More than Just a Tick Box! My Experience Putting Candidates First

Business Development Manager, Les Davies, discusses putting candidates first, and his experience on both sides of recruitment.

It is 2022, meaning I have been working for most of my life by this point. My first taste of work was at age 12 (yes 12) when I started my weekend job at a local garden centre. Since then and in part due to Covid, I have been lucky enough to have experienced being hired in multiple industries whether that be hospitality, technology, L&D, cloud computing or recruitment technology.  

I have experienced the other side too and have either hired or played a big part in hiring some fantastic candidates for some of the UK’s largest brands while recruiting for Michael Page.

Candidate Experience is the Key

Reflecting while wearing both my recruiter and candidate caps. The most successful processes were run by businesses that valued the candidate experience and got to know the candidates, or me, better than the competition. Every part of their process was considered, flexible and relevant. 

On the flip side, if I had a pound for every time I have spoken to an uninformed recruiter or a hiring manager that couldn’t explain the process or what they use their current (usually quite generic) tests to measure and assess for, then I would be on a beach sipping an ice-cold beer rather than attempting to write a blog while my firstborn is throwing beans all over the freshly painted wall.

One bugbear of mine, that always felt like a tick box exercise, was the dreaded psychometric, verbal and numerical testing. They often came without context, relevance to my role or indeed feedback. Like most, I don’t enjoy a test at the best of times but when it is not relevant, can take hours to complete, doesn’t come with feedback or add value once in the role, then quite frankly – what is the point?  

Employers have been using psychometrics and aptitude tests for decades and with psychometric testing now being used by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK, I wonder why we still hear of shockingly low candidate NPS scores in this area.

Assessing for Future Potential

My view is that it is 2022!! Candidates much like consumers demand a seamless journey where access to information is intuitive and at your fingertips. Diversity and Inclusion awareness is at an all-time high and candidates expect to be treated as individuals and made to feel wanted, welcome and special. Testing of yester-year albeit still available to purchase does the exact opposite. It pigeonholes, discriminates and ultimately adds little to no value to a process or the candidate experience. 

Up until recently, this was my experience of testing, so you can imagine my assumptions and thoughts on being asked to take an assessment before joining Amberjack. Luckily it is 2022 and one of my reasons for joining Amberjack is they are innovative and in keeping with what I believe candidates are looking for. You can imagine my surprise when being asked role relevant situational questions and receiving feedback within 20 minutes of completion.  

What impressed me throughout was how the assessment brought the brand and role to life. I felt I had already walked through the doors and started the role! The level of detail within the feedback was best in class. I was amazed at how the blended assessment had measured me not only as an individual, but as a whole person against four key pillars for future potential: Applied Intellect, Digital Mindset, Creative Force and Grit.  

All of this within 45 minutes including some video time for me to reflect and express in my own words why I would be right for the organisation and role. 

An Innovative Framework

It is fair to say that my opinion has changed. Now that I am learning the psychology behind Amberjack’s Future Potential framework and the impact it is having on our clients, I can’t wait to introduce the tool to more potential clients. It is a game-changer and like nothing I have experienced before.  

The good news is; our clients and their candidates say the same! 

For more information, case studies or demos of our native technologies or services please get in touch. 

Leslie.davies@weareamberjack.com

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