up their recruitment criteria to a wider pool of candidates, understanding that social mobility factors which have previously excluded some candidates from applying for roles, means they are perhaps missing out on good talent.

• Gamification

Gamification is one of the more fun, interactive methods of assessing your Graduates – it uses game theory, mechanics and decision in non-gaming environments and situations. This is why it can be used for recruitment purposes. Gamification, unlike any of the other methods we’ve explored, seeks to explore the personality of the candidate in more depth – it can be used as an alternative to Situational Judgement Tests, or Personality Questionnaires.

One of the main advantages of incorporating Gamification into your recruitment process, is that it allows you to assess your Graduates without them needing to complete a lengthy questionnaire. Essentially, the game that the candidate plays is the test – there are multiple points during the game, at which you collect data on the personality traits of the candidate – based upon the decisions that they make in the game. This can exhibit traits, such as resilience, risk propensity and innovation potential.

Gamification is not a method that can be used on its own – ideally, it’s used in conjunction with other methods. This is because, on its own, you can only assess the candidates’ personality – as opposed to their suitability to the job, your organisation or their strengths, for example.

• Video Interviewing

In my opinion, this is one of the most effective and efficient methods for assessing your Graduates through the Graduate Recruitment process. Like the telephone interview, it allows you to gauge competence and motivation, but also allows you to see their gravitas and enthusiasm demonstrated for your company.

One of the main advantages of this method is that you can judge candidates on their visible confidence and their non-verbal communications – as well as the above. This can be advantageous – it allows you to judge their mannerisms and how they physically conduct themselves, rather than just their telephone etiquette.  You can see how well they think on their feet and react to pressure – things you can’t always get from a telephone interview.

The flexibility of the solution allows candidates to complete the video at a time that suits them, and requires less resource from your recruiting teams than telephone interviewing. You really get a feel for how someone demonstrates their strengths; you can actually see their passion and enthusiasm shine.

We know, from the data gathered across our whole client base, that video interviewing is the best predictor of success at final interview/assessment centre stage, and this has been across a variety roles.

With this knowledge we are adjusting our graduate recruitment processes to ensure that more candidates have the opportunity to undertake video interviews, and not get discounted at online form stage – which, alone, is not a great predictor of success.

We’d love to hear about any issues that you have faced with the methods that you currently use, and any feedback on the usefulness of this blog. Good luck in your Graduate Recruitment process!