How Psychometric Testing Can Spotlight Top Millennial and Gen Z Talent
Whether your campus recruitment program involves booths at job fairs, on-campus interviews, relationships with career centers, or everything in-between, the goal is always the same: to attract and retain bright student and new grad talent.
The aches and pains of campus recruiters are pretty universal, too. Just to name a few鈥�
- You see a high volume of resumes come in for a job that all pretty much look the same 鈥� after all, students and new grads don鈥檛 often have a rich history of job experience.
- You know the race for top young talent is fierce 鈥� after all, . there are currently the same number of job openings as there are job seekers, and there are currently more people over the age of 65 than under 15.
- The location of your company is facing the threat of 鈥渂rain drain鈥� (or the emigration of highly trained or top performing talent) to Silicon Valley or elsewhere.
- You see the competitive edge that diverse young talent can bring to organizations and your company could use some of that innovative spirit.
- Your product/brand needs some increased recognition among Millennials and Gen Z-ers.
At 夜色直播, we believe that there鈥檚 a common thread that underlies these struggles, and we call it skills and knowledge vs. talents. We can鈥檛 take credit for it though. Buckingham and Coffman coined the model in their book In the workplace, people get hired for skills and knowledge, but get fired for talent. Let鈥檚 elaborate.
鈥淪kills鈥� refers to the 鈥渉ow-to鈥檚鈥� of a role. Whether you know how to use MS Excel, Javascript, Photoshop, and so on. 鈥淜nowledge鈥� refers to literally knowing something, and can usually be quantified in a degree or designation, like a CPA, MBA, or PhD. And 鈥� you guessed it 鈥� these are essentially the components of a resume. These are what people get hired for.
鈥淭alents,鈥� however, are recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. Talents include innovation, adaptation, communication (and more), and they鈥檙e how we understand and measure human potential. Not exactly what you鈥檇 find on the average resume. But , talents are what people are getting fired for.
89% of failed hires are due to insufficient talents, not skills and knowledge.
Talents are the future of effective campus recruitment programs. How? Well, let鈥檚 dig a little deeper.
Talents are a differentiator in a high volume of resumes
Can we be honest here for a second? Student and new grad resumes pretty much all look the same. Same education levels, and same absence of a history of on-the-job skills and experience. And for those entry-level positions, you鈥檙e probably seeing a whole lot of resumes come in, too. Finding top performers in those seas of resumes often feels like one big guessing game, doesn鈥檛 it?
Talents can suddenly become the differentiator that pinpoint what students and new grads in your talent pool will be top performers. Is your organization looking for more creative thinkers? Narrow your shortlist down to candidates who exhibit innovation. Do you want more interpersonal team players contributing to your company culture? Interview the candidates that prioritize teamwork and communication. After all, talents are 4X more accurate at predicting on-the-job success than a resume!
Talents are 4X more predictive of on-the-job success than a resume.
Talents attract young talent with a diverse culture
Nearly say a diverse and inclusive workplace is an important factor in a job search. Building a culture that prioritizes diversity and inclusion is more than just the right thing to do 鈥� it鈥檚 critical to attracting young talent.
Talents are measured using a combination of general mental ability, social intelligence, and personality, which are far less likely to trigger bias than the experience and education sections of a resume. So not only are talents a whole lot more predictive than a resume, but they bring a lot more diverse talent into your pipeline, too. And the that simply having a more diverse talent pool will result in more diverse hires (just Google search 鈥渢he Rooney Rule鈥�).
Building a truly diverse and inclusive workplace requires intentional planning, measuring, and goal-setting at every stage of the employee lifecycle. But it all starts at your top-of-funnel hiring processes, so replacing skills and knowledge with talents as a primary shortlisting tool is a great place to start.
Talents retain students for the future of work
expect to leave their organization by 2020, and are continuously looking for a new opportunity. Gone are the days of 30-year career commitments at a single company, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you have to give up on employee retention completely. After all, turnover can cost up to 5X a bad hire's salary. And campus recruitment is a proven catalyst to higher retention rates 鈥� companies that recruit talent from campuses have been known to see up to a .
Companies that recruit talent from campuses have been known to see up to a 98.6% retention rate.
Employee retention will be especially critical in the future of work. Some 65% of today鈥檚 students will be applying for jobs that don鈥檛 exist yet. Some of those could include Augmented Reality Journey Builder, AI-Assisted Healthcare Technician, and Chief Trust Officer. It鈥檚 not like you鈥檒l be able to hire someone with a Masters in 鈥渢rust鈥� or 10 years experience in Healthcare AI. We will no longer be able to depend on past education and experience to place people into roles 鈥� we will need to rely on future potential, and therefore talents.
According to the , talents such as coordinating with others, negotiation, and teaching others will be especially critical in the future of work. And the says that the future of human work is imagination, creativity, and strategy.
Not only will talents help you retain student talent now, but they will be the differentiator that allow you to quantify the potential of your workforce to shift your retained talent into net new roles in the future.
Tying it all together
Whether it鈥檚 managing volume, fostering diversity, or hiring students to prepare for the future of work, talents (rather than skills and knowledge) will be the differentiator that revolutionizes campus recruitment strategies.
Whether it's managing volume, fostering diversity, or preparing for the future of work, talents will be the differentiator that revolutionizes campus recruitment strategies.
夜色直播 works with campus recruitment teams to quantify the potential of Millennial and Gen-Z job seekers. We measure 10 talents, including innovation, adaptability, and communication, right at the top of your hiring funnel. Find out more about how 夜色直播 helps provide students and new grads with better work experiences (even in the absence of a history of on-the-job skills and experience) by checking out our Campus Recruitment Solutions Page.